In the first respect, Diogenes’ point of view was perhaps not dissimilar to many contemporary cynics. It was a courageous thing to step out in public as a philosopher in the third century BC, as Diogenes did in when he starting practicing Cynicism on the streets of Athens.ĭiogenes firmly believed two things: first, that society was corrupt and second, that virtue was best demonstrated in practice. It pays also to remember that Socrates was executed in 399 BC for having the audacity to think (the actual charges were impiety to the gods and corrupting the youth, but they were flimsy as a fig leaf in the breeze). Socrates amazed people for the way that he would stand still in the middle of the street and stare into the distance, sometimes for hours (‘What are you doing, Socrates?’ ‘I am thinking’). We must understand that thinking wasn’t something respectable people did back in ancient times. It was a hugely controversial style of philosophy, and yet also hugely influential, having a tremendous impact on the Stoic and Sceptic schools that emerged in the decades after.Ĭynicism was devoted to the courage to think. The school was founded by Diogenes of Sinope (412 or 404 BCE – 323 BCE) in Athens, Greece, in the third century BC. Before it became an objectional ideology (and cop out), Cynicism was a school of philosophy. But did it allow for journeys of the mind? Did the old school battler have the courage to think?Ĭynicism wasn’t always a dirty word.
#DIOGENES QUEST LICENSE#
His cynical philosophy gave him license to live the way he wanted. Our conversation was taking him places that he rarely went. Yet something had changed – I could see it in his eyes. He squared his shoulders and knocked my glass with his drink. ‘Take it from me, mate, it’s a pack of dogs out there’. ‘Pretty stupid not to be cynical, these days’, Andy laughed when I pressed him on the issue. To my mind, the fact that successful people like Andy know that things are getting worse also that aspects of their existence are helping things to get worse yet think the matter is out of their hands, that it is beyond their power to do or change anything, so they may as well be cynical – this amazes and upsets me. I am troubled by the easy affirmation of cynicism in contemporary life. They are working for a broken system, and they know its going nowhere, but they’re riding the gravy train to the end. Often, you’ll find them working for pariah industries like coal and tobacco. They don’t care much where they make their money. In business life, cynics are distinguished by a ‘me first’ mentality.
Given this state of affairs, the only smart response is to take care of number one.
Cynics are convinced that everyone operates out of self-interest. Only a fool would want to try to change the world. To be cynical means to be distrusting of people’s motives and dismissive of their good intentions. When Andy and I were kids, we wouldn’t have thought of affirming it.
#DIOGENES QUEST PROFESSIONAL#
‘I’m a professional cynic’.Ĭynicism used to be a dirty word. He laughed when I told him that I was a philosopher. We bonded over shots at the bar, but the more we talked, the more the years yawned like a chasm between us. He liked how the Asians partied with a bottle of whiskey on the table. ‘The stuff’s in the ground, it’s coming out’). These days he worked as a consultant to the coal industry (‘Carbon budget, my ass’, he said. Andy was a ‘self-made’ man, with a dozen businesses behind him and two failed marriages along the way. Five years’ work in the WA mines had set him up to make some smart investments. If the suit didn’t give it away, you could tell from his manner that he’d done well for himself. He seemed to have swelled in size, as if his whole body were inflated with air. His hand absorbed mine, pumping fiercely. The hams and T-bar shoulders that had made him a star on the rugby field now hefted an imposing gut.
His face was broad, carved with crevasses of flesh. I hadn’t seen Andy since our high school reunion.
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