Who were the Cynics?
Q: Who were the Cynics?
A: The Cynics were an important group of philosophers from the ancient school of Cynicism.
Q: What was their philosophy?
A: Their philosophy taught that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature, which meant rejecting all desires for wealth, power, health and fame and living a life free from all possessions.
Q: How did they believe people could gain happiness?
A: They believed people could gain happiness by rigorous training and by living in a way which was natural for humans.
Q: What did they think about the world?
A: They thought that the world belonged equally to everyone and that suffering was caused by false judgments of what was valuable and by worthless customs and conventions which surrounded society.
Q: Who first outlined these themes?
A: Antisthenes first outlined these themes; he had been a pupil of Socrates in the late 5th century BCE.
Q: Who is seen as the archetypal Cynic philosopher? A: Diogenes of Sinope is seen as the archetypal Cynic philosopher; he lived in a tub on the streets of Athens, took Cynicism to its logical extremes.
Q: When did Cynicism spread?
A: Cynicism spread with the rise of Imperial Rome in the 1st century, and Cynics could be found begging and preaching throughout cities in Empire.
