The Cynics: Counter-culture from Ancient Greece

愤世嫉俗者:来自古希腊的反文化

The Forum

社会与文化

2022-12-29

39 分钟
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Today’s counter-culture and alternative movements question mainstream norms, such as putting too much value on material possessions. The Cynics, practical philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome, also rejected conventional desires to seek wealth, power and fame. They were not your usual kind of philosophers: rather than lecturing or writing about their ideas, they acted out their beliefs by denying themselves worldly possessions and tried to live as simply as possible. Their leader, Diogenes of Sinope, allegedly slept in a ceramic jar on the streets of Athens and ate raw meat like a dog, flouting convention to draw attention to his ideas. So who were the Cynics? How influential was their movement? What made it last some 900 years? And why does the term 'cynicism' have a different meaning today? Bridget Kendall is joined by three eminent scholars of Greek philosophy: Dr. William Desmond, Senior Lecturer in Ancient Classics at Maynooth University in Ireland and author of several books on the Cynics; Dr. Elena Cagnoli Fiecconi, Lecturer in Ancient Philosophy at University College London; and Mark Usher, Professor of Classical Languages and Literature at the University of Vermont and author of new Cynic translations into English. (Image: The meeting of Alexander and Diogenes, detail from a tapestry, Scotland. Credit: DEA/S. Vannini/Getty Images)
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  • Welcome to the forum from the BBC World Service.

  • I'm Bridget Kendall.

  • Today's counterculture and alternative movements often reflect a desire to question and reject mainstream norms like those seen as putting too much value on material possessions and wealth.

  • These are ideas which may seem typical of modern day societies,

  • but listen to this description of the cynics,

  • a group of philosophers from ancient Greece,

  • the earliest of whom lived nearly two and a half thousand years ago.

  • They live frugally, eat only as much as is necessary for their well-being,

  • wear only one cloak, and despise wealth, reputation and noble birth.

  • Some cynics, at least a vegetarian,

  • drink only cold water and take cover in whatever shelter presents itself,

  • including large storage jars, as did diogenes.

  • He used to say that it is the God's business to lack nothing,