5/3/2023 0 Comments Alexander and diogenes![]() ![]() To die and suffer is, after all, quite natural.Ĭynicism as a philosophy bears only passing resemblance to how we use the term nowadays.Ĭynicism is much more than having “no phone Sundays” or eating only soup for dinner. Nature had made us just as we were designed to be, so why change that? Even what we might call negative things - like disease, pain or death - have their role to play, and we ought to live by nature’s way. In fact, Diogenes was nicknamed “the dog” for his vagrant, sparse, and basic living conditions.Ĭynics argued that we must abandon possessions and traditions and be more like animals, that is, by following base biological needs over everything else. Instead, we should return to nature as much as possible, fulfilling only our basic needs. They despised all the abstracted philosophizing of the likes of Plato and his school, The Academy, thinking they were both pretentious and pointless. Cynics argued that the artificial trappings of civilization repressed, enslaved, and debased the human spirit. We can see where this idea came from, but it’s a far cry from what the original Cynics believed.Ĭynicism is most associated with a man called Diogenes of Sinope (but this comes only second-hand from Plato and Aristotle, because Diogenes’ own work largely has been lost). Today, the word has come to mean someone who’s pessimistic and always sees or expects the worst in things, especially of people. Cynicism as a philosophy bears only passing resemblance to how we use the term nowadays. This is what the ancient Cynics believed. Have you ever stopped to wonder if something has been lost amongst all this? Have we buried something key to being human? Cynicism doesn’t mean what you think
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |