Diogenes of Sinope

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Diogenes by John William Waterhouse, depicting his lamp, tub and diet of onions.

Diogenes "the Cynic", Greek philosopher, was born in Sinope (in modern day Sinop, Turkey) about 412 BC (according to other sources 399 BC), and died in 323 BC at Corinth. The most important source of information about him is from Diogenes Laërtius in his book The Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Details come to us in the form of anecdotes ("chreia").

Diogenes of Sinope is said to have been a disciple of Antisthenes, a cynic whom Plato says in Phaedo was present at the death of Socrates. Diogenes, a celibate and a beggar who made his home in the streets of Athens, made a virtue out of extreme poverty. He taught contempt for human achievements and a return to animalism. His was a relentless campaign to "debunk" social values and institutions.

1 The dog theme
2 Life
3 Ideas
4 Art and popular culture
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] The dog theme

The modern terms cynic and cynical derive from the Greek word kunikos, the adjective form of kuwn - the word for dog. Many anecdotes concerning Diogenes of Sinope refer to his doglike behavior, and his praise of the dog's virtues. It is not known whether Diogenes was insulted with the epithet "doggish" and made a virtue out of it, or whether he first took up the dog theme himself.

Diogenes believed that human beings live artificially and hypocritically and would do well to study the dog. Besides performing its natural bodily functions in public with no unease, a dog will eat anything, and make no fuss about where to sleep. Dogs live in the present without anxiety, and have no use for the pretensions of abstract philosophy. In addition to these virtues, dogs are thought to know instinctively who is friend and who is foe. Unlike human beings who are either duping others or being duped, dogs will give an honest bark at the truth.

Diogenes was a self-appointed "public scold" whose mission was to demonstrate to the most refined people in the world--the ancient Greeks--that civilization is regressive. He taught by living example that wisdom and happiness belong to the man who is independent of society. Diogenes scorned not only family and political social organization, but property rights and reputation.

The most shocking feature of his philosophy is his rejection of normal ideas about human decency. Performance artist, exhibitionist and philosopher, Diogenes is said to have eaten in the marketplace, peed on the man who insulted him, defecated in the ampitheatre, and pointed at people with his middle finger. Diogenes was considered by his sympathizers to be a devotee of reason and an exemplar of honesty, and said by his detractors to be an obnoxious ragpicker and an offensive churl.

Despite the fact Diogenes seems to have had nothing but disdain for Plato and his abstract philosophy, he bears striking resemblance to the character Socrates. Diogenes shared Socrates' belief that he could function as "doctor" to men's souls and improve them morally, while at the same time holding contempt for their obtuseness ("a-tuphos").

[edit] Life

One of the most important anecdotes about Diogenes suggests that he was exiled from Sinope for "adulterating the coinage". Diogenes' mission in his new home, Athens, became the metaphorical adulterating/debasing the "coinage" of custom. Custom, he alleged, was the false coin of human morality. Instead of being troubled by what is really evil, people make a big fuss over what is merely conventionally evil. This distinction between nature ("physis") and custom ("nomos") is a favorite theme of ancient Greek philosophy, and one that Plato takes up in the Rebublic, in the legend of the Ring of Gyges.

Diogenes is alleged to have gone to Athens with an attendant named Manes who abandoned him shortly thereafter. With characteristic humour, Diogenes dismissed this ill fortune, saying, "If Manes can live without Diogenes, why not Diogenes without Manes?" While it is unknown whether Diogenes either had a slave or later became one himself, Diogenes would be consistent in making fun of such a relation of extreme dependency. He would particularly find the master, who could do nothing for himself, contemptibly helpless.

Attracted by the ascetic teaching of Antisthenes, a student of Socrates, Diogenes became his pupil, despite the brutality with which he was received, and rapidly surpassed his master both in reputation and in the austerity of his life. Unlike the other citizens of Athens, he avoided earthly pleasures. This attitude was grounded in a great disdain for what he perceived as the folly, pretence, vanity, social climbing, self-deception, and artificiality of much human conduct.

The stories told of Diogenes illustrate the logical consistency of his character. He inured himself to the vicissitudes of weather by living in a tub belonging to the temple of Cybele. He destroyed the single wooden bowl he possessed on seeing a peasant boy drink from the hollow of his hands. When asked how to avoid the temptation to lust of the flesh, Diogenes began masturbating. When rebuked for doing so, he replied, "If only I could soothe my hunger by rubbing my belly."

He used to stroll through the Agora at full daylight with a torch (or, as legend sometimes has it, a lantern). When asked what he was doing, he would answer, "I am just looking for an honest man." Diogenes looked for an honest man, and reputedly found nothing but rascals and scoundrels.

On a voyage to Aegina, he was captured by pirates and sold as a slave in Crete to a Corinthian named Xeniades. Being asked his trade, he replied that he knew no trade but that of governing men, and that he wished to be sold to a man who needed a master. As tutor to Xeniades' two sons, he lived in Corinth for the rest of his life, which he devoted entirely to preaching the doctrines of virtuous self-control.

At the Isthmian Games, he lectured to large audiences, who turned to him from his one-time teacher Antisthenes. It was, probably, at one of these festivals that he met Alexander the Great. The story goes that Alexander, thrilled to meet the famous philosopher (in his tub), asked if there was any favour he might do for him. Diogenes replied, "Stand out of my sunlight." Alexander still declared, "If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes." (In another account, Alexander found the philosopher rummaging through a pile of human bones. Diogenes explained, "I am searching for the bones of your father but cannot distinguish them from those of a slave.")

When Plato gave Socrates's definition of man as "featherless bipeds" and was much praised for the definition, Diogenes plucked a cock and brought it into Plato's Academy, saying, "This is Plato's man." After this incident, "with broad flat nails" was added to Plato's definition.

There are numerous accounts of Diogenes' death. He is alleged variously to have held his breath, to have become ill from eating raw octopus, and to have suffered an infected dog bite. When asked how he wished to be buried, he left instructions to be thrown outside the city wall so wild animals could feast on his body. When asked if he really wished this, he said, "Not at all, as long as you provide me with a stick to chase the creatures away!" At the end, Diogenes made fun of people's excessive concern with the "proper" treatment of the dead. The Corinthians erected to his memory a pillar on which rested a dog of Parian marble.

[edit] Ideas

Along with Antisthenes, Crates of Thebes, and Xeno, Diogenes is considered one of the founders of Cynicism.

The ideas of Diogenes, like those of most other Cynics, must be arrived at indirectly. No writings of Diogenes survived even though he is reported to have authored a number of books. Cynic ideas are inseparable from Cynic practice; therefore what we know about Diogenes is contained in anecdotes concerning his life and sayings attributed to him in a number of scattered classical sources. None of these sources is definitive and all contribute to a "tradition" that should not be confused with factual biography.

It is not known, for example, whether Diogenes made a virtue out of necessity or whether he really preferred poverty and homelessness. In any case, Diogenes did "make a case" for benefits of a reduced lifestyle. He apparently proved to the satisfaction of the stoics who came after him that happiness has nothing whatever to do with a person's material circumstances. The stoics developed this theme, but made it benign. Epictetus, for example, preached the virtue of modesty and inoffensiveness, but maintained that misfortune is good for the development of strong character.

Diogenes maintained that all the artificial growths of society were incompatible with happiness and that morality implies a return to the simplicity of nature. So great was his austerity and simplicity that the Stoics would later claim him to be a wise man or "sophos". In his words, "Man has complicated every simple gift of the gods."

Diogenes is the first person known to have said, "I am a citizen of the whole world" (cosmopolites). This was a radical claim in a world where a man's identity was intimately tied to his citizenship in a particular city state. An exile and an outcaste, a man with no social identity, Diogenes made a mark on his contemporaries. His story, however uncertain the details, continues to fascinate students of human nature.

[edit] Art and popular culture

Both in ancient and in modern times, his personality has appealed strongly to sculptors and to painters. Ancient busts exist in the museums of the Vatican, the Louvre, and the Capitol. The interview between Diogenes and Alexander is represented in an ancient marble bas-relief found in the Villa Albani. Rubens, Jordaens, Steen, Van der Werff, Jeaurat, Salvator Rosa, Nicolas Poussin, Karel Dujardin, and Giovannino (who declared himself as rebirth of Diogenes) have painted scenes from his life.

The philosopher lent his name to The Diogenes Club, an organization Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes' brother, belongs to in the story "The Greek Interpreter" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The group is the focus of a number of Holmes pastiches by Kim Newman.

Diogenes is referred to in Anton Chekhov's story "Ward No. 6".

Diogenes appears in the anime Reign.

He is mentioned in the song "Start Wearing Purple" by Gogol Bordello.

[edit] See also

Diogenes syndrome

[edit] References

Diogenes, Herakleitos and Diogenes, translated by Guy Davenport (Bolinas: Grey Fox Press, 1979. ISBN 0-912516-36-4 (Complete fragments of Diogenes translated into English)

The chief ancient authority for his life is Diogenes Laertius vi. 20; see also Mayor's notes on Juvenal, Satire XIV, 308-3 148