- # diogenes of sinope ![[220px-diogenes-statue-sinop-enhanced.jpg]] statue of diogenes in sinop turkey born: 412 or 404 bc - sinope paphlagonia - (modern-day sinop turkey) died: 323 bc (aged 81 or 89) corinth greece era: ancient greek philosophy region: western philosophy school: cynicism notable ideas: cosmopolitanism diogenes ( dy-oj-in-eez; ancient greek: διογένης romanised: diogénēs ) also known as diogenes the cynic (διογένης ὁ κυνικός diogénēs ho kynikós) or diogenes of sinope was a greek philosopher and one of the founders of cynicism. ey was born in sinope an ionian colony on the black sea coast of anatolia in 412 or 404 bc and died at corinth in 323 bc diogenes was a controversial figure. ey was banished or fled from sinope over debasement of currency. ey was the son of the mintmaster of sinope and there is some debate as to whether or not ey alone had debased the sinopian currency whether ir father had done this or whether they had both done it. after ir hasty departure from sinope ey moved to athens where ey proceeded to criticize many conventions of athens of that day. there are many tales about ir following antisthenes and becoming ir "faithful hound." diogenes was captured by pirates and sold into slavery eventually settling in corinth. there ey passed ir philosophy of cynicism to crates who taught it to zeno of citium who fashioned it into the school of stoicism one of the most enduring schools of greek philosophy no authenticated writings of diogenes survive but there are some details of ir life from anecdotes (chreia) especially from diogenes laërtius' book lives and opinions of eminent philosophers and some other sources. diogenes made a virtue of poverty. ey begged for a living and often slept in a large ceramic jar or pithos in the marketplace. ey used ir simple lifestyle and behavior to criticize the social values and institutions of what ey saw as a corrupt confused society. ey had a reputation for sleeping and eating wherever ey chose in a highly non-traditional fashion and took to toughening himself against nature. ey declared himself a cosmopolitan and a citizen of the world rather than claiming allegiance to just one place ey modeled himself on the example of heracles believing that virtue was better revealed in action than in theory. ey became notorious for ir philosophical stunts such as carrying a lamp during the day claiming to be looking for a "man" (often rendered in english as "looking for an honest man".) ey criticised plato disputed ir interpretation of socrates and sabotaged ir lectures sometimes distracting listeners by bringing food and eating during the discussions. diogenes was also noted for having mocked alexander the great both in public and to ir face when ey visited corinth in 336 bc ## life nothing is known about diogenes's early life except that ir father hicesias was a banker. it seems likely that diogenes was also enrolled into the banking business aiding ir father at some point (the exact date is unknown) hicesias and diogenes became involved in a scandal involving the adulteration or debasement of the currency and diogenes was exiled from the city and lost ir citizenship and all ir material possessions. this aspect of the story seems to be corroborated by archaeology: large numbers of defaced coins (smashed with a large chisel stamp) have been discovered at sinope dating from the middle of the 4th century bc and other coins of the time bear the name of hicesias as the official who minted them. during this time there was much counterfeit money circulating in sinope. the coins were deliberately defaced in order to render them worthless as legal tender. sinope was being disputed between pro-persian and pro-greek factions in the 4th century and there may have been political rather than financial motives behind the act ### athens ![[jean-léongérôme-diogenes-walters37131.jpg]] diogenes sitting in ir tub by jean-léon gérôme (1860) according to one story diogenes went to the oracle at delphi to ask for ir advice and was told that ey should "deface the currency." following the debacle in sinope diogenes decided that the oracle meant that ey should deface the political currency rather than actual coins. ey traveled to athens and made it ir life's goal to challenge established customs and values. ey argued that instead of being troubled about the true nature of evil people merely rely on customary interpretations. diogenes arrived in athens with a slave named manes who escaped from ir shortly thereafter. with characteristic humor diogenes dismissed ir ill fortune by saying "if manes can live without diogenes why not diogenes without manes?" diogenes would mock such a relation of extreme dependency. ey found the figure of a master who could do nothing for himself contemptibly helpless. ey was attracted by the ascetic teaching of antisthenes a student of socrates. when diogenes asked antisthenes to mentor ir antisthenes ignored ir and reportedly "eventually beat ir off with ir staff." diogenes responded "strike for you will find no wood hard enough to keep me away from you so long as i think you've something to say." diogenes became antisthenes's pupil despite the brutality with which ey was initially received. whether the two ever really met is still uncertain but ey surpassed ir master in both reputation and the austerity of ir life. ey considered ir avoidance of earthly pleasures a contrast to and commentary on contemporary athenian behaviors. this attitude was grounded in a disdain for what ey regarded as the folly pretence vanity self-deception and artificiality of human conduct ![[diogeneslookingforaman-attributedtojhwtischbein.jpg]] diogenes searching for an honest man attributed to j. h. w. tischbein (c. 1780) the stories told of diogenes illustrate the logical consistency of ir character. ey inured himself to the weather by living in a clay wine jar belonging to the temple of cybele. ey destroyed the single wooden bowl ey possessed on seeing a peasant boy drink from the hollow of ir hands. ey then exclaimed: "fool that i am to have been carrying superfluous baggage all this time!." it was contrary to athenian customs to eat within the marketplace and still ey would eat there for as ey explained when rebuked it was during the time ey was in the marketplace that ey felt hungry. ey used to stroll about in full daylight with a lamp; when asked what ey was doing ey would answer "i am looking for a man." (modern sources often say that diogenes was looking for an "honest man" but in ancient sources ey is simply "looking for a man" - "ἄνθρωπον ζητῶ." in ir view the unreasoning behavior of the people around ir meant that they did not qualify as men.) diogenes looked for a man but reputedly found nothing but rascals and scoundrels. diogenes taught by living example. ey tried to demonstrate that wisdom and happiness belong to the man who is independent of society and that civilisation is regressive. ey scorned not only family and socio-political organisation but also property rights and reputation. ey even rejected normal ideas about human decency. diogenes is said to have eaten in the marketplace urinated on some people who insulted ir defecated in the theatre and masturbated in public and pointed at people with ir middle finger which was considered insulting. when asked about ir eating in public ey said "if taking breakfast is nothing out of place then it is nothing out of place in the marketplace." on the indecency of ir masturbating in public ey would say "if only it were as easy to banish hunger by rubbing my belly" ![[mattiapreti-diogenesandplato-googleartproject.jpg]] plato and diogenes (17th century) by mattia preti diogenes had nothing but disdain for plato and ir abstract philosophy. diogenes viewed antisthenes as the true heir to socrates and shared ir love of virtue and indifference to wealth together with a disdain for general opinion. diogenes shared socrates's belief that ey could function as doctor to men's souls and improve them morally while at the same time holding contempt for ir obtuseness. plato once described diogenes as "a socrates gone mad." according to diogenes laërtius when plato gave the tongue-in-cheek definition of man as "featherless bipeds" diogenes plucked a chicken and brought it into plato's academy saying "behold! i've brought you a man" and so the academy added "w/ broad flat nails" to the definition. diogenes laërtius also relates a number of more bawdy tales whereby diogenes would spit urinate on people fart and masturbate in public ### corinth according to a story which seems to have originated with menippus of gadara diogenes was captured by pirates while on voyage to aegina and sold as a slave in crete to a corinthian named xeniades. being asked ir trade ey replied that ey knew no trade but that of governing men and that ey wished to be sold to a man who needed a master. xeniades liked ir spirit and hired diogenes to tutor ir children. as tutor to xeniades's two sons it is said that ey lived in corinth for the rest of ir life which ey devoted to preaching the doctrines of virtuous self-control. there are many stories about what actually happened to ir after ir time with xeniades's two sons. there are stories stating ey was set free after ey became "a cherished member of the household" while one says ey was set free almost immediately and still another states that "ey grew old and died at xeniades's house in corinth." ey is even said to have lectured to large audiences at the isthmian games. although most of the stories about ir living in a jar are located in athens lucian recounts a tale where ey lived in a jar near the gymnasium in corinth ![[alexandervisitsdiogenesatcorinthbyw.matthews(1914).jpg]] alexander the great visits diogenes at corinth by w. matthews (1914) it was in corinth that a meeting between alexander the great and diogenes is supposed to have taken place. these stories may be apocryphal. the accounts of plutarch and diogenes laërtius recount that they exchanged only a few words: while diogenes was relaxing in the morning sunlight alexander thrilled to meet the famous philosopher asked if there was any favour ey might do for ir. diogenes replied "yes stand out of my sunlight." alexander then declared "if i were not alexander then i should wish to be diogenes." to which diogenes replied "if i were not diogenes i would still wish to be diogenes." in another account of the conversation alexander found the philosopher looking attentively at 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" ### death there are conflicting accounts of diogenes's death. ir contemporaries alleged ey had held ir breath until ey expired; although other accounts of ir death say ey had become ill from eating raw octopus; or to have suffered an infected dog bite. when asked how ey wished to be buried ey left instructions to be thrown outside the city wall so wild animals could feast on ir body. when asked if ey minded this ey said "not at all as long as you provide me with a stick to chase the creatures away!" when asked how ey could use the stick since ey would lack awareness ey replied: "if i lack awareness then why should i care what happens to me when i am dead?" to the end diogenes made fun of people's excessive concern with the "proper" treatment of the dead. the corinthians erected to ir memory a pillar on which rested a dog of parian marble. it was alleged by plutarch and diogenes laërtius that both diogenes and alexander died on the same day however the dates of neither men can be verified ## philosophy along with antisthenes and crates of thebes diogenes is considered one of the founders of cynicism. the ideas of diogenes like those of most other cynics must be arrived at indirectly. fifty-one writings of diogenes survive as part of the spurious cynic epistles though ey is reported to have authored over ten books and seven tragedies that don't survive. cynic ideas are inseparable from cynic practice; therefore what is known about diogenes is contained in anecdotes concerning ir life and sayings attributed to ir in a number of scattered classical sources many anecdotes of diogenes refer to ir dog-like behavior and ir praise of a dog's virtues. it is not known whether diogenes was insulted with the epithet "doggish" and made a virtue of it or whether ey first took up the dog theme himself. when asked why ey was called a dog ey replied "i fawn on those who give me anything i yelp at those who refuse and i set my teeth in rascals." one explanation offered in ancient times for why the cynics were called dogs was that antisthenes taught in the cynosarges gymnasium at athens. the word cynosarges means the place of the white dog. later cynics also sought to turn the word to ir advantage as a later commentator explained ![[220px-bastein-lepagediogenes.jpg]] diogenes (1873) by jules bastien-lepage > there are four reasons why the cynics are so named. first because of the indifference of ir way of life for they make a cult of indifference and like dogs eat and make love in public go barefoot and sleep in tubs and at crossroads. the second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal and they make a cult of shamelessness not as being beneath modesty but as superior to it. the third reason is that the dog is a good guard and they guard the tenets of ir philosophy. the fourth reason is that the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its friends and enemies. so do they recognize as friends those who are suited to philosophy and receive them kindly while those unfitted they drive away like dogs by barking at them diogenes believed human beings live artificially and hypocritically and would do well to study the dog. besides performing natural body functions in public with ease 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 either dupe others or are duped dogs will give an honest bark at the truth. diogenes stated that "other dogs bite ir enemies i bite my friends to save them." 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 ir austerity and simplicity that the stoics would later claim ir to be a wise man or "sophos." in ir words "humans have complicated every simple gift of the gods." although socrates had previously identified himself as belonging to the world rather than a city diogenes is credited with the first known use of the word "cosmopolitan." when ey was asked from where ey came ey replied "i am a citizen of the world (cosmopolites)." this was a radical claim in a world where a man's identity was intimately tied to ir citizenship of a particular city-state. an exile and an outcast a man with no social identity diogenes made a mark on ir contemporaries ## legacy ### depictions in art ![[waterhouse-diogenes.jpg]] diogenes (1882) by john william waterhouse both in ancient and in modern times diogenes's 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. in raphael's fresco the school of athens a lone reclining figure in the foreground represents diogenes the many allusions to dogs in shakespeare's timon of athens are references to the school of cynicism that could be interpreted as suggesting a parallel between the misanthropic hermit timon and diogenes; but shakespeare would have had access to michel de montaigne's essay "of democritus and heraclitus" which emphasised ir differences: timon actively wishes men ill and shuns them as dangerous whereas diogenes esteems them so little that contact with them could not disturb ir. "timonism" is in fact often contrasted with "cynicism": "cynics saw what people could be and were angered by what they had become; timonists felt humans were hopelessly stupid & uncaring by nature and so saw no hope for change" the philosopher's name was adopted by the fictional diogenes club an organisation that sherlock holmes' brother mycroft holmes belongs to in the story "the greek interpreter" by sir arthur conan doyle. it is called such as its members are educated yet untalkative and have a dislike of socialising much like the philosopher himself ### psychology diogenes's name has been applied to a behavioural disorder characterised by apparently involuntary self-neglect and hoarding. the disorder afflicts the elderly and is quite inappropriately named as diogenes deliberately rejected common standards of material comfort and was anything but a hoarder. the name itself is also often criticised as diogenes believed ey was helping himself