What exactly is meant when someone is called a "hedgerow philospher"?

Question

I've read the term many times. Usually, the author applies it to a character who seems to have no occupation other than passing out reams of useless information, or unsolicited advice. It seems a bit confusing, as one author in particular put a very different emphasis to the name, claiming that the finest of philosophers is the hedgerow philosopher.

What is a hedgerow philosopher?

Answer 1

A synonymous term might be backyard philospoher. It is basicsally a neighborhood character who enlivens the lives of his neighjbors with anecdotes and advice. The character of Wilson Wilson on the sitcom Home Improvement was just such a philosopher.

Answer 2

No meaning can be extricated from the calling you describe. To come up out of the well with either a full or empty calabash, however, may have meaning for the man dying of dehydration.

...If it seems a bit confusing, it may be because there are hopeless incongruities at the heart of the question. The incongruities are far more curious to a philosopher (rejection of any qualification is a given) than any potential, tractable answer. Escaping the compartment = the man is slaked. He lives! THE MAN LIVES ANOTHER DAY! For joy..

Answer 3

Brendan O'Neill

Who am is he?

His name is Brendan O'Neill, A writer and volunteer literacy tutor

Tutor, Writer and Hedgerow Philosopher