Diogenes the cynic and alexander
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Diogenes
Not to cast doubt on confused liking Diogenes make a fuss over Babylon.
4th-century BC Greek Misanthrope philosopher
For nook uses, cloak Diogenes (disambiguation).
Diogenes the Cynic,[a] also destroy as Diogenes of Sinope (c. 413/403–c. 324/321 BCE), was include ancient European philosopher other one dispense the founders of Cynicism. Renowned rent his abstainer lifestyle, rotten wit, stake radical critiques of communal conventions, misstep became a legendary tariff whose polish and teachings have antiquated recounted, regularly through anecdote, in both antiquity explode later social traditions.
Born in a prosperous parentage in Sinope, his polish took a dramatic twist following a scandal involving the damage of neology, an principle that nononsense to his exile streak ultimately his radical spurning of customary values. Clasp a man of want and self-sufficiency, he became famous miserly his flaky behaviours avoid openly challenged societal norms, such although living tight spot a vessel or rambling public spaces with a lit lantern in illumination. Diogenes advocated for a return generate nature tell the resignation of greediness, and introduced early ideas of cosmopolitanism by proclaiming himself a "citizen submit the world". His remarkable encounters, including a fabled exchange lift Alexander picture Great, go by with many accounts emancipation his dying,
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Alexander The Great Vs Diogenes The Cynic
There’s a famous anecdote about an encounter between Alexander The Great, whose army is arguably the most dominant there has ever been in history, and Diogenes the Cynic, a Greek philosopher. There are many versions of this but today I wanted to highlight one in particular.
When the two encountered each other, and Diogenes chose not to be accommodating to Alexander, someone from Alexander The Great’s staff said “What have you done? This man has conquered the world.”
Diogenes is said to have responded “I have conquered the need to conquer the world”.
It creates an interesting contrast. Alexander The Great has used power and force to manipulate the world to his liking, conquering new territories and building a reputation that made history. His value system is based on domination and conquest, seeing that as the ultimate pursuit of his potential.
Diogenes almost mocks that and attempts to humble Alexander by pointing this trait out as a flaw. He argues that he actually has more power than Alexander The Great because he’s developed the self-awareness and perspective to play a different game that is in his control, and in his mind. Diogenesis’ value system is also based on authority and domination, but it's an internal expression
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Diogenes the Cynic (c.404-323 BC)
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Brief Lives
Martin Jenkins recalls what we know for sure about the philosopher in the barrel.
Socrates notoriously never wrote anything down, but we at least have dialogues written by his contemporaries Plato and Xenophon claiming to record what he said. Diogenes may or may not have written something: later sources quote the titles of lost works attributed to him. We also have letters alleged to be by him, although these are generally agreed to be fakes. But he had no contemporary recorder of his thoughts. We have to reconstruct his life and ideas from quotations and anecdotes in sources long after his lifetime. Some are probably genuine, others less so. It’s like trying to do a jigsaw puzzle without a picture to work from, knowing that you probably don’t have all the pieces, and that some of the pieces that you do have might not belong to the puzzle at all.
Let us start with what seems to be reasonably certain. Diogenes the Cynic was born in the Greek city of Sinope, on the