The anecdotes illustrate Diogenes' philosophy in action. But doxographic traces (for example, Diogenes La ërtius, VI.70 –73) and, indeed, the tradition as a whole presuppose a serious teacher who, in disillusioned protest against a corrupt society and hostile world, advocated happiness as self-realization and self-mastery in an inner spiritual freedom from all wants except the bare natural minimum and who, in a bitter crusade against the corrupting influence of pleasure, desire, and luxury, extolled the drastic painful effort involved in the mental and physical training for the achievement of a natural and inviolable self-sufficiency. It is not easy to recover the philosopher from, on the one hand, the lurid fog of anecdotal tradition that represents the stunts of an eccentric tramp at Athens and Corinth defacing conventional human standards -as he or his father, Hicesias, was supposed to have defaced in some way the currency of Sinope -or, on the other, the idealized legend that grew after his death. Tradition held that on coming to Athens in exile, he was influenced by Antisthenes' teaching Diogenes' ascetic distortion of Socratic temperance gives some point to Plato's supposed remark that he was a "Socrates gone mad." As with much Cynic thought in the time of the Roman empire, the content of the epistles show influences from Stoicism and other philosophies.Diogenes of Sinope, who lived in the fourth century BCE, was the prototype of the Cynics, who probably were so called from Diogenes' Greek nickname, the Dog ( kuon adjective form, kunikos ). The moral anecdotes contained in the epistles are probably examples of those used by Cynic street preachers of the time. Thus instructions and explanations are given on whom (and whom not) to emulate and how different aspects of wisdom are acquired and demonstrated, mixed in with polemics directed against people who oppose these ideals. The letters discuss different aspects of the Cynic way of life, as part of a rigorous training ( askesis). The content of the epistles are not especially original, but probably served as a means to propagate Cynic ideology. The Cynic epistles deal with ethical matters rather than religious ones: their purpose is not to seek the divine, but rather to seek the ethically pure life by breaking away from social norms and conventions via ascetic practices. Other fictitious letters, such as some of those attributed to Hippocrates, could also be included among the Cynic epistles. There are also 35 Socratic epistles supposedly written by Socrates and his followers ( Antisthenes, Aristippus, Aeschines, Xenophon, etc.), many of these letters were also written by someone with a strong affinity towards Cynic ideals, albeit with a sympathy towards Aristippus rather than Antisthenes. Anacharsis and Heraclitus predate the Cynics, but they were both regarded by the Cynics to have anticipated Cynic ideals. The letters of Anacharsis may have been written in the 3rd century BCE, whereas the Heraclitean letters probably date from the 1st century CE. In addition to these letters, there are 10 spurious epistles attributed to Anacharsis and 9 epistles attributed to Heraclitus. Written in Koine Greek, the Epistles are among the few Cynic writings which have survived from the time of the Roman empire. It is not known who wrote the letters, but they seem to have been influenced by multiple authors. Most of the letters of Diogenes were probably written or altered in the 1st century BCE, whereas the letters of Crates, some of which seem to be based on the Diogenes letters, probably date from the 1st century CE. The two main groups of letters are a set of 51 letters attributed to Diogenes of Sinope, and a set of 36 letters attributed to Crates of Thebes. The Cynic epistles are a collection of letters expounding the principles and practices of Cynic philosophy mostly written, rewritten, or translated, in the time of the Roman empire, but purporting to have been written by much earlier philosophers. (Pseudo-) Diogenes, (Pseudo-) Crates, etc
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |