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- Diogenes the Cynic
Welcome to The Stoa Letter, the newsletter on Stoic theory and practice.
🏛️ Theory
There’s a well known story about Diogenes:
Once, Diogenes was walking through his city in broad daylight with his lamp lit. When people asked him what he was doing, he said he was searching for an honest man. When one young man blushed, Diogenes responded that this was the complexion of virtue.
As the philosophers say, recognizing ignorance is the beginning of virtue.
What’s less well known about the man is that he’s a philosophical ancestor of Stoicism. Diogenes the Cynic taught Crates. Zeno of Citium studied under Crates. Zeno would go on to found Stoicism.
The ancient philosophy of Cynicism was distinct from Stoicism. It taught that virtue was the only good – like Stoicism – but it left no room for anything else. Things of the world: pleasure, wealth, and reputation were scorned by the Cynics. Diogenes exemplified this in his life, sleeping in a barrel and living as a homeless social outcast. He sought to show that we don’t need much for the good life:
One day Diogenes walks to a river with his one possession, a small cup for drinking water. As he is filling the cup for a drink, he sees a small boy drinking from the same stream, except the boy is drinking from his hands, putting them together to form a small cup. Diogenes is outraged. He exclaims “A child has beat me in the plainness of living!”
What is needed for happiness is a philosophical mind, not external things. Because material and social pressures didn’t influence Diogenes, he was free.
The Stoics admired the Cynics. They took the idea of cosmopolitanism from them. Both share similar conceptions of freedom. But Stoicism takes a middle path.
Most of us cannot live like Diogenes – in a barrel constantly harassing Athenians into virtuous living. Most of us shouldn’t. But perhaps there’s a model in that kind of extremity. It reminds me of Musonius Rufus berating his students:
One might with reason consider some animals' ability to endure pain, and this ought to encourage us to do the same.
The lives of Cynics like Diogenes show that one can be absolutely dedicated to philosophical life. Can we be similarly devoted to living well?
🎯 Action
Reflect on one area of your life where you can simplify and remove unnecessary distractions to devote yourself to what truly matters.
🔗 Links
🎧️ Listen to Michael and I discuss Diogenes in the Cynic:
https://stoameditation.com/blog/rufus/
🏛️ And check out the Stoa app course: Lessons From Lives Of The Stoics to learn more about men and women like Diogenes.
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