How to Say No – Diogenes and the Cynics

The cynics were a niche movement within Greek philosophy. They didn’t leave much of a written record of their thinking, because they weren’t part of a scholarly tradition. They were more like performance artists and troublemakers. “Their mode of life was a philosophy of doing,” says M D Usher in his introduction, and this little book gathers together a variety of original sources describing their actions and thought, in a modern translation.

It’s worth bringing the cynics to new audience...