Cynics

Cynics, members of a school of Greek philosophers founded during the second half of the 4th century bc. Diogenes of Sinope is generally regarded as the founder, but Antisthenes, a pupil of Socrates, has also been proposed. According to Aristotle, Diogenes was a well-known figure, nicknamed Kyon, the Greek word for “dog.” The word Cynic may have been derived from Kyon and applied to the members of this school because of their unconventional mode of life, or from Cynosarges, a gymnasium where Antisthenes taught.

The Cynics contended that civilization, with its attendant ills, was an artificial, unnatural condition and that it should be held in contempt. Hence, they advocated returning to a natural life, which they equated with a simple life, maintaining that complete happiness can be attained only through self-sufficiency. Independence is the true good, not riches or luxuries. It follows that the Cynics were exceedingly ascetic, regarding abstemiousness as the means to human liberation. They did not propose the gratification of natural appetites so much as the nongratification of artificial ones.

Diogenes' pupil, Crates of Thebes (flourished late 4th century bc), had some influence on Zeno of Citium, the Cyprian philosopher and founder of Stoicism. The basic difference in attitude between the two schools is that the Cynics viewed the external, material world with contempt, while the Stoics advocated indifference.

Although not an important philosophical school, the Cynics attracted attention by their eccentricities and by their insolence, and their name is given to those distrustful of human nature and motives.