Key Takeaways
Diogenesof Sinope ( 404 to 323 B.C.E. ) was arguably the funniest figure ever to be considered a serious philosopher . Platocalled Diogenes a " Socrates cash in one’s chips mad " and his soubriquet among his fellow Athenians was " the Dog . " That ’s because Diogenes slept in a large ceramic jar in the market place , ate discarded scraps of food and bark hilarious takedowns at passersby .
He drill a theatrical version of Cynic philosophy , which itself was pretty radical for its sentence , explain Julie Ann Piering , aphilosophy professorat Northern Arizona University . Compare Diogenes toSocrates , who also hang out in the market and engaged Athenians in pointed dialogues .
" But Socrates never say to give up all of your possessions , " says Piering . " He just enounce not to care about money or status or power more than you care about the country of your soul . It ’s Diogenes who took the radicalize version of that . "
Diogenes and his Cynic followers were mendicant . They dressed in rough blanket , slept under porticos , and did every " opprobrious " human human activity in world . But the Cynics lived this way to make a percentage point — that there is nothing shameful about being human . Human nature and reason , to faultfinder , were the only prerequisite for a happy life . Everything else was nonsense .
Diogenes leave alone no piece of writing of his own and just about everything we know about him was write 100 afterward by another guy key out Diogenes . In " Lives of Eminent Philosophers , " the Greek historian Diogenes Laertius recorded thegreatest comedic hits of Diogenes , include some rightfully sick Nathan Birnbaum directed at fig likeAlexander the GreatandPlato .
If you look for the internet for Diogenes inverted comma , by the means , you ’ll get a lot of lines that were lifted from Diogenes Laertius and reworded as first - person cite from Diogenes . For our purposes , we ’re going to quote straight off from " Lives of Eminent Philosophers " even if the quotes or anecdotes about Diogenes are written in the third person .
Here are five of the most memorable moments from the lifespan of Diogenes of Sinope :
1. ‘Stand out of my light.’
countenance ’s set the scene here . Diogenes , a penniless philosophizing beggar , is lazing around in the sun when he ’s approach by Alexander the Great , the most muscular military personnel in the known world . Alexander makes Diogenes an unbelievable offer — ask anything of me and I ’ll give it to you . Diogenes could have ask for gold , for a hall , or for a easygoing position in Alexander ’s court .
But instead , Diogenes scold ( without spread out his eyes , we imagine ) , " Stand out of my light . "
Did Diogenes dislike Alexander ? We do n’t eff . But what we do eff is that Cynics like Diogenes prized one thing above all else : autarkeia , a Grecian word that roughly translates into self-direction or exemption . And Diogenes knew that a " boon " from Alexander was n’t just a gift , but an attempt to corrupt his commitment .
" When you ’re indebted to a politician , a statesman , or even more so the emperor , you have lose your power to speak freely and represent freely , " say Piering . " So not only does Diogenes notneedanything from Alexander the Great , he doesn’twantanything from him . "
You might recollect that affront an emperor would get you in worry , but Diogenes enjoyed a foreign type of immunity as a " comic " figure of speech and even swish Athenians had a grudging respect for Diogenes ' unencumbered exemption . According to Diogenes Laertius , the mighty Alexander is reported to have said , " Had I not been Alexander , I should have liked to be Diogenes . "
Bonus:“When someone was extolling the good fortune of Callisthenes and say what splendour he shared in the retinue of Alexander , ' Not so , ' say Diogenes , ' but rather ill fortune ; for he breakfast and dines when Alexander thinks fit . ' "
2. ‘Sell me to this man; he needs a master.’
Diogenes ' life is sketchy at best , but we make out that he was to begin with from Sinope , an ancient metropolis locate in Turkey on the shoring of the Black Sea . He was expatriate for defacing the local up-to-dateness ( or maybe his father did it;it ’s unclear ) at which full stop he relocated to Athens and became a student of Antisthenes , perhaps the first Cynic philosopher .
In a late instalment , Diogenes was capture by pirates and auctioned off as a slave in Corinth . As Piering explains , captive like Diogenes would have been put on the auction block and asked to lean their skills to potential purchaser . A warrior might be sold as a bodyguard or a skilled Captain Cook as a chef .
When the auctioneer ask Diogenes " in what he was proficient , " according to Diogenes Laertius , the mischievous philosopher replied , " In rule valet . " Kind of an rum thing for a slave to say , but Diogenes persisted . He spot a rich man in the crowd key Xeniades and said , " Sell me to this man ; he needs a master . "
Again , Diogenes used a witty telephone exchange to say something about the nature of freedom . Even as a slave , Diogenes was freer than his supposed master .
" Diogenes have it clear that he ’s the master in that relationship , not the person who buy him , just like he ’s more free than Alexander the Great , " says Piering . " It ’s the first clock time in the story of westerly doctrine that you get this really basal conception of exemption . You do n’t see that in Socrates , Plato or Aristotle . It really starts with the cynic . "
Bonus:“Someone require [ Diogenes ] into a splendid planetary house and warned him not to spit out , whereupon having cleared his throat he discharged the lethargy into the man ’s brass , being unable , he said , to detect a mean receptacle . "
3. ‘If you had washed lettuces, you wouldn’t have paid court to Dionysius.’
To give the whole quote : " Plato ascertain [ Diogenes ] lavation clams , came up to him and quietly said to him , ' Had you paid court to Dionysius , you would n’t now be washing sugar , ' and that he with equal calmness made answer , ' If you had washed cabbage , you would n’t have pay court to Dionysius . ' "
This citation needs some context . First , remember that Diogenes lived on the streets and slumber in what ’s sometimes predict a " bath , " but what was really apithos , a large ceramic jar for storing grain or wine . In Athens , only beggar and frankfurter run through in the marketplace , and only the lower-ranking of creatures dug through the trash for trash .
So here he was , washing off some discarded lettuce in the market , when the great Plato deign to give the lowly Diogenes some calling advice . If Diogenes lactate up to a powerful rule , like Dionysius of Syracuse , then he ’d have the way to last in a real mansion and not have to scrounge for intellectual nourishment in the streets .
The satire is that Plato did locomote to Syracuse to take the hard task of teach moral philosophy to Dionysius , a firmly - partying tyrant who was n’t sensory to Plato ’s message of moderation . He not only fire Plato but sell him into thrall . So why would Plato intimate that Diogenes do the same ?
Piering explains that Plato was aristocratic or at least in the thrall of the ruling class . He trust that the expert thing a philosopher could do was attach himself to a potent someone or family . Diogenes believe the opposite word .
" Instead of relying on a ruler to pull you out of poorness , Diogenes says to accept poverty and you ’ll be free from these bloody rulers , " says Piering . " It really spotlight the difference between the two . "
Bonus:“Plato had defined Man as an animal , biped and featherless , and was applauded . Diogenes plucked a poultry and brought it into the talking to room with the words , ' Here is Plato ’s man . ' "
4. ‘I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals.’
This was Diogenes ' response when he was ask what he had done to pull in the nickname " the Dog . " It seemed to be a pop insult that Athenians threw at him , which he turned around and squeeze .
But Diogenes may not have been the first Cynic to be call a dog , orkuōnin Greek . Piering writesthat his teacher Antisthenes make the nicknameHaplokuōn , mean " a andiron plain and simple , " for his own allegedly rude and stark behavior .
In fact , our Scripture Cynic was likely derived from the way that most Greeks felt about mongrel philosophers like Antisthenes and Diogenes . They werekunikosor " heel - like . " If you replace the Ks with Cs , you’re able to see howkunikosbecame cynic . ( The Holy Scripture " cynical " did n’t take on its mod import as " negative and pessimistic " until much later . )
Bonus:“At a feast certain mass kept throwing all the bones to him as they would have done to a firedog . Thereupon he played a dog ’s trick and drenched them . " ( mollycoddler : It was n’t water . )
5. ‘[Diogenes] lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, “I am looking for a man."’
This is one of the most illustrious stories about Diogenes , although his quotation is often reword to say , " I ’m wait for an honest military man . " Piering say that the original Hellenic discussion say nothing about " honest " or even a " humankind . " It allege simply that Diogenes was expect for " a human being . "
fire up a lamp in the midsection of the Clarence Day and wandering the crowded street of Athens in search of a " human being " is a eccentric of performance artwork that Diogenes was fond of , says Piering . In another episode , Diogenes was see begging money from statues . When asked why , he respond , " To get practice in being turn down . "
What was the point Diogenes was strain to make with his lamp - in - the - street carrying into action ? To Diogenes , being worthy of the class " human " demands virtue , says Piering . And virtue does n’t mean the same thing to the Cynics as it does to Socrates or Plato . A virginal human being , for the Cynics , roleplay only in accord with nature and in accord with rationality .
At the heart of Diogenes ' philosophy , and therefore his comedy , is the position that the multitude of Athens — who walk around worrying about money , mogul and societal rule — are the genuine " madmen . " He ’s the only reasonable human being in sight .
Bonus:“Most people , [ Diogenes ] would say , are so nearly mad that a digit produce all the conflict . For , if you go along with your middle finger’s breadth stretch along out , someone will recall you huffy , but , if it ’s the piffling finger , he will not intend so . "
