Cynicism (philosophy)

Cynicism (Greek: κυνισμός) is a school of Ancient Greek philosophy as practiced by the cynics (Greek: Κυνικοί, Latin: Cynici). For the cynics, the purpose of life was to live in virtue, in agreement with nature. As reasoning creatures, people could gain happiness by rigorous training and by living in a way which was natural for themselves, rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, sex and fame. Instead, they were to lead a simple life free from all possessions.

The first philosopher to outline these themes was Antisthenes, who had been a pupil of Socrates in the late 5th century BC. He was followed by Diogenes of Sinope, who lived in a tub on the streets of Athens. Diogenes took cynicism to its logical extremes, and came to be seen as the archetypal cynic philosopher. He was followed by Crates of Thebes who gave away a large fortune so he could live a life of cynic poverty in Athens. Cynicism spread with the rise of Imperial Rome in the 1st century, and cynics could be found begging and preaching throughout the cities of the empire. It finally disappeared in the late 5th century, although similar ascetic and rhetorical ideas appear in early Christianity.