A philosophy of freedom

The principles of Diogenes the Cynic

“Video meliora, proboque; deteriora sequor.” 

“I see what is good and I approve of it, and yet, I do what is bad.”

(Ovid, Metamorphoses, VII.20.)

Having given an outline of the task that Diogenes and the other Cynics set for themselves, it is now time to look at the general principles of Diogenes’ philosophy. Throughout the anecdotes and sayings that we have of him, we see recurring ideas, that when taken together give a clear view of the philosophy of Diogenes. Taking such a view, we can outline the core principles of Diogenes’ philosophy. I will now give a list and description of these principles. 

This text is intended as a continuation of my previous articles on Diogenes, ‘Dragged into the sunlight’, and ‘Socrates gone mad.’ I recommend you to read these articles first. If you decide not to, you can still find a great summary of Diogenes’ thought in today’s post, but you might not understand some references. Enjoy.

The problem of life is not a problem of knowledge, but a problem of life.

The Cynics observe that most people know what is good, but still fail to do what is good. They know that a life of virtue is better than a life chasing pleasure, yet still, they chase pleasure at the cost of virtue. Considering this, they realize that it is pointless to argue with people, to explain to them over and over why they should change their ways. It leads nowhere, just like arguing with the cave-dwellers of Plato’s allegory leads nowhere. With Diogenes, there is a certain pessimism concerning language. Telling a cave-dweller of the existence of a sun, giving him lucid descriptions of it, it leads to nothing. What must happen, is that the cave-dweller experiences the sun. He has to be dragged into the sunlight. Likewise, explaining to someone that he is living a life of vice leads nowhere. What must happen, is that the person is intimately confronted with his wickedness. He must feel his wickedness, he must come face to face with himself.

We can recall the story of how Diogenes himself became a philosopher. He devalued the currency of Sinope and was consequently exiled. In this exile, he was confronted with his own wickedness, and this put him on the path of philosophy. Before he devalued the currency, people could have told him that it was wrong, but it wouldn’t have mattered. What needed to happen for him to realize his wickedness, was the actual experience. People do not learn from knowledge, they learn from experience.

This is the point of view of Diogenes. But if this is the case, then why do philosophy at all? Why not just live, and learn from our experiences along the way, if what we know doesn’t matter? This is precisely why Diogenes has his peculiar way of doing philosophy. He prefers parrhesia —short and truthful speech—, over lengthy arguments. And he engages in shocking behaviour; urinating on people, hitting them with a stick, shaming them in front of their friends, et cetera. Reason leads us to realize that experience is what enacts change in people’s lives. And thus, philosophy must become a practice seeking to ignite experience in people. Words should not merely inform, they should hurt. The fact that experience, and not words, is the true educator, does not lead to a renouncement of philosophy. Rather, it leads to a profound change in philosophical method. 

The object of philosophy is human life.

The Cynics did not engage in the usual branches of philosophy; metaphysics, logic, etc. They were only concerned with the moral life of the individual. And they believed that all these other branches of philosophy are useless, if the virtue of the individual is not taken as primary. At worst, they act only as distractions. With our head in the clouds, we forget to pay attention to ourselves. 

Antisthenes, the first Cynic and teacher of Diogenes, used to say that

“those who have not yet acquired proper self-mastery should not study literature, so as not to become distracted by extraneous interests.”

(In Diogenes, Sayings and Anecdotes, §96, 27)

In this way, Diogenes believed that for most people, things such as metaphysics, geometry, logic, etc. only act as distractions, engaged in by the individual so as to not have to focus on the true object of philosophy: himself. Diogenes says the same about astrologers, they are so concerned with what is up there and outside of their control, but they care not for what they do have control over: their own actions.

The real world, and the world of fantasy.

The Gods and higher realities might well exist, as many wise men have told us. But very often, speaking and thinking about these topics acts only as a distraction. We speak about Zeus (who symbolizes reason), only to not have to pay attention to how we are using our own reason. We tell the legend of Heracles, but only to excuse ourselves from our own responsibility to show courage. Thus, our primary concern should be the physical world in which we live now. We should put all our attention on the here and now, where we are embodied beings, whose actions have consequences. 

“When Lysias the pharmacist asked him whether he believed in the gods, he replied, ‘And how could I not, when I regard you as being hateful to the gods?”

(Diogenes, Sayings and Anecdotes, §214b, 48)

It is not that Diogenes explicitly denied the existence of the Gods. But what he did say, is that most people who speak on and on about the Gods, live in a way contrary to what the Gods would want, if they existed. We said that the Cynic sage attempts to be like a god: a fully self-sufficient and autonomous being, free, and in control of his own life. But what Diogenes observes, is that none of the people who speak of the gods are actually attempting to live a god-like life. And why praise certain characteristics of the gods, if you are not interested in attaining these characteristics yourself?

“It made him angry that people should sacrifice to the gods for good health, and yet at those very sacrifices feast to the detriment of their health.”

(Diogenes, Sayings and Anecdotes, §195, 44)

The shortness of life, and the bliss of the present.

A major theme in Diogenes’ sayings is the shortness of life. Everyone always believes they still have much time to do everything, but before they know it, life is over, and they have wasted all their time dreaming of the future, all the while never enjoying the present moment. Most people live as if they are going to live for a thousand years, always thinking about the future. The result is that on their dead-bed, they realize they haven’t lived at all. Diogenes reminds us that our thinking about the future, and our ceaseless remembering of the past, can get in the way of embracing the present, which in the end, is all there is. As Pierre Hadot, inspired by Ancient philosophy, was known to say: “the present alone is our happiness.”

This leads us to the foremost concern of Diogenes: happiness. The entirety of Diogenes’ thought revolves around this one question: ‘what is happiness?’, and its answer is that happiness consists in living in accordance with nature and truth. Happiness does not consist in possessions, praise, comfort, pleasure, etc. Rather, happiness consists in needing none of these things to be happy. In living according to what one knows to be true, and in living in accordance with nature, thus being as self-sufficient as possible, undisturbed by loss or gain. And the more we live in this manner, the more we will be able to enjoy the present moment. If we are not worried about what we might lose or gain in the future, and we care not for all that has happened in the past, we will be more open to enjoy the present: the only thing that really exists.

Diogenes tells us continuously, that the more that people posses, the more they are distanced from nature. And the more that they posses, the more likely they are to experience unhappiness. For when one of their possessions is lost, they won’t know what to do. But he who is accustomed to needing nothing, except for nature, is most resilient and happy of all. He embraces the present moment, and realizes that all thoughts about the future, and all memories of the past, are merely like a dream separating us from experiencing true happiness.

What does it mean to live in accordance with nature? To know this, the Cynic uses reason, which is the only thing that can determine for us what is and what is not in accordance with nature. We cannot rely on pleasure, emotions, or the senses, to tell us what nature is. For in fact, these often deceive us into living a life distanced from nature. To live in accordance with nature does not mean to live as an uncivilized animal, far from it.

When we speak of nature here, it must be taken in the sense of the ‘essence’ of something, not as the natural world as opposed to the world of culture and artefact. For example, it is the ‘nature’ of a tree to grow, and it is the nature of a dog to bark. And likewise, it is the nature of a human to have the ability of reason. Thus, to live as an animal, un-thinking, solely relying on instinct, is very far from living in accordance with nature. For humans, living in accordance with nature, means precisely living in accordance with our nature as a reasonable being. And what does reason tell us? It tells us clearly, that chasing a life of pleasure does not lead to lasting happiness. And it tells us clearly that he who places his happiness in his possessions, is most likely to experience unhappiness when his possessions are taken away. And reason teaches us that there is no reason to excessively worry about the future or the past. For the past is no more, and the future is not yet. The only thing that is truly real is the present moment. And thus, to live in accordance with what is, is to live in the present moment.

Askēsis and salvation.

Diogenes believed that, in principle, everyone can attain true happiness. Some just need a philosopher like Diogenes to shock them into action. We might all be blinded, living an unconscious life under the influence of typhos —the dark cloud of ignorance—, but in our essence, we are good and capable of virtue. And if only we would train (askēsis), we could achieve true happiness. 

“Nothing whatever in life, he would say, can be brought to a successful conclusion without training; it is capable of overcoming anything.”

(Diogenes, Sayings and Anecdotes, §105, 29)

Diogenes said that training can achieve anything, and at no point of depravity are we too far gone to be saved. Through training, we can clear the body and mind of detrimental influences, and attain true clarity of body and mind, a state in which happiness is bound to come to us. A state in which the body and mind are not dragged down by past influences, and are not disturbed by fear of the future. Through training, we are able to achieve the present moment.

Life is good and valuable in itself. 

For Diogenes, life lived according to nature is the supreme good, and needs no justification for its goodness except the mere fact of itself. To someone who complained that life was evil, Diogenes replied:

“Not life, but life lived badly.”

(Diogenes, Sayings and Anecdotes, §108, 30)

If we, through training, can cleanse ourselves from false opinions and unnatural desires, we will realize that life is not evil, but that we make it evil by living contrary to nature. 

Self-sufficiency.

The goal of life is self-sufficiency. A life in which one has no need of anything but oneself to be happy. One has no need of others, and no need of any possessions whatsoever. For the philosophical sage, as the present alone is his happiness, the mere fact of living is enough. This is in stark contrast to Aristotles’ idea that man is essentially a political animal, someone who needs to live in a community, helping others and being helped oneself. In Aristotle’s Politics, we read: 

“The proof that the state is a creation of nature and prior to the individual is that the individual, when isolated, is not self-sufficing; and therefore he is like a part in relation to the whole. But he who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god: he is no part of a state.”

(Aristotle, Politics, I, 1253a)”   

Diogenes however urges us on to not live as a part in relation to a whole, but to become a whole unto ourselves. To be entirely sufficient by ourselves only. Diogenes wants us to become the person who has no need of society, “because he is sufficient for himself”. Yet nonetheless, the model of the Cynic sage is not the wise man living alone on a mountaintop, spending his days in contemplation. Rather, the Cynic sage can not be understood without the social aspect. His essence consists in being the stray dog that hunts people down to shock them into virtue.  

In Aristotle’s terms, Diogenes wants us to live as a god. But living as a god, we should aim to help the masses. Like the goddess Areté urges Hercules on to the path of virtue, the Cynic sage urges the masses on to a life of philosophy. And perhaps, to the eyes of society and those thinkers like Hegel or Aristotle, who cannot imagine a man living for himself, this must seem like the life of a beast. As Diogenes the Cynic’s name suggests —Diogenes means ‘born from Zeus’, Cynic means ‘dog’—; a son of God, but only a dog in the eyes of men. 

Sources: 

Aristotle. The Complete Works: Volume Two. Edited by Jonathan Barnes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.

Diogenes the Cynic. Sayings and Anecdotes. Translated by Robin Hard. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. 

Ovid. Metamorphoses.