Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

by Luis E. Navia

How can this be? Here is a little mouse who enjoys the crumbs that fall from your hands and nourishes himself with them. You, on the other hand, despite your clear mind, complain and suffer for not being able to get drunk and eat fancy food, lying somewhere on a comfortable and embroidered rug.

Neither social distinctions nor elaborate philosophical systems have any significance in the lives of mice. They are not encumbered by artificial and atavistic conventions, nor are they concerned about the past or the future, living always in the present moment and for the present moment. Thus, Diogenes thought, mice live in a natural way and are, therefore, happier than human beings,

Accordingly, mice and other animals should be our models, for they are invariably better and more authentic than the embarrassing specimens of humanity found everywhere, who have chosen to distance themselves from nature and who have succeeded in constructing for...

Cynicism, especially in the context of Diogenes, is a practice or a way of life more than a set of ideas.

according to Antisthenes, the attainment of virtue is not a matter of thought or learning, but is something that can only be achieved through deeds and practice,

Crates would insist (Epist., 21) that the path to happiness, which is the goal of philosophy, is found, not in discourse and thought, but in the...

Diogenes spoke about Plato's lectures and mode of philosophizing as a waste of time, because, according to Themistius (Stobaeus, 3.13.68), only those teachings of philosophers that can awaken people into action and that, like sweet-sour unguents, can irritate human wounds, are worth anything.

according to Diogenes Laertius (6.40), when Plato defined man as 'a featherless biped', the Cynic plucked a chicken and, showing it to Plato's audience, said, "Behold Plato's man."22

The worthiest among human beings, said Diogenes according to Stobaeus (3.86.19), are those who despise learning and prefer a state of ignorance-ignorance understood not in the sense of not knowing anything, but in the sense of dispensing with unnecessary learning and acquiring only the knowledge that is sufficient for a good and simpl...

Diogenes compared the lack of education and learning in a person with a house built without foundations, for without the development of the mind, no human accomplishment is lasting. Thus, it is not that Diogenes waged war against learning and education, for he understood well that these are the foundations on which a happy and good life can be based, but only if they are oriented in the right direction, and this direction he specified with clarity-not in the cobwebs and labyrinths of words and reasonings constructed by philosophers and poets.

Neither is it found, he would have said, in the senseless and mechanical training that goes nowadays by the name of career education and that prepares the youth to enter blindly and obediently the slave marketplace.

hidden forces that guide human behavior; smoke in the world of education, where the ultimate goal in the training of the youth is to prepare them to function as slaves in the work force;

You know, Phaedrus, that is the strange thing about writing, which makes it analogous to painting. The painter's products stand before us as though they were alive, but if you question them, they maintain a most majestic silence. It is the same with written words; they seem to talk to you as though they were intelligent, but if you ask them anything about what they say, from a desire to be instructed, they go on telling you the same thing forever.

"it is preferable that the wise man should set up his residence there where the crowd of imbeciles and fools is the largest."

Diogenes acted in such a way that he could not be robbed of anything, for he freed himself from everything that is fortuitous. It appears to me as if he had said: "Concern yourself with your own business, Oh Fate, for there is nothing in Diogenes that belongs to you anymore." (De tranquillitate animi, 8)

We are told that Plato once referred to Diogenes as a "Socrates-gone-mad."

when someone called him a madman, Diogenes replied, "I am not mad; it is only that my head is different from yours."

It is a fact that Antisthenes, who had been teaching rhetoric in so excellent a manner, after he heard Socrates, said to his disciples: "Get yourselves going and find a teacher, for I have made a discovery." At once, he sold all his possessions and distributed his money among the people, keeping only a cloak for himself. (Adv. Jovin., 2.xiv)

Diogenes used to say, "From the time that Antisthenes set me free, I have ceased being a slave." How did Antisthenes set him free? Listen to what Diogenes says: "He taught me what is mine and what is not mine. Property is not mine; kinsmen, members of my household, friends, reputation, familiar places, social intercourse with people-all these things are not my own. 'What, then, is yours? The power to deal with external circumstances and impressions'. He showed me that I possess that without any hindrance or constraint. No one can hamper me, and no one can force me to deal with them otherwise than as I choose." (Discourses, 3.24.67-70)

On reaching Athens, he [Diogenes] came under the influence of Antisthenes. Being rejected by him, because he never welcomed disciples, Diogenes wore him out by sheer persistence. Once, when Antisthenes stretched out his staff against him, Diogenes offered his head with the words, "Strike, for you will find no wood hard enough to keep me away from you, so long as I think that you have something to say." From that time on he was his disciple, and, exile as he was, set out upon a simple life. (6.21)

tub and begged for his daily sustenance. Socrates' ascetic uneasiness toward pleasure appeared in Antisthenes as a con- demnation-"I would prefer a state of madness than a life of pleasure" (DL, 6.3; Sextus Empiricus, Adv. math., 11.73).

What distinguishes Diogenes from other philosophers and people in general, past and present, is this, namely, that he recognized the spiritual poverty and moral depravity of his world, and was able and willing to denounce it in word and in deed, without even one passing thought about the consequences for himself.

The essence of Diogenes' madness is the singularity of his reaction to the world, a reaction that was relevant not only to his own time and culture, but to our own. The elements of human nature that he denounced have remained unchanged, and the intellectual confusion and moral depravity of his contemporaries have not diminished with the passing of time.

From the other branch of Cynicism that sprang from Diogenes, moreover, little assistance is forthcoming. This branch, represented by the innumerable Cynics of the Hellenistic and Roman world, remained surely more faithful to the external aspects of Diogenes' Cynicism than his Stoic descendants. It maintained alive the spirit of revolt against the 'currency' of late classical times, but lacked the theoretical structure that we suspect was present in Diogenes.

The late Cynics furnish us with wonderful examples of what constitutes a Cynic with regard to his mode of life, his attire, his condemning and barking at institutions and values, and other similar aspects of Cynicism, but give us no useful dues concerning their beliefs and convictions. It is for this reason that Julian was probably justified in attempting to resurrect what he viewed as the genuine spirit of Diogenes, while thundering against the Cynics of his time and accusing them of being thoughtless people.

The Cynics of late Roman times, in Lucian's view, had kept the appearance of Cynicism, but had forgotten its essence.

Think carefully about this matter, for it is not by any means what you think it is. "I will wear a rough cloak, and I will sleep on a hard bed. I will carry with me only a wallet and a walking stick, and I will begin to go from place to place, begging for my sustenance and reviling all those who cross my path. And if I see anyone getting rid of superfluous hair or cutting his hair in a fancy way, or walking about in scarlet clothes, I will come down hard on him." If you think that this is what Cynicism is, keep yourself as far from it as you can. Don't even think about coming near it, for it has nothing to do with you. But if you are able to understand it correctly, begin by considering the magnitude of the enterprise that you are about to undertake. (Discourses, 3.22.9-12)

genuine Cynicism cannot be viewed merely ...

The first proposition of Diogenes' thought can be stated thus: the one and only object of philosophy is human existence, and any other object can only be a source of distraction and an inconsequential way to satisfy the unhealthy sense of curiosity that afflicts human beings.

The second proposition is this: in our endeavor to make sense of human existence, we must direct our attention primarily to the physical world because we are primarily physical beings.

We might still entertain what Socrates calls in the Phaedo (114d) pious hopes about the truth of such tales. But we must not convert those hopes into articles of faith and affirm that we really know about such things, for that would be intellectual dishonesty and, as Cynics, it is our duty to avoid dishonesty in ourselves and unmask the dishonesty of others.

Whatever and whoever God may be, we must recognize the gap that separates him from what people have created and perpetuated in his name.

In mythology and religion, no less than in other spheres of life there is much in the way of self-serving interests, dece...

This has to be so because it is a human creation and everything human i...

The messages of the epic poets may contain elements of purity and may be praiseworthy, but what the followers have done to and with those messag...

and each day as if it were the last day? Here then we come upon the third proposition of Diogenes' Cynicism: live each moment as if it were the only moment of life.

Herein lies the fourth proposition of Diogenes' thought: happiness cannot be achieved as long as we fail to understand its nature, for this failure makes us look for it where it does not reside.

the fifth proposition of Diogenes' thought. Happiness, understood in its Greek sense of ei Balµovia (eudaimonia, that is, well-being) cannot be defined in terms of possessions, pleasures, comfort, power, fame, erudition, a long life, and other similar things that, in the view of

the sixth proposition of his thought: happiness is living in accordance with nature.