René Descartes (1596–1650) the French philosopher, mathematician and writer is perhaps the only example of a sexual eccentricity changing the history of Western thought.

For René “I think, therefore I am” Descartes had a fetish for cross-eyed women which he believed came from a childhood fascination with a cross-eyed playmate which he describes in the Principles of Philosophy(1644)

He goes onto say that as soon as he realised the origin of his fetish, he was freed from it and could love women with normally spaced eyeballs. This insight according to Genevieve Rodis-Lewis in her Descartes: his Life and Thought(1999) was the basis for Descartes defence of free will and the minds ability to control the body. It makes one wonder if his cross-eyed young playmate knew what a profound effect she had on Western thought.

His strange tale does not end there though. Descartes often traveled with a mechanical life sized female companion/sex doll called Francine. Sadly history does not record exactly what he did with it