La tristeza de pensar

Abstract

It is not new the discussion that associates thinking with the origin of sadness. Where does the feeling of sadness of thinking come from? The Western tradition has historically linked the philosopher, the writer and the intellectual with different
manifestations of melancholy, from the theory of humors, through moral theories of sadness, until the recurrence of this relationship as a literary theme. This paper is an interpretation of the evolution of the link between sadness and thought, from Hippocrates to Marsilio Ficino; from Robert Burton to Kierkegaard and Fernando Pessoa.