The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers: Diogenes of Sinope, the Cynic (ca. 300–200 B.C.E.)

The Cynics believed that happiness could be found in the rejection of human conventions and the embrace of a life lived in accord with nature. In their view, the desire for material goods, public acclaim, and personal power were unnatural, byproducts of social and cultural conventions that placed a false value on them. The struggle to obtain and hold on to such things was the principal source of human unhappiness. Only when convention and custom were swept aside could one see, and obtain, that which was truly valuable. In the passage below, Diogenes Laertius, a third-century biographer of Greek philosophers, describes one of the best-known Cynics, Diogenes of Sinope. As you read it, ask yourself how Diogenes of Sinope’s behavior reflected his philosophical commitments.

And when he saw a mouse running about and not seeking for a bed, nor taking care to keep in the dark, nor looking for any of those things which appear enjoyable to such an animal, he found a remedy for his own poverty. He was, according to the account of some people, the first person who doubled up his cloak out of necessity, and who slept in it; and who carried a wallet, in which he kept his food; and who used whatever place was near for all sorts of purposes, eating, and sleeping, and conversing in it. . . . He took a cask . . . for his house,1 as he himself tells us in his letters. And during the summer he used to roll himself in the warm sand, but in winter he would embrace statues all covered with snow, practicing himself, on every occasion, to endure anything. . . .

He often condemned those who praise the just for being superior to money, but who at the same time are eager themselves for great riches. He was also very indignant at seeing men sacrifice to the Gods to procure good health, and yet at the sacrifice eating in a manner injurious to health. He often expressed his surprise at slaves, who, seeing their masters eating in a gluttonous manner, still do not themselves lay hands on any of the eatables. . . .

Once, while he was sitting in the sun, . . . Alexander was standing by, and said to him, “Ask any favor you choose of me.” And he replied, “Cease to shade me from the sun.” . . .

Plato defined man thus: “Man is a two-footed, featherless animal,” and was much praised for the definition; so Diogenes plucked a cock and brought it into his school, and said, “This is Plato’s man.” On which account this addition was made to the definition, “With broad flat nails.” . . . When people were speaking of the happiness of Callisthenes,2 and saying what splendid treatment he received from Alexander, he replied, “The man is wretched, for he is forced to breakfast and dine whenever Alexander chooses.”

From Diogenes Laertius, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, trans. C. D. Yonge (London: George Bell and Sons, 1901), pp. 224–248.