The philosophy of cynicism William D. Desmond
In the 4th century BCE,
a banker’s son threw the city of Sinope
into scandal by counterfeiting coins.
When the dust finally settled,
the young man, Diogenes of Sinope,
had been stripped of his citizenship,
his money, and all his possessions.
At least, that’s how the story goes.
While many of the details
of Diogenes’ life are shadowy,
the philosophical ideas
born out of his disgrace survive today.
In exile, Diogenes decided
that by rejecting the opinions of others
and societal measures of success,
he could be truly free.
He would live self-sufficiently,
close to nature, without materialism,
vanity, or conformity.
In practice, this meant he spent years
wandering around Greek cities
with nothing but a cloak, staff,
and knapsack—
outdoors year-round, forgoing technology,
baths, and cooked food.
He didn’t go about this new existence
quietly,
but is said to have teased passers-by
and mocked the powerful,
eating, urinating
and even masturbating in public.
The citizens called him a kyôn—
a barking dog.
Though meant as an insult,
dogs were actually a good symbol
for his philosophy—
they’re happy creatures,
free from abstractions
like wealth or reputation.
Diogenes and his growing number
of followers
became known as “dog philosophers,”
or kynikoi,
a designation
that eventually became the word “Cynic.”
These early Cynics were a carefree bunch,
drawn to the freedom
of a wandering lifestyle.
As Diogenes’ reputation grew,
others tried to challenge his commitment.
Alexander the Great
offered him anything he desired.
But instead of asking for material goods,
Diogenes only asked Alexander
to get out of his sunshine.
After Diogenes’ death,
adherents to his philosophy
continued to call themselves Cynics
for about 900 years, until 500 CE.
Some Greek philosophers, like the Stoics,
thought everyone
should follow Diogenes’ example.
They also attempted to tone down
his philosophy
to be more acceptable
to conventional society—
which, of course,
was fundamentally at odds
with his approach.
Others viewed the Cynics less charitably.
In the Roman province of Syria
in the 2nd century CE,
the satirist Lucian described the Cynics
of his own time as unprincipled,
materialistic, self-promoting hypocrites,
who only preached
what Diogenes had once actually practiced.
Reading Lucian’s texts centuries later,
Renaissance and Reformation writers
called their rivals cynics as an insult—
meaning people who criticized others
without having anything worthwhile to say.
This usage eventually laid the groundwork
for the modern meaning
of the word “cynic:"
a person who thinks everyone else
is acting out of pure self-interest,
even if they claim a higher motive.
Still, the philosophy of cynicism
had admirers,
especially among those
who wished to question
the state of society.
The 18th-century French philosopher
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
was called the “new Diogenes”
when he argued
that the arts, sciences, and technology,
corrupt people.
In 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche
reimagined a story
in which Diogenes
went into the Athenian marketplace
with a lantern,
searching in vain
for a single honest person.
In Nietszche’s version,
a so-called madman
rushes into a town square
to proclaim that “God is dead.”
This was Nietzsche’s way
of calling for a “revaluation of values,”
and rejecting
the dominant Christian and Platonic idea
of universal, spiritual insights
beyond the physical world.
Nietzsche admired Diogenes
for sticking stubbornly
to the here-and-now.
More recently,
the hippies of the 1960s
have been compared with Diogenes
as counter-cultural rebels.
Diogenes’ ideas
have been adopted
and reimagined
over and over again.
The original cynics
might not have approved
of these fresh takes:
they believed
that their values of rejecting custom
and living closely with nature
were the only true values.
Whether or not you agree with that,
or with any of the later incarnations,
all have one thing in common:
they questioned the status quo.
And that’s an example
we can still follow:
not to blindly follow
conventional or majority views,
but to think hard
about what is truly valuable.