#Diogenes stories free

Two of the key principles of Cynicism were freedom (eleutheria, ελευθερια) and free speech (parrhesia, παρρησια). Diogenes said that everything we own should come from ourselves: confidence, happiness, et cetera.

What he meant by goods earned by the individual was that things granted by other people and nature happen purely by chance. Virtue was the rejection of desires and the pursuit of goods earned by the individual, according to Diogenes. Like every philosopher in the Hellenistic period, Diogenes believed that virtue was the highest good. Not only did he despise concrete things, but he also disapproved of social conventions. To Diogenes, material things like money and lavish accessories corrupted nature. He along with his students were missionaries of a sort, traveling city-to-city preaching about the life of simplicity. Diogenes’ core idea was that Man should live in accordance with nature, as simply as possible. You could even say that they took their principles a little too far, perhaps. Little did Antisthenes know that his student would be the most important Cynic in history.Ĭynicism is a unique philosophy. Diogenes constantly pestered the man so much that it got to the point where Antisthenes beat the desperate Diogenes with a stick! Thanks to his obstinance, however, Diogenes got the elder to accede. For whatever reason, Diogenes doggedly (no pun intended) pursued Antisthenes, seeking wisdom from the philosopher. Borrowing from Socrates’ modest asceticism, Antisthenes left the high ranks of society and started the Cynic tradition. Upon the death of the greatest questioner in history, his students, Antisthenes included, diffused across Greece as they set up their own schools. Antisthenes himself was a student of Socrates. We do know, however, that he met Antisthenes (445-365 BCE) at some point. Not much can be said about the philosopher’s early youth, for up until the point of his tutelage under Antisthenes, his past remains a mystery. It is highly possible that Diogenes may have had a predisposition for being a rebel, for his father, it is said, was incarcerated for defacing the local coinage in Sinope–Diogenes’ birth city. īorn in 404 BCE, Diogenes was a contemporary of both Plato and Antisthenes, the latter being his future teacher. Back in the day, Diogenes was the most radical non-conformist who advocated the simple life in accord with nature, κɑτɑ φυσɩν. He helped create a name for the Cynic philosophy and is partly responsible for the misrepresentation of the modern day philosopher. What does the word cynical mean? Does it mean someone who is dubious about his fellow peers’ motives? And what about the stereotypical philosopher we are used to, as explained in my post “What is a Philosopher?” In Ancient Greece, there was a philosopher by the name of Diogenes who became the informal image of the philosopher and was cynical before it was even cool.

Diogenes stories