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Ragnar Freund
11-19-2011, 09:37 AM
gone.
Alexander III
11-19-2011, 10:13 AM
Well this is not a literary charcter, but a real and famous italian one. He was born into a wealthy family and by the age of 40 he had a billion dollar empire. Suddenly he handed over all his positions and wealth to his family and he left to live as a bum. He has been living as a bum for several decades and he can still be found somewhere in Italy living homless and with nothing and happy.

Many Italian movies have been made about his life. Very fascinating man and his pursuit of hapiness.
Ghuyuran
11-20-2011, 02:52 PM
What is the name of the man? Interesting.
OrphanPip
11-20-2011, 05:17 PM
Wouldn't Diogenes the Cynic be the quintessential philosopher bum, given that he was a philosopher who lived on the streets of Athens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope
Ragnar Freund
11-21-2011, 11:55 AM
gone.
ZTay
11-22-2011, 07:28 AM
Philosopher-bum is hard because of bum; an almost always negative word, and subjective at that. Bum should be by choice I think and I'm not sure Miles Bjornstam was that. I think it should be Everyman-philosopher or something. Semantics, but bum sucks.
Ragnar Freund
11-22-2011, 11:48 AM
Gone.
Ecurb
11-22-2011, 04:13 PM
How about Hamlet? He mopes around, doing nothing and philosophizing.
OrphanPip
11-22-2011, 05:25 PM
I'd think being a prince would disqualify you from the bum label.
Ecurb
11-22-2011, 05:28 PM
I'd think being a prince would disqualify you from the bum label.

It would, if he did any princely work. I suppose it depends if you disqualify rich people from being "bums" -- Pierre from War and Peace, for example.
Ecurb
11-22-2011, 06:42 PM
Also, what about Levin in Anna Karenina, harvesting wheat with the peasants?
Des Essientes
11-22-2011, 06:49 PM
The narrator of the great American novel, whom we are told to call "Ishmael", surely qualifies as a philosopher living the life of a menial worker. In international literature one could cite the protagonist of Hermann Hesse's "Siddharta", who chose the life of a wandering mendicant, as well as stories of the fellow the Chinese call "Budai" and the Japanese call "Hotei". Since the OP even mentions a character from a cheesy popular movie let's debase the topic even more, for it is itself about debasement, and cite the philosopher/bar bouncer "Dalton", from the film titled "Road House", who uttered the profoundity "Pain don't hurt."