Cynicism Is Difficult to Define Essay

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Dio Chrysostomos is not always associated with the cynics, but his Euboean speech outlines the basics of cynical virtue in poverty and simplicity. In it, Dio Chrysostomos describes the dwelling and way of life of a hunter he has met, who lives in complete simplicity along with an extended family -- they hunt, and till the land a little, not concerning themselves with wealth but merely with obtaining enough to survive (Atchity & McKenna, 315). The man Dio Chrysostomos describes meeting in this speech also tells him how their fathers used to keep herds for a rich man, and how on this man's death the herds and lands were taken by other rich men, leaving them without their mode of survival until they realized that the complexities of working for another were totally unnecessary, and they went back to the simple way of life that nature had intended and became entirely self-sufficient.

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In this speech, Dio Chrysostomos describes not only the quintessential virtuous life that the cynics were proponents of -- the simpler one could meet the demands and needs of nature, the more virtuous they were in their mode of life -- but also illustrates, through the story of the hunter's past, the irrationality of the modern system of subsistence (Atchity & MCKenna, 316).

Other major figures in the school of cynicism include Diogenes of Sinope's pupil Crates, and his pupil Hipparchia of Maronea, the first known woman cynic (Piering, par. 8). Another of Crates pupils, Zeno of Citium, is considered the founder of Stoicism, making the link between the two schools of thought very definite. Both believed that simplicity was the key to virtue -- a lesson we could do well to learn today.

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