Título: Cynics

Autor(es) I. G. Kidd
Fuente: Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. Donald M. Borchert. Vol. 2. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006. p616-617.
Tipo de Documento: Topic overview
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CYNICS
"Cynics," the "dog philosophers" of the Greek and Roman world, so called almost certainly from the nickname of Diogenes of Sinope, were not a
continuous school of theoretical philosophy but an erratic succession of individuals who from the fourth century BCE to the sixth century CE
preached, through ascetic practice and mordant denunciation of established convention, a more or less similar way of life designed to lead to the
happiness of the individual. Consequently there is no established doctrinal canon by which to define an "orthodox" Cynic, and the ancient but still
lively debate as to whether Antisthenes or Diogenes was the founder of Cynicism is an unreal one. Nevertheless, despite marked variations of
stress and tone in individual exponents, Diogenes was always regarded as the arch-Cynic, and a sufficient number of characteristic attitudes recur
to identify the movement.

The nature of the existing evidence of Cynicism is highly unsatisfactory. The written works with which Diogenes was credited have not survived,
and doxographies are few and of uncertain origin (for example, Diogenes Laërtius, Bk. 6, 70–73). Since Diogenes's life was his main testament,
the largest class of evidence is anecdotal, with all the uncertainties and elaborations of an oral tradition. Information of his pupils and of Cynics of
the third century BCE is tantalizingly fragmentary. Even the comparatively abundant material on contemporary Cynicism from the first century
CE comes from outside the movement, from sympathizers of such diverse interests as Epictetus, Dio Chrysostom, and Julian, or from satirists such
as Lucian.

TEACHING
The Cynics believed that happiness was found in "virtuous" action, which was the practical expression of self-realization (arete and "know
thyself"). This state was in turn produced by a rational awareness of the distinction between natural and artificial values. External and physical
goods such as wealth, reputation, pleasure, conventional duties arising from family, property, or state, and all traditional inhibitions, whether social
or religious, were condemned as unnatural tyrannies that fettered a man through desire, indulgence, and the ignorance of a confused and corrupt
society—the three causes of human misery. Freedom was secured by "following nature" by means of self-discipline whose end was self-
sufficiency (autarkeia); since man was vulnerable and perverted through his emotions and desires, happiness could be guaranteed only by the
understanding and strength of mind to want nothing, lack nothing. And since the artificial currency of human standards was thought to be, not an
indifferent factor, but an active corruption to be eradicated, Cynics wished not merely to devalue the coin (like Socrates and the Stoics), but to
deface it (paracharattein); hence, the most characteristic feature of Cynicism was an asceticism that sought to reduce physical wants to a
minimum, as in the case of the animals after which Cynics were named, and to achieve spiritual independence like gods.

Independence was not to be achieved, however, by the withdrawal of a hermit; the Cynic engaged in an active crusade that required a continual
training (askesis) to harden the body and temper the spirit in the very face of temptation, and thus to free the natural "perceptions" and capacities
for virtuous actions. The toiling, painful effort of this moral struggle (ponos) was categorized as a good, the steep short cut to virtue, which evoked
the only natural pleasure; and the legend of Herakles's life of service spent in successfully overcoming labors was sanctified as an ideal of freedom
and self-fulfillment. He and the Cynic, whether slave or oppressed, ruled himself as his own master and, therefore, was the ideal king among men.
Essentially individualistic and largely antisocial in advocating independence from any community, Cynicism was the most radical philosophy of
spiritual security offered to fill the social and moral vacuum created in the fourth century BCE by the dissolution of the city-state political
organism. Yet there was a strong philanthropic impulse in the movement in the sense that the gospel of Herakles, the ideal king, was a spiritual
evangel for all men, to be preached by personal example. The Cynic saw himself as "scout and herald of God," dedicating his own labors as a
reconnaissance for others to follow; he was the "watchdog of mankind" to bark at illusion, the "surgeon" whose knife sliced the cancer of cant
from the minds of others. Cynics deliberately adopted shamelessly shocking extremes of speech and action to jolt the attention and illustrate their
attack on convention.

Fearlessness in criticism was a virtue, useful to further Cynic ideals, but it was also open to abuse, as was the license of affected shamelessness.
There was always a real danger that the negative, denunciatory side of Cynicism would predominate, the more so since happiness was most often
described as freedom from misery, and virtue,Página 617  |  Inicio del Artículo practical wisdom, and right reason remained somewhat nebulous
terms. The Cynics did not offer arguments to intellectuals, whose theories they despised as useless. Rather, they offered the ideal practical example
of autonomy of will through their own actions, bringing by the very vilification of luxury and sensual indulgence and by the justification of
poverty, spiritual hope to the poor, disenchanted and oppressed. Thus the more formal types of philosophical instruction were abandoned and three
new literary genres fostered: the chreia, or short anecdotal quip with a pungent moral tang; the diatribe, or popular sermon in conversational style;
and Menippean satire.

HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT

The most influential of Diogenes's converts was Crates of Thebes. Joined by his wife in a life devoted to Cynic ideals, he earned by his humanity
and good works the affectionate name of "Door-Opener." He wrote philosophical tragedies and poetry about a Cynic paradise named the island of
Pera. In the third century BCE. Bion of Borysthenes, a wandering preacher, was "the first to tart up philosophy" by popularizing the diatribe;
Menippus of Gadara initiated a new type of satire mingling seriocomic themes in prose and verse (his works are lost); Cercidas of Megalopolis
applied Cynic ideas to practical politics by proposing reforms attacking social inequalities in the refounding of his city; the fragments of Teles, a
dull Megarian schoolmaster, throw some light on Bion and earlier Cynics. After a quieter, although not dormant, period Cynicism revived in the
first century CE with some encouragement from Stoicism: Demetrius was prominent in the Stoic-flavored opposition to the emperor in the seventh
decade; Dio Chrysostom found solace for his exile in an amalgam of Cynic and Stoic practice; Epictetus, the Stoic, admired Diogenes.

The second century records the apogee of Cynic influence and extravagance. The leading figures differed sharply. The philanthropy and popularity
of Demonax of Cyprus contrasted with the brutal scorn of Oenomaus of Gadara. Peregrinus Proteus, a convert from Christianity, was an
irrepressible radical with a touch of the mystic; he burned himself to death before huge crowds at the Olympic festival. These were men of ideals;
but Lucian and Julian also record with disgust a riffraff of confidence tricksters and professional beggar-preachers masquerading under the Cynic
uniform of cloak, knapsack, and stick. The peculiar animal-divine polarity of Cynicism attracted both saints and rogues. In the history of Greek
thought Cynicism was most influential on the development of Stoicism, first through Zeno and then much later with Epictetus, who gave noble
expression (3.22) to the most uncompromisingly radical ethic that anyone attempted to put into practice in the ancient world.

It is tempting to recognize Cynic traits in other civilizations, as Onesicratus, the admiral and historian of Alexander, did on encountering the
gymnosophist Indian fakirs. In medieval times, the mendicant friars are more apposite than anchorites, especially when one considers the
complementary virtues of Franciscans and Dominicans (Domini canes).

See also Antisthenes ; Asceticism ; Diogenes of Sinope ; Epictetus ; Lucian of Samosata ; Megarians ; Socrates ; Stoicism ; Zeno of Citium .

BIBLIOGRAPHY
SOURCES, COMMENTARIES, AND TRANSLATIONS
Giannantoni, G. Socratis et Socraticorum Reliquiae. 4 vols. Naples: Bibliopolis, 1990.

For Crates: Diehl, E. Anthologia Lyrica Graeca I. Leipzig, 1958.

For Teles: Hense, O. Teletis Reliquiae. Freiburg, 1889.

Malherbe, A. J. The Cynic Epistles. Missoula: Scholars Press for the Society of Biblical Literature, 1977.

Müseler, E. Die Kynikerbriefe. 2 vols. Paderborn: F. Schöningh, 1994.

Caizzi, F. D. Antisthenis Fragmenta. Milan, 1966.

Von Fritz, K. Quellenuntersuchungen zur Leben und Philosophie des Diogenes von Sinope. Philologus Suppl. 18, Leipzig, 1926.

STUDIES
Billerbeck, M. Die Kyniker in der modernen Forschung. Amsterdam: B. R. Grüner, 1991.

Caizzi, F. D. "Antistene." Studi Urbinati 1 (1964) 25–76.

Downing, F. G. Cynics and Christian Origins. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1992.

Dudley, D. R. A History of Cynicism from Diogenes to the Sixth Century A.D. London: Methuen, 1937.

Goulet-Cazé, M.-O. "Le cynisme à l'époque impériale." Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt 2.36.4. Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1990.
Goulet-Cazé, M.-O. Sophiês Maiêtores. In Chercheurs de Sagesse: Hommage à Jean Pepin. Collection des Études Augustiniennes, Serie
Antiquité 131 (1992) 5–36.

Goulet-Cazé, M.-O., and R. Goulet, eds. Le cynisme ancien et ses prolongements: Actes du Colloque intérnational du C.N.R.S. Paris: Presses
universitaires de France, 1993.

Hahm, D. "Diogenes Laertius VII: On the Stoics." Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt 2.36.6. Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1992.

Mansfeld, J. "Diogenes Laertius on Stoic Philosophy." Elenchos 7 (1986) 296–382.

I. G. Kidd (1967)

Bibliography updated by Scott Carson (2005