![]() It’s a theme that runs through all the quotes and anecdotes of the ancient philosopher. But to my eyes, there is one word that unlocks the living philosophy of Diogenes more thoroughly than any other: simplicity. There are a lot of different keys for unlocking the philosophy of Diogenes - virtue and freedom amongst them. Diogenes is living out his highest ideal, but the word happiness just doesn’t fit with what he was aspiring to. In the case of Diogenes - a man who lived in an urn hugging icy statues in the middle of winter - this glove really doesn’t fit. And obviously, when we use this word, it comes with associations of positive affect and happy feelings of joy and peace.īut the connection between the highest goal of life and happiness is not a necessary one. ![]() In modern English, when we talk about the highest goal of life, we tend to use the word happiness. The pursuit of h̶a̶p̶p̶i̶n̶e̶s̶s̶ the Good Life In this article, we will explore the living philosophy of the eternally fascinating and endlessly entertaining Cynic Diogenes. For Diogenes this meant living in an urn in the Athenian marketplace it meant sometimes walking barefoot in the snow and, of course occasionally masturbating in public. ![]() He didn’t care for the intellectual search for truth but the living of it. He was famous for his radical philosophy that discarded status, possessions and the learning of books to get at the vital marrow of philosophy - the good life.ĭiogenes was famous for living his philosophy in all its simplicity and coarseness. You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis.Diogenes of Sinope was a contemporary of Plato and Alexander the Great. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. “I don't have to tell you things are bad.
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