In Search of an Honest Man - Diogenes The Cynic

What use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings? In the 4th century BC, a banker known as Hysias enrolled his son Diogenes into the banking business, and after a scandal of defacing currency emerged in their native city of Sinope, both were driven into exile. Stripped from his citizenship, Diogenes headed towards Athens with his slave Manus, who after reaching Athens managed to escape, with Diogenes dismissing his ill fortune by saying, If Manus can live without Diogenes, why not Diogenes without Manus? He considered the figure of a master who could do nothing for himself contemptibly helpless. During his first months in Athens, Diogenes set out to meet Antisthanes, one of the founders of Cynic philosophy, who at first ignored him and refused him as a student by hitting him with his staff. 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, said Diogenes, wearing Asthanes down with his persistence and eventually being accepted as his pupil. Like Antisthanes, Diogenes believed in self-control, the importance of personal excellence in one's behavior, and the rejection of all which was considered unnecessary in life, such as personal possessions and social status. He was so passionate in his beliefs that he never owned anything but a cup, until the day he saw a boy drinking from his hands and realized one did not even need a cup to sustain oneself. With nothing in his personal possession, most of the days he would be seen sitting with a large clay wine jar, living off the charity of others, avoiding baths, technology, and cooked food. Yet he didn't go about his new way of living quietly. Diogenes was seen urinating, eating, and even masturbating in public, teasing any passerby and paying no attention to any kind of adequate regarding social class, since according to him, society was an artificial contrivance set up by human beings, which did not accord well with truth or virtue, and could not in any way make someone a good and decent human being. Everyone, he claimed, was trapped in this make-believe world, which they believed was reality, and because of this, people were living in a kind of dream state. This, however, never made him stop looking for honesty, as he was seen strolling about in full daylight with a lamp. Many, thinking he was mentally ill, simply neglected him, but when somebody finally asked him what he was doing, he casually replied, I am just looking for an honest man. Many anecdotes of Diogenes refer to his cynic behavior, which derives from the Greek word, kynikos, which means dog-like, but it is not known whether Diogenes was insulted with the epitaph, dogish, and made a virtue of it, or whether he took up the dog theme himself. When asked why he was called a dog, he replied, I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth and rascal. 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 pretensions of abstract philosophy. An example of his apathy to abstract philosophy can be seen in one of Plato's speeches. When Plato defined a human being as a featherless biped, and was praised for the cleverness of the definition, Diogenes plucked a chicken, brought it to Plato's academy, and declared, Behold, Plato's human being. As time passed, Diogenes was starting to make a name for himself, and people all over Greece were eager to meet him, and listen to his ideas, resulting in some of them becoming his followers, known as his cynics. Diogenes never thought of himself as a philosopher, but his followers proved otherwise. When the legend of the philosopher reached Alexander the Great, he headed for Corinth, the place where Diogenes was living at the time. Upon reaching the city, Alexander found Diogenes resting in the sunlight, introduced himself, and asked if there was anything he could do for him. Diogenes replied, Yes, get out of my sunlight. Alexander admired his spirit and said, If I were not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes. To which Diogenes replied, If I were not Diogenes, I would also wish to be Diogenes. After his death, the citizens of Corinth, like those of Athens, had come to greatly admire the philosopher, and buried him in honor by the city gate, erecting a monument over his grave. This would have amused Diogenes, who, when asked what he wished done with his body after his death, replied that it should be thrown outside the city for the A statue of him stands in modern day Sinop, Turkey, depicting him holding out his lantern, with a dog sitting by his side. Diogenes is said to have died at the age of 90, either from severe food poisoning, or suicide by holding his breath. Despite that, his name would be remembered among Greece's greatest philosophers, and his ideas would shape the future of cynicism forever. Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good, and get the fewest rewards. Are you an honest man? Then subscribe to the Crononauts.