Philosophical school. Cynics

Cynics (Greek kynikуi, from Kynуsarges - Kinosarges, hill and gymnasium in Athens, where Antisthenes studied with students; lat. cynici - cynics), one of the so-called Socratic philosophical schools of Ancient Greece. Its representatives (Antisthenes, Diogenes of Sinope, Crates, etc.) sought not so much to build a complete theory of being and knowledge, but rather to develop and experimentally test a certain way of life on themselves. The main thing that remains from them in the consciousness of subsequent generations is not the treatises that they wrote, but mainly anecdotes: the barrel of Diogenes, his request to King Alexander the Great: “Go away and do not block out the sun for me”; marriage of Kratet, carried out right in the square, etc. The primitiveness of Cynic philosophizing, striking when compared with the masterly dialectic of Platonism and Aristotelianism, is only the flip side of the desire to concentrate entirely on one and, perhaps, simpler idea. Thinking cynically is only a means; the goal is to live like a cinematographer.

The teaching of cynicism, created in the conditions of the crisis of the ancient polis by people who did not have their share in the civil way of life (the founder of cynicism Antisthenes was illegitimate), generalizes the experience of an individual who can spiritually rely only on himself, and invites this individual to realize his erroneousness from patriarchal ties as an opportunity to achieve the highest of goods: spiritual freedom. Following the example of Socrates, the cynics brought his attitudes to unprecedented radicalism and surrounded him with an atmosphere of paradox, sensation, street scandal; No wonder Plato called Diogenes “Socrates gone mad.” If Socrates still showed respect for the most general precepts of traditional patriotic morality, then the Cynics defiantly called themselves "citizens of the world" (the term "cosmopolitan" was created by them) and pledged to live in any society not according to its laws, but according to their own, with a willingness accepting the status of beggars and holy fools. It is precisely that position of a person, which has always been considered not only extremely disastrous, but also extremely humiliating, that they choose as the best: Diogenes gladly applies the formula of a terrible curse to himself - "without a community, without a home, without a fatherland." The Cynics wanted to be “naked and alone”; social connections and cultural skills seemed to them imaginary, “smoke” (as a form of mental provocation, they denied all demands of shame, insisted on the permissibility of incest and anthropophagy, etc.). The “smoke” must be dispelled, revealing the human essence, in which a person must curl up and withdraw in order to become absolutely protected from any blow from the outside. All types of physical and spiritual poverty are preferable to wealth for the Cynics: it is better to be a barbarian than a Hellene, it is better to be an animal than a man. Everyday simplification was complemented by intellectual simplification: to the extent that the Cynics were engaged in the theory of knowledge, they criticized general concepts (in particular, Plato’s “ideas”) as a harmful invention that complicates a direct relationship to the subject.

The philosophy of Cynicism served as a direct source of Stoicism, which softened Cynic paradoxes and introduced a much more constructive attitude to political life and mental culture, but retained the preponderance of ethics characteristic of Cynicism over other philosophical disciplines.

The lifestyle of the Cynics influenced the ideological design of Christian asceticism (especially in such forms as foolishness and pilgrimage). Typologically, the Cynic school stands among various spiritual movements that boil down to the fact that an internally torn society compensates for social unfreedom with asocial freedom (from yogis and dervishes to modern hippies). Diogenes of Sinope is rightfully considered the most prominent representative of the Cynic school.

THE TEACHING OF THE ANCIENT CYNICS

Emphasizing the originality of Cynic philosophy and its powerful subjective desire to isolate itself from all other philosophical schools that reflected the interests of slave owners, we still cannot completely tear it away from modern intellectual currents, firstly, since it is a philosophy, and, secondly, in view of the fact that all these currents only in the aggregate constituted a general picture of the tense and contradictory spiritual life of Greece at the turn of the 5th and 4th centuries. BC e. Cynicism was not born on bare earth and not suddenly, like Pallas Athena from the head of Zeus, in a completely finished form. He had forerunners and contemporaries, sympathizers and opponents. There was nothing alien to the Greek “spirit” in it, with all its roots it went back to the Hellenic people and its history, having peculiarly perceived and processed, paradoxically for Cynic nihilism, the democratic culture of the Greeks. The Cynics did not wander along the roadside and did not go back along the high road of Hellenic social thought, as bourgeois historians of philosophy believe, but, on the contrary, made a significant contribution to the treasury of progressive ideas.

The points of contact and repulsion with the philosophy of Socrates have already been discussed above (p. 23 fl.). When characterizing the ideological connections of the Cynics, one cannot help but say something about the Sophists. A number of their provisions enriched the arsenal of the Cynics, whose head Antisthenes took lessons from Gorgias in his time. Both of them acted as educators and educators, but the Cynics preached to the needy, while the Sophists taught those who could pay them. The Cynics fell into the same stream of growing individual consciousness as the Sophists. Sophistic subjectivism was reflected in its own way not only in ethics, but also in the epistemology of the Cynics.

Some of the sophists have already put forward the nominalistic principle of the impossibility of attributing to a subject a predicate different from it (Gorgias), as well as the thesis about the inadmissibility of contradictions (Protagoras). These provisions affected the theory of knowledge and the logic of the Cynics. However, similarity of views does not mean their identity. The meaning of predication in Gorgias and Antisthenes is different - in Gorgias it leads to agnosticism and the falsity of any statement; in Antisthenes, on the contrary, the world is knowable and every statement, if it agrees with a thing, is true. For Gorgias, the word is different from the existing, for Antisthenes only the word expresses the essence, etc. The postulation of identical judgments and the impossibility of contradictions among the Cynics was a peculiar reaction to the rampant sophistic relativism with its proclamation of the plurality of truths. The Cynics were influenced by sensationalism and the materialistic tendencies of sophistry (Protagoras, Antiphon, etc.). The limitation of knowledge to the limits of a simple nomination entailed an interest in the word (Prodicus), speech as such and rhetoric (Gorgias), also observed in the philosophy of the Cynics.

Under the influence of the Sophists, the Cynics searched for hidden meaning (hyponoiai) in Homer’s poems, which would serve the interests of their ethics. Allegorical interpretation, the desire to reveal a double meaning in all works of art gave rise to a whole literary-critical movement in ancient times (Stoa, Pergamum grammars, Philo of Alexandria, etc.)*. Antisthenes willingly pursued this interpretation (“Hercules,” “Cyclops,” “Circa,” etc. - D. L. VI, 15–18; Dio Chrys. LIII, 276R), as well as Diogenes, Crates and other Cynics. An exceptional role in the system of cynic worldview was played by the sophistic antithesis “nature - law,” i.e., the opposition of human customs and institutions to nature, the natural course of things. Everything that is “by nature” - the good that comes from human intervention and traditions - is subject to active condemnation (D. L. VI, 69). Cynic atheism and the recognition of a single world principle are theoretically associated with this position. “According to the generally accepted belief, there are many gods,” said Antisthenes, “by nature there is one” (Philodemus. On the poet. 7a29N; Cicero. On the nature of the gods, I, 13). The skepticism of the Sophists regarding traditional religion (Protagoras, Prodicus, Thrasymachus of Chalcedon) acquired more radical forms among the Cynics.

The sophists sometimes expressed politically very progressive views, proclaiming the natural equality of people and condemning the institution of slavery (Alcidamantus, Antiphon). The movement of ancient enlighteners was not united: some of the sophists praised modern civilization (Protagoras), others protested against injustice and laws (Gorgias, Antiphon, Hippias). “The law is a tyrant over people, it has arranged many things by force, contrary to nature,” Hippias was indignant (Plato. Protagoras, 337c). The Cynics made this protest against the “tyrant law” an all-powerful argument for criticizing the existing order. The cosmopolitanism of the Cynics, which was somewhat related to the sophistic ideal of a pan-Hellenic state, reflected the crisis of the polis system and meant the negation of the slave state of the polis type, born among slaves hostile to it.

The Eleatics also played a prominent role in the formation of Cynicism. From them the Cynics borrowed part of their atheistic argumentation, a mockery of fortune-telling and prophecy. The influence of the Eleatics is also felt in Cynic logic, which, based on the premises of the Eleatics, concluded that the non-existent, as well as the false, cannot be thought or expressed, just as one cannot contradict oneself. Together with the followers of Heraclitus, the Cynics believed that the essence of things lies in their name, for only it can express the comprehensive reality of the individual at a given moment, without adding anything and without taking anything away. The title, the name is the determining factor (oikeios logos) with which education should begin (Epict. Diatr., I, 17, 12). This was probably discussed in the work of Antisthenes “On education or names” (D. L. VI, 17). In their materialism and sensationalism, the Cynics adhered to the “line of Democritus.” Cynicism, thus, included many progressive “alien” ideas - the Sophists, Eleatics, Heracliteans, etc., although it cannot be reduced to any of these directions, being an original creation of the century.

In the light of the foregoing, how unconvincing the conclusion of R. Helm sounds, completing an extensive article on cynicism in the Pauli-Wissow encyclopedia: cynic philosophy “adjoins Socratism, but narrows the range of its interests and is only a way of life ... This trend could not give anything to science "*. The attempts of Anglo-American scientists to look for the origins of Greek Cynicism in ... the Far East, among Indian gymnosophists, are unsubstantiated and ahistorical. The materialist teaching of the Cynics was formed in a bitter struggle with their ideological and class opponents and, above all, with Plato’s theory of ideas, which also arose on the soil of Hellas, and not in distant overseas countries.

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The Cynics are one of the most significant Socratic schools of ancient philosophy. It was founded by Antisthenes of Athens (c. 445-360 BC), according to another version - by his student and the most prominent representative of Cynicism - Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412-323 BC). Not accepting an institutional character, cynicism existed for almost a thousand years until the end of antiquity. The name of the school comes from the Greek. kyon - dog. Perhaps because the gymnasium at the temple of Hercules, in which Antisthenes conducted his conversations with his students, was named Kinosarg - "Sharp Dog". It is also possible because Antisthenes himself called himself a True Dog and believed that one should live “like a dog,” i.e. combining simplicity of life, following one’s own nature and contempt for conventions, the ability to firmly defend one’s way of life and stand up for oneself, and at the same time loyalty, courage and gratitude. The Cynics often played on this comparison, and at the tomb of Diogenes there was a monument made of Parian marble, on the top of which was an image of a dog.

Very little information has been preserved about the life of Antisthenes. It is known that he was not a full citizen of Athens, being the son of a free Athenian and a Thracian slave. Ridiculing those who boasted of the purity of their blood, Antisthenes said that in their origin they were “no more noble than snails or grasshoppers” (Diogenes Laertius. VI, 1).

At first, Antisthenes was a student of the famous sophist Gorgias, who influenced the style of his first works and instilled in him the art of arguing (eristics). He then became a student of Socrates. Subsequently, the Cynics said that they adopted from Socrates not so much his wisdom, but Socrates’ strength and dispassion in relation to life’s adversities. Thanks to Socrates, Cynic teaching acquired primarily a moral, practical character. The Cynics did not strive to build abstract theories and in general rejected the existence of general concepts, which was reflected in the famous polemics of Antisthenes, and then Diogenes, with Plato. They believed that virtue is revealed in actions and does not need either an abundance of words or an abundance of knowledge.

Antisthenes was the first to make external attributes of the Cynic school such attributes as a folded cloak, which the Cynics wore in any weather, a staff (to walk along the roads and fight off enemies) and a begging bag. They were also remembered for the fact that they wore a cloak over a naked body, did not cut their hair and walked barefoot, almost like Socrates. Distinctive features of the Cynic lifestyle were unpretentiousness, endurance, contempt for life's comforts and sensual pleasures. Antisthenes said that he would prefer madness to pleasure. This attitude towards the world can be defined as a kind of asceticism, based on the idea of self-sufficiency (autarky) of a virtuous life as such. Actually virtue and became the life goal and the highest ideal of the Cynic school.

A characteristic feature of Cynic teaching was the requirement to discard existing norms and customs. From a cynic point of view the wise man is guided not by the orders established by people, but by the laws of virtue. As a norm for a virtuous life, they introduced the concept nature as the original state of human existence, not distorted by perverse human institutions. In denying many social norms, the Cynics did not stop at extremes, as numerous evidence remains. Diogenes of Sinope especially distinguished himself in this, who with his very life demonstrated an example of a specifically cynical attitude towards the world.

Diogenes' views are expressed in two well-known formulas - in the affirmation of the world citizenship of each person (cosmopolitanism) as opposed to polis belonging, and in the famous "revaluation of values".

Legend has it that the Delphic oracle, when asked by Diogenes what he should do to become famous, advised Diogenes to engage in "revaluation of values." Diogenes himself understood the answer literally (in Greek, value and coin are denoted by the same word) - as a call to counterfeit banknotes: he began to cut the edges of the coins, for which he was convicted and punished. And only later did he understand the true meaning of the prophecy, which was to turn the existing norms and values upside down and replace them with life in nature in its simplicity and unpretentiousness. This often led the Cynics into clashes with existing civil laws, established moral norms and customs.

Cynic literary tradition sees in Diogenes the image of the ideal cynic - the “heavenly dog”, an almost mythological figure, like another favorite hero of cynic works - Hercules, and associates with him many anecdotes and legends demonstrating the imperturbable consistency with which Diogenes embodied the ideal of autarky in his life. , self-restraint and contempt for social conventions. Diogenes lived in a pithos - a clay barrel for water; seeing a child drinking from a handful, he threw away his cup; to accustom himself to refusal, he begged for alms from statues; trying to harden himself, he walked barefoot in the snow and even tried to eat raw meat; “He performed all the deeds in front of everyone: both the deeds of Demeter and the deeds of Aphrodite” (Diogenes Laertius, VI, 69). He often said that a tragic curse had been fulfilled on him, because he:

“Deprived of shelter, city, homeland,
A beggar wanderer living from day to day."(Diogenes Laertes, VI, 38).

The Cynics were often accused of shamelessness. This is where the concept of “cynicism” subsequently emerged, as contempt for moral and social values. At the same time, the attitude of contemporaries towards the Cynics was both repulsion and admiration. It is no coincidence that the legend says that the great Alexander the Great noted Diogenes with his attention. In response to Diogenes' demand to step aside and not block the sun, Alexander replied that if he were not Alexander, he would prefer to be Diogenes.

Diogenes had many students and followers, of whom Crates of Thebes (teacher of the founder of Stoicism, Zeno) and his wife Hipparchia were especially famous. They both came from wealthy aristocratic families; both, to the horror of relatives and fellow citizens, left everything for the sake of a cynical lifestyle. The love story of Crates and Hipparchia and their public “dog wedding” in the Painted Portico is another striking example of a shocking, cynical disregard for social institutions.

During the Hellenistic period, the Cynic tradition is represented by figures known more for their literary activities than for the strict observance of the Cynic way of life. Of these, the most significant are Bion Borysthenitus (3rd century BC), the creator of the Cynic literary genre of diatribe, and Menippus of Gadar (mid-3rd century BC), creator of the “Menippus satire”.

Cynic teaching served as a direct source of Stoicism, in which Cynic rigorism in relation to social norms and institutions was softened. The way of life of the Cynics influenced the design of Christian asceticism, especially such forms as foolishness and pilgrimage.

In the history of European culture, with all the paradoxical and even scandalousness of its practical life and philosophy, the Cynics have gone down as an outstanding example of human freedom and moral independence. They embodied the image of the greatness of the spirit, disdaining the temptations of sensual life, social conventions, and vain illusions of power and wealth.

Antisthenes.

“The philosophy of the Cynics (if it could be considered philosophy in the full sense of the word) was born […] among the poor, deprived of their means of subsistence and knocked out of their usual rut, and was an illusory attempt to preserve freedom and dignity on the part of people who were less and less considered as such.

It was a futile rebellion against outdated social institutions, a desire to contrast one’s refusal, one’s deliberate disdain for the luxury of the rich and the well-fedness of ordinary people, and one’s own system of views against the lies of generally accepted conventions. To the Cynics, everything seemed completely false and unacceptable - the state, laws, morality, because all this served only the interests of the propertied and was alien, even hostile to working people and those completely disadvantaged losers for whom there was not even work. The Cynics despised the whole world because it rejected them, and preferred the freedom of universal refusal to voluntary slavery.

Already a student Gorgias And Socrates, the Athenian Antisthenes, “a man with a Heraclitean mentality,” preached a strict moderation of life, condemning laws beneficial only to the rich and asserting that “work is good.” Poor and sick (he died of consumption), Antisthenes taught that life is an act, that everyone is free to choose a path and has the right to moral autonomy.

Illegitimate, in a tattered raincoat (however, more out of spite than out of poverty), the founder of Cynicism openly expressed his contempt for the national assembly, authorities, official morality, for acquisition and hoarding, considering virtue to be the only valuable asset - “this is a tool that cannot be taken away” and “reason is the strongest of fortifications, for it can neither be destroyed nor betrayed.”

Sloppy and poor, who allowed himself to speak with disdain about the grandiose philosophical systems of his contemporaries, who did not believe in either higher laws or the possibility of improving human life, Antisthenes simply could not stand Plato, who did not recognize the right to be considered philosophers as ignoramuses who do not understand the meaning and benefits of geometry and music.

And indeed, the world for the Cynics (alien to any transcendence) seemed extremely simple and not very attractive. Indifferent to physics and cosmogony (what benefit do people have from understanding that similar patterns operate in space and in society?), the Cynics recognized only ethics. Their ideal was primitive savagery, when man, free from false and constraining institutions, opposed nature and was at the same time an inseparable part of it. Believing in a certain hidden intelligence of nature, Antisthenes and his followers considered it the measure of everything, arguing that truly human life is life according to nature and people destroyed themselves by moving away from it.

The Cynics did not divide the entire world (unlike many Greek philosophers) into superior and inferior, into Hellenes and barbarians and, having tasted in full the difficult lot of the poor and powerless, they asserted the right to human dignity in each of the mortals, be it a poor Athenian or a slave , the same barbarian to whom Aristotle called for treating “like animals or plants.”

Considering severe moderation to be the most reliable way of life, Antisthenes taught to avoid the pursuit of pleasure (which was gradually becoming the main thing for the Athenian youth who had lost faith in everything) and spoke with contempt about Aristippus of Cyrene, who placed pleasure at the center of his philosophy, noting that “it is not fitting for the true the philosopher to live with the tyrants and take part in the notorious Sicilian feasts. He should stay in his homeland and be content with what he has.”

Antisthenes himself tried to live as he taught: poorly, without currying favor with anyone (and even deliberately showing his disdain for demagogues and those in power), spending his days studying philosophy and leaving behind ten volumes of essays. his followers, Diogenes and Crates, believed that there were few thinkers and sages in Hellas equal to Antisthenes in dispassion, self-control and steadfastness.

Goncharova T.V., Epicurus, M., “Young Guard”, 1988, p. 64-65.

In addition to the above, the Cynics - probably due to their social origin - Not recognized abstractions, general concepts...

Given the elements of antisocial (often demonstrative) behavior of the Cynics, the later term “cynicism” was derived from the name of their school.

The lifestyle of the Cynics clearly influenced the formation of the lifestyle of Christian ascetics.

KYNISM- one of the most significant Socratic schools of ancient philosophy. Founded by Antisthenes of Athens (c. 445-360 BC), according to another version - by his student and the most prominent representative of Cynicism - Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412-323 BC). Not accepting an institutional character, cynicism existed for almost a thousand years until the end of antiquity. The name of the school comes from the Greek. kyon – dog. Perhaps because the gymnasium at the Temple of Hercules, in which Antisthenes conducted his conversations with his students, bore the name Kinosargus - “Vigilant Dog”. It is also possible because Antisthenes himself called himself a True Dog and believed that one should live “like a dog,” i.e. combining simplicity of life, following one’s own nature and contempt for conventions, the ability to firmly defend one’s way of life and stand up for oneself, and at the same time loyalty, courage and gratitude. The Cynics often played on this comparison, and at the tomb of Diogenes there was a monument made of Parian marble, on the top of which was an image of a dog.

At first, Antisthenes was a student of the famous sophist Gorgias, who influenced the style of his first works and instilled in him the art of arguing (eristics). He then became a student of Socrates. Subsequently, the Cynics said that they adopted from Socrates not so much his wisdom, but Socrates’ strength and dispassion in relation to life’s adversities. Thanks to Socrates, Cynic teaching acquired primarily a moral, practical character. The Cynics did not strive to build abstract theories and generally rejected the existence of general concepts, which was reflected in the famous polemics of Antisthenes, and then Diogenes with Plato. They believed that virtue is revealed in actions and does not need either an abundance of words or an abundance of knowledge.

Antisthenes was the first to make external attributes of the Cynic school such attributes as a folded cloak, which the Cynics wore in any weather, a staff (to walk along the roads and fight off enemies) and a begging bag. They were also remembered for the fact that they wore a cloak over a naked body, did not cut their hair and walked barefoot, almost like Socrates. Distinctive features of the Cynic lifestyle were unpretentiousness, endurance, contempt for the comforts of life and sensual pleasures. Antisthenes said that he would prefer madness to pleasure. This attitude towards the world can be defined as a kind of ascetic, based on the idea of self-sufficiency ( autarky) virtuous life as such. Actually virtue and became the life goal and the highest ideal of the Cynic school.

A characteristic feature of Cynic teaching was the requirement to discard existing norms and customs. From the point of view of the Cynics, the wise man is guided not by the orders established by people, but by the laws of virtue. As a norm for a virtuous life, they introduced the concept nature as the original state of human existence, not distorted by perverse human institutions. In denying many social norms, the Cynics did not stop at extremes, as numerous evidence remains. Diogenes of Sinope especially distinguished himself in this, who with his very life demonstrated an example of a specifically cynical attitude towards the world.

Diogenes' views are expressed in two well-known formulas - in the affirmation of the world citizenship of every person ( cosmopolitanism) as opposed to policy affiliation, and in the famous “ revaluation of values».

Legend has it that the Delphic oracle, when asked by Diogenes what he should do to become famous, advised Diogenes to engage in "revaluation of values." Diogenes himself understood the answer literally (in Greek, value and coin are denoted by the same word) - as a call for counterfeiting banknotes: he began to cut off the edges of the coins, for which he was caught and punished. And only later did he understand the true meaning of the prophecy, which was to overturn existing norms and values and replace them with life by nature in its simplicity and unpretentiousness. This often led the Cynics into clashes with existing civil laws, established moral norms and customs.

The Cynic literary tradition sees in Diogenes the image of the ideal Cynic - the “heavenly dog”, an almost mythological figure, like another favorite hero of Cynic works - Hercules, and associates with him many anecdotes and legends demonstrating the imperturbable consistency with which Diogenes embodied the ideal of autarky in his life , self-restraint and contempt for social conventions. Diogenes lived in a pithos - a clay water barrel; seeing a child drinking from a handful, he threw away his cup; to accustom himself to refusal, he begged for alms from statues; trying to harden himself, he walked barefoot in the snow and even tried to eat raw meat; “He performed all the deeds in front of everyone: both the deeds of Demeter and the deeds of Aphrodite” (Diogenes Laertius, VI, 69). He often said that a tragic curse had been fulfilled on him, because he:

“Deprived of shelter, city, homeland,

A beggar wanderer living from day to day."

(Diogenes Laertes, VI, 38).

The Cynics were often accused of shamelessness. This is where the concept of “cynicism” subsequently emerged, as contempt for moral and social values. At the same time, the attitude of contemporaries towards the Cynics was one of both repulsion and admiration. It is no coincidence that the legend says that the great Alexander the Great noted Diogenes with his attention. In response to Diogenes' demand to step aside and not block the sun, Alexander replied that if he were not Alexander, he would prefer to be Diogenes.

Despite all the paradoxical and even scandalous nature of their practical life and philosophy, the Cynics entered the history of European culture as an outstanding example of human freedom and moral independence. They embodied the image of the greatness of the spirit, disdaining the temptations of sensual life, social conventions, and vain illusions of power and wealth.

Essays: Anthology of Cynicism. M., 1984

Polina Gadzhikurbanova