Cynicism

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The Kynismus [ kyˈnɪsmʊs ] ( ancient Greek κυνισμός kynismos ) was a current of ancient philosophy with an emphasis on ethical skepticism and lack of need . The modern term cynicism is derived from the original word, but has a different meaning in today's parlance.

The first and to this day best known Cynics were in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Chr. The Socrates -Students Antisthenes and then his pupil Diogenes . The philosophical trend soon ebbed, but passed on some of its ideas - also about the Diogenes students Stilpon and Krates  - to the later Stoa .

The basic idea of ​​the Cynical philosophy was to reduce all possessions to the bare minimum in order to achieve happiness through the greatest possible independence from outside help: "I do not own so that I am not possessed". The Cynics dressed (if at all) in the simplest of robes, made poverty the rule, lived on alms, went about as itinerant preachers and slept in the street or in the porticoes of the temples.

In their doctrine of a "back to nature" they rejected metaphysics as just as pointless as Plato's theory of ideas . They saw ethics as the only guide and nature as the only true example. On the latter point they went so far as to regard the free satisfaction of the sexual instinct as as natural as the satisfaction of hunger. Apart from that, many elements of their ascetic way of life can later be found among the Essenes of Judea or the monks of early Christian Egypt.

Origin of name

The name was originally derived from Kynosarges , an Athenian gymnasium in which Antisthenes taught. The hall was built on the spot where the sanctuary of Heracles Kynósarges was once located. This owes its name to a mythological story about the founder Diomos , in which a dog (Greek κύων kýōn , genitive κυνός kynós ) played a decisive role.

Although the name was just as coincidental as in Plato's academy and the Lyceum of Aristotle , an association with the "dog life" of the Cynics emerged from the people. The philosophers took up this - very "cynically" - and played with this classification themselves. Diogenes, for example, introduced himself in the famous dialogue with Alexander (“I am Alexander, the great king”) with the words: “And I am Diogenes the dog”. The Corinthians later placed a marble dog on his grave.

Individual modern philosophers still question the origin of the name.

Lore

A manuscript from Diogenes Laertios' On the Lives and Teachings of Famous Philosophers , 13th century

Since the Cynics did not leave any writings, their historical picture is mainly shaped by reports and legends. It should be noted that the figure of Diogenes, but also the entire teaching of Cynicism, polarized very strongly even in antiquity. The reports are either shaped by an idealization of Diogenes as an infallible ethical model, or they reject his views, distort them into ridiculousness and criticize his conduct as immoral. The often only anecdotal reports were hardly questioned, and surprisingly little concern was given to the gaping gaps. So is z. For example, it has long been accepted uncritically that almost all of the ancient material on Cynicism is three to five hundred years younger than the first Cynics and that only a small number of representatives of the so-called "Cynic school" were known.

Diogenes Laertios handed down the names from the writings of the Cynics; which of these actually existed is unclear. For example, he lists over 70 titles by Antisthenes.

Access to historical cynicism is therefore difficult to gain. Most of the sources on Cynicism come from third hand, from Marcus Tullius Cicero and Diogenes Laertios (3rd century), who treats the Cynics in the 6th of the 10 books in his work On the Life and Teachings of Famous Philosophers . There are several reasons for the fact that little material has survived from cynicism. On the one hand, it is due to the fact that cynicism was denied the character of a real school of philosophy in ancient times, since it is more of a way of life. In fact, there are a few Cynics who studied literature in great detail. They include Monimos and Krates, who - in contrast to Diogenes - became known primarily for their writing as satirists and moralists. Krates wrote parodic tragedies, hymns, elegies, and letters, all of which have been lost. But Antisthenes is also said to have written a ten-volume work on the teachings of Cynicism (of which only fragments have survived, however). The majority has been lost in the course of time and only a few works have been partially preserved ( see also book losses in late antiquity ).

Teaching

Because of the poor tradition, the teachings of the Cynics are often reconstructed from the anecdotes with reference to the related teaching of the Stoa. Cynicism exerted a strong influence on the Stoa, but from a philosophical point of view , the mixture easily leads to the chimera of a “cynicism”.

ethics

The ultimate goal for the Cynics, as for most other post-Socratic schools, is the achievement of individual happiness. The path that the Cynics want to take is very similar to that of the Stoics: According to the Cynics, happiness is based on inner independence and self-sufficiency . This inner freedom, in turn, can be achieved through virtue, which is thus sufficient for happiness in itself. She is the only real value; all other supposed goods are in reality evil or at least unimportant for a happy life. Unlike the Stoics, they actively reject involvement in the pursuit of other goods, while the Stoics recommend passive restraint.

The Cynics do not seem to have defined what the real virtue is. The answer is most likely to be found in the anecdotes that have been written about the Cynics: Primarily, the Cynic virtue is to be understood as avoidance of evil and lack of need. The latter ensures inner freedom and leads to a further principle of cynicism: the orientation towards nature. What is natural can neither be bad nor a reason to be ashamed of it. Thus, for the Cynics, for example, the public life of Diogenes or the open door of Krates and Hipparchia is not scandalous, but natural and normal. The animals represented a kind of role model, as on the one hand they offer approaches to criticism of human society, but on the other hand - the Cynics were convinced - they provided positive instructions for a happy and correct, natural life.

But even if the needlessness ensures the self-sufficiency, it leads to the negation of the traditional customs, norms and laws, of culture, art and family, up to the excitement of public nuisance. This has to be accepted, even expected: Due to the lack of need, fate is offered as little surface to attack as possible: if you don't own anything, you can't be disappointed because you can't lose anything. Therefore, the greatest obstacles on the way to happiness are desire, fear (e.g. of strokes of fate) and ignorance. Because virtue can only be learned through knowledge if one is also willing to put what has been learned into practice. The cynicism is very radical in its teachings and its implementation: all external, worldly things should be put aside, because they make you unhappy and are against nature.

The means with which the Cynics “bite” in order to replace the existing order with a more “natural” one are the past life of poverty, provocation and satire and ridicule in the form of violent penitential sermons, which are conspicuous by an aggressive style of presentation. extreme imagery and crude clarity are characterized by the so-called diatribe ( διατριβή ). These are also used by Stoics, especially Seneca , and transform them into a relaxed moral-philosophical speech in a popular tone. This addressed a broad lay audience in order to educate them through entertaining instruction and also had a strong influence on the style of early Christian sermons. Often the Cynics were also eager to draw attention through scandals in order to emphasize their protest against the existing conditions.

While the Hellenistic cynicism was very individualistic, this changed over the centuries. The cynicism of the Roman imperial era - in complete contrast to the cynicism of Diogenes - had almost religious features. The community now played a major role. The only thing that did not change was the uncompromising attitudes towards asceticism and lack of need. So it is hardly surprising that cynicism disappeared as an independent philosophy with the end of antiquity. It was only in stoicism that some basic ideas lived on.

Cynicism and Stoa

The Stoa follows the same ethical maxims as in Cynicism. But while for the Cynics the natural life, which goes hand in hand with needlessness, is a way to escape fate, the Ananke as far as possible, for the Stoics "secundum naturam vivere" (Zeno) means that the life of reason is determined because it allows us to see that wealth or prestige are only supposed happiness. The goal is not avoiding fate by separating natural and unnatural needs, but apathetic indifference to needs, not avoiding fate, but accepting the duties and tasks that arise from the coincidences of birth and suitability.

The attempt of the Cynics to escape the public world is criticized by the Stoa for the fact that the own ego , which is still struggling with problems, worries and fears, stands in the way of happiness.

“Effugisti vitia animi; non est tibi frons ficta, nec in alienam voluntatem sermo compositus, nec cor involutum, nec avaritia, quae, quicquid omnibus abstulit, sibi ipsi neget, nec luxuria pecuniam turpiter perdens, quam turpius reparet, nec ambitio indigna nisi te adignitat non ducet: nihil adhuc consecutus es; multa effugisti, te nondum. "

"You have escaped the missteps of the spirit: your expression is not disguised, your speech is not hypocritical and the heart is not covered in darkness by greed, which, whatever it has taken away from everyone, grudges itself, still full Extravagance, which very shamefully wastes the wealth in order to bring it back in even more shamefully, you have no ambition that does not bring you to reputation, except through unworthy (behavior): you have still not achieved anything, have avoided a lot, not yourself yet . "

- Seneca : Naturales quaestiones, Liber primus, Praefatio, §6

Cosmopolitanism

The ancient Greek word for cosmopolitanism appears for the first time in connection with the Cynic Diogenes of Sinope. When asked where he came from, he said to have replied that he was citizen of the world ( κοσμοπολίτης cosmopolitan ). This saying is supposed to show a contrast to the contemporary views, according to which every free person was firstly a citizen of a polis and secondly a Greek (in contrast to the non-Greek barbarians).

History of cynicism

Are considered to be representatives of cynicism

Little to hardly anything is known about the 4th and 3rd century BC. Active Cynics known as Philiskos of Aegina , Monimos , Metrokles and Menedemos .

founder

One of the Roman copies of the missing, in the 2nd century BC. Antisthenes depiction of Phyromachus from BC

The Socrates pupil Antisthenes and his pupil Diogenes von Sinope are considered the founders of Cynicism. Antisthenes was in the 5th and 4th, Diogenes of Sinope in the 4th century BC. Active.

Antisthenes advised a withdrawal from political life and old values ​​in favor of a natural life that brings fewer disappointments. The most important student of Antisthenes was Diogenes von Sinope, the best-known Cynic and the actual founder of Cynicism as a way of life and a school of philosophy. Disciples of Diogenes were Monimos and Krates of Thebes , who in turn was the teacher of Zeno of Kition , the founder of the Stoa. Cynicism and Stoa can thus be traced back to Antisthenes and thus to Socrates. The family trees of the philosophical schools established in antiquity, which all post-Socratic schools trace back to Socrates, should, however, be viewed with caution historically.

In contrast to Antisthenes, Diogenes and the other Cynics do not withdraw completely from the public sphere of the polis, but provoke and go into opposition to the existing order, which they suspect is doomed.

Diogenes by Jean-Léon Gérôme , 1860, modern fantasy

In the tradition of Diogenes we learn nothing that cannot be questioned. Not even its historical existence is clearly verifiable; it is only mentioned in one single contemporary author, Theophrastus . In the new Greek Comedy , which is otherwise one of the most important sources of information about the public impact of Greek philosophers, only Monimos and Krates appear as characters from the Cynics. Only with this generation following Diogenes can Cynicism become historically flawless. All of the writings recorded under his name were declared to be false in ancient times.

One of the best-known anecdotes about Diogenes, indeed one of the most popular anecdotes from ancient times, is the encounter with Alexander the Great . Alexander is said to have visited Diogenes and granted him a wish, to which he replied: Get out of the sun a bit!

Other representatives

The act with which Monimos started his cynical life is symbolic : he was employed by a money changer. When he heard about Diogenes from a business friend of his master, he was so enthusiastic that he pretended to be insane and tossed up all the change and all the silver coins until he was released.

Other cynics of this time were the former historian Onesikritos , Zoilus of Amphipolis , Menedemus and the brother of Hipparchia, Metrokles .

The two figures on this wall painting from the 1st century are interpreted by some researchers as Krates and Hipparchia.

It is said of Krates that he was born rich, but that he gave his fortune and that of his wife Hipparchia away to his fellow citizens in favor of a Cynical beggarly life or that some of them were set aside for his children in case they would not become philosophers (as Philosophers do not need the wealth). He is also said to have been the most philanthropic of the Cynics and was given the nickname “door opener” because he was allowed to enter every house because of his friendliness and his good advice. However, this had the consequence that the abolition of the separation of public and private, reported by Diogenes, also applied to Krates. He and his wife are said to have slept together in public.

The main characteristics of the written works of Monismos and Krates, which have survived second hand, is a satirical tone, the "spoudogeloion", which combines serious moral problems with the ridiculous.

Literary cynicism

From around 300 BC A current of cynicism arises in which parody and satire come to the fore at the expense of philosophical content. Representatives of this current are Bion , Menippos , Teles von Megara , Kerkidas and Meleagros .

Cynicism among the Romans

Prominent Roman representatives of Cynicism during the Roman Empire were Demetrios , Dion Chrysostomos , Demonax , Peregrinus and Oinomaos .

In 362, the Roman Emperor Julian wrote two speeches ( Against the Cynic Herakleios and Against the Uneducated Dogs ) that were directed against contemporary Cynics. In the first Herakleios is criticized for speaking out against the gods and the emperor; in the second, the Roman Cynics as ordinary Cynics are contrasted with the ancient Cynics as the true Cynics. As with Epictetus , Julian has a stoic idealization of the original Cynicism.

reception

Antiquity

Seneca admired his contemporary, the Cynic Demetrius, for his lack of need and imperturbability. Epictetus described the ideal Cynic as a witness and preacher of God detached from his environment. In addition to such appreciatively positive evaluations, there is also repeated criticism of the Cynic parasitism, the unkempt appearance of the Cynics and the often provocative harassment of their fellow men.

Modern times

When people were looking for ancient ideals in France in the 17th century, cynicism came into the focus of modern recipients. At that time, cynicism was equated with disregard for social conventions. The word is used with this meaning in Germany from the 18th century onwards. In general, the modern history of concepts is closely interwoven with the history of the concept of " cynicism ".

Source collections

Original texts

  • Gabriele Giannantoni (Ed.): Socratis et Socraticorum Reliquiae , Volume 2, Bibliopolis, Naples 1990, Sections VA to VN ( online )

Translations

literature

Overview representations

Overall presentations and investigations

  • Margarethe Billerbeck (ed.): The cynics in modern research. Gruener, Amsterdam 1991
  • Klaus Döring : The Cynics. Buchner, Bamberg 2006
  • Klaus Döring: The Socratic student Aristippus and the Cyrenaic , Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz 1988
  • Heinrich Niehues-Pröbsting : The cynicism of Diogenes and the concept of cynicism , Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1988

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ William James Durant : Cultural History of Mankind . Volume 3 Classical Greece , Southwest, Munich 1978, page 260.
  2. ↑ Diogenes Laertios : On the life and teachings of famous philosophers 6:13.
  3. ^ Wilhelm Gemoll : Greek-German school and hand dictionary . G. Freytag / Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Munich / Vienna 1965, p. 460.
  4. ↑ Georg Wissowa : Diomos 1. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume V, 1, Stuttgart 1903, Col. 831 f.
  5. ↑ Diogenes Laertios: Antisthenes .
  6. ^ Heinrich Niehues-Pröbsting : The Kynismus of Diogenes and the concept of cynicism
  7. ↑ Diogenes Laertios, On the Lives and Teachings of Famous Philosophers 6: 15-18.
  8. ^ So the accusation of Heinrich Nihues-Pröbsting, Der Kynismus des Diogenes and the concept of cynicism
  9. ↑ cf. Full text on The Latin Library
  10. ↑ A. Horstmann: Kosmopolit, Kosmopolitismus . In: Joachim Ritter u. a. (Ed.): Historical dictionary of philosophy . Volume 4, Schwabe, Basel 1976, Sp. 1155–1167, here: Sp. 1156
  11. ↑ Diogenes Laertios, On the Lives and Teachings of Famous Philosophers 6,63.
  12. ↑ Niklaus Largier: Diogenes the Cynic. Examples, narration, history in the Middle Ages and early modern times . De Gruyter, Tübingen 1997, p. 2.
  13. ^ Heinrich Nihues-Pröbsting: Der Kynismus des Diogenes and the concept of cynicism, Frankfurt a. M. 1979, p. 30
  14. ↑ Klaus Döring : Emperor Julian's Plea for Cynicism (PDF; 3.1 MB) . In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie , Volume 140, 1997, pp. 386–400, here: p. 386
  15. ↑ Niklaus Largier: Diogenes the Cynic. Examples, narration, history in the Middle Ages and early modern times . De Gruyter, Tübingen 1997, pp. 2-3.
  16. ↑ Seneca, De benef. 7.1 and 7.8-11; Ep. 62,3.
  17. ↑ E.g. Epiktet, Diss. 3,22.
  18. ^ Klaus Döring in Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, ISBN 3-7965-1036-1 , p. 315.
  19. ^ Armin Müller: Kynismus, cynical . In: Joachim Ritter u. a. (Ed.): Historical dictionary of philosophy . Volume 4, Schwabe, Basel 1976, columns 1465-1470, here: columns 1469-1470