But I think a closer look might reveal more than meets the mind’s eye.
Here are some cases.
1) Wittgenstein famously gave up his portion of the family fortune; but when he was threatened with legal action and needed the money, he bought a common lottery ticket.
Moral: Logical ‘certainties’ may actually be less reliable than they seem; the apparent randomness of ordinary action may bring us to firmer ground.
2) Kant, when not tinkering with his sensible manifold, spent hours in search of an effective laxative.
Moral: Purge yourself of as much metaphysics as possible, but don’t expect it to work.
3) Descartes attended the Jesuit La Flèche school where, inter alia, the curriculum included ballet.
Moral: Find a discipline where the corporeal and the intellectual are in equal balance and harmony.
4) Nietzsche, before he was corrupted by Schopenhauer, was a crack philologist.
Moral: Having a good look at the words themselves can tell you more than construing the world as Will and/or Representation.
And I’d mention Russell, but he was just a sets maniac.
