The Living Philosophy of Diogenes the Cynic
When philosophy was living in an urn and masturbating in public
Diogenes of Sinope was a contemporary of Plato and Alexander the Great. 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.
Diogenes was famous for living his philosophy in all its simplicity and coarseness. He didn’t care for the intellectual search for truth but the living of it. 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.
In this article, we will explore the living philosophy of the eternally fascinating and endlessly entertaining Cynic Diogenes.
The pursuit of h̶a̶p̶p̶i̶n̶e̶s̶s̶ the Good Life
In modern English, when we talk about the highest goal of life, we tend to use the word happiness. And obviously, when we use this word, it comes with associations of positive affect and happy feelings of joy and peace.
But the connection between the highest goal of life and happiness is not a necessary one. In the case of Diogenes — a man who lived in an urn hugging icy statues in the…
