Since Diogenes also challenged the authority of power and the civic social norms, some scholars emphasize how the early Cynics exemplified a new spirit of individualism and even anti-statism, 4 while others emphasize the importance of Cynic frank speech ( parrhēsia). Seeing Diogenes as doggish likewise is not a model for behavior as such, but a provocation to rethink our normative behaviors. While a mouse exhorts Diogenes to rethink his behavior, the point is not to live mouselike, but to reconsider our choices, which is a task for reflective human minds, not dogs, mice, or animality in general. 3 In this way Diogenes is sometimes seen as a mere naturalist, that is, living in accordance with brute nature or a natural animalistic ethos, but this is controversial because the use of kata phusin can and I believe should be understood here to mean something like ‘in accordance with our nature,’ which includes, for example, reason. The natural superiority of the sun over the political power of Alexander, the example of the mouse that revealed to Diogenes how very little is needed to thrive, and the public performances of natural bodily functions attest to a view that life according to nature, kata phusin, ought to be promoted as true north. 2 Diogenes can easily be mistaken for a moral theorist who promoted the virtues of a life in accord with nature ( phusis) rather than social convention ( nomos). The ancient anecdote tradition about Diogenes known as khreiai can appear at first blush to be rather philosophically thin. It is no wonder that thinkers like Diderot, Nietzsche, and Foucault were powerfully inspired by his legacy and tried to reignite Diogenes’ famous lantern in their own way, in their own time. As a social and political dissident, a proto-anarchist in the sense of challenging political authority, Diogenes provoked seemingly radical views and challenged conformity to customs and social norms (Diog. But he is more than a comic figure, more than a jester or bōmolokhos. There has been another uptick in scholarship on Diogenes, expanding our understanding of various aspects of early Cynicism, especially the forms of comedic and rhetorical communication that he and other cynics employed. He has been a subject of inquiry from Cicero to Foucault, exiled to the margins of intellectual and academic discourse from time to time, but returning when the climate is right for counterculture and philosophical provocation. But as a nonconformist, his heroic frank speech and contrarian actions made him a highly influential figure a true philosophical cause célèbre. A double folded cloak, walking stick and wallet, his striking appearance and way of life was an oddity. This page was created in 2005 last modified on 12 October 2020.Diogenes of Sinope was by all accounts, strange – atopos. LiteratureĪ biography was included in the Lives of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius ( here). The Cynics became a kind of jesters, accepted at the royal courts because their criticism was essentially harmless. His philosophy gained some popularity because he focused upon personal integrity, whereas men like Plato and Aristotle of Stagira had been thinking about man's life and honor as member of a city state - a type of political unit that was losing importance in the age of Alexander the Great (who once met Diogenes text). Like his master, Diogenes refrained from luxury and often ridiculed civilized life. Human culture, however, is dominated by things that prevent simplicity: money, for example, and our longing for status. We are happiest when our life is simplest, which means that we have to live in accordance with nature - just like animals. The essential point in this world-view is that man suffers from too much civilization. Both men are called the founder of the school that is known as Cynicism. Diogenes of Sinopeĭiogenes of Sinope was a student of Antisthenes. Diogenes of Sinope (c.412-c.323): Greek sculptor, co-founder of the Cynical school.
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