Imagine living in a barrel with just three possessions to your name – a cloak, a stick and a bread bag. This suited Diogenes, since nobody could steal away his precious happiness. True happiness lies in not being dependent on such random and fleeting things,” says Jostein Gaardner in Sophie’s World. “The Cynics emphasized that true happiness is not found in external advantages such as material luxury, political power, or good health. Diogenes Develops the Philosophy of the Cynics Eventually, the master succumbed and let him study under his tutelage. He wanted wisdom and it had to be the wisdom of Antisthenes or nothing. Whatever Antisthenes said or did, Diogenes was unwavering. Perhaps he was concerned that the young man was the son of a disreputable money-lender. Simply, Antisthenes could not take to Diogenes. Russell recounts that he tried to send Diogenes away, even beating him with a stick. However, when Diogenes first came into Antisthenes’s life, the master was not impressed. He was an inspiration to his disciple, Diogenes. He eschewed government, marriage, property and the established religious order. He preached in the open air in order to reach all those less fortunate and less educated than he was. He consorted with, and dressed like, working men. After the death of Socrates, Antisthenes was no longer a young man, but, in an instant, he did a tremendous about-turn, professing to despise all the trappings of power and affluence he formerly valued.Īntisthenes decided he wanted to be good. Until Socrates died, Antisthenes lived comfortably within an aristocratic circle without ever attempting to portray any unorthodox behaviour or theories. Just put your preference in the “I Would Like to Support” Box after you Click to Donate Below: Support This Expert’s Articles, This Category of Articles, or the Site in General Here. Would you like to see more articles like this? Antisthenes was instructed by Socrates and he was fascinated by the great master’s extreme frugality. It all started with a philosopher called Antisthenes, who lived in Athens around 400B.C. In “Cynics and Sceptics” in his History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell explains that four Schools of Philosophy were founded around the time of Alexander the Great, and these were the Cynics, the Sceptics, the Stoics and the Epicureans. The Cynics – First of Four Important Schools of Philosophy In the times of the Ancient Greeks, it was more complicated. Today, if we describe someone as “cynical,” we mean that they are scornful of human sincerity or sentimentality and may be insensitive to the distress of others. Philosophy is not a discipline without its eccentrics, and surely the most famous Cynic of all, Diogenes, must be the prime example. Nevertheless, Diogenes lived in harmony with his beliefs and remained true to himself, although his barrel must have been an uncomfortable domain for a human being. "That makes me all the fitter to dabble in it,' he replied"īook & Page: Michael Montaigne p.Diogenes claimed he was happy living in his barrel, with his clock, his stick and his breadbag. "When asked by Leo, prince of the Phalasians, what science or art he professed, Heraclides of Pontus answered: 'I know neither science nor art, but am a philosopher.' Someone reproached Diogenes for being ignorant yet dabbling in philosophy. "That is an excellent answer of Diogenes to the man who asked for a letter of recommendation from him : " That you are a man," he says, "he will know at a glance but whether you are a good or a bad man he will discover if he has the skill to distinguish between good and bad, and if he is with-out that skill he will not discover the facts, even though I write him thousands of times.""īook & Page: Michael Montaigne p.77 #Quotes He thought us incapable of doing either good or harm." " Diogenes valued us so little that contact with us could neither disturb nor affect him he gave up our company, not out of fear but of contempt for our society. "Therefore Diogenes, who played the fool to himself, rolling his tub, and turning up his nose at the great Alexander, esteeming us as flies or bladders puffed up with wind, was a sharper and more biting - and consequently, in my opinion"īook & Page: Michael Montaigne p.135 #Facts And to show how this works out in practice, I will relate a singular example of it."īook & Page: Michael Montaigne p74 #Facts "When the philosopher Diogenes had need of money, he used to say that he asked it back from his friends, not that he asked them for it.
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