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Search results for kappa,2711 in Adler number:
Headword:
*kunismo/s
Adler number: kappa,2711
Translated headword: Cynicism
Vetting Status: high
Translation: A vigorous road to virtue.[1] Also [sc. attested is the phrase], "for excellent people[2] it is necessary to be Cynics".[3]
Greek Original:*kunismo/s: eu)/tonos e)p' a)reth\n o(do/s. kai/, kuniei=n dei=n toi=s spoudai/ois.
Notes:
See also
kappa 2712.
[1] This phrase reproduces, with a change of adjective, one attributed to the Stoic philosopher
Apollodorus (second century BCE). See
Diogenes Laertius 7.121, where
Apollodorus defines Cynicism as "a short-cut road (
syntomos hodos) to virtue", and 6.104. Compare also also
Stobaeus,
Eclogae 2.114, 24-25 (ed. Wachsmuth): "(the Stoics) say that the wise man lives a Cynic lifestyle, this being equal to remaining in Cynicism, even though the one who is wise does not start out in Cynicism". As pointed out by Pomeroy ([1999], 128, n.222), although the Stoics differed in their view of the more extreme Cynic practices, they did recognize the austere lifestyle of the Cynics.
Zeno of Citium (
zeta 79), the founder of the Stoic school, was influenced by the cynic
Crates (
kappa 2341), who was his teacher (
Diogenes Laertius 7.4). But the Stoics kept and developed some of the more significant Cynic theses in their ethical theory: 1) happiness is living in agreement with nature; 2) the wise person is the only one who is truly happy and free; 3) the commonly acknowledged goods, such as wealth, beauty, health, and so on are not real goods but indifferent, and they do not contribute to happiness at all; 4) the main obstacles for attaining happiness are the passionate states or emotional disturbances, which produce false judgement. For the Stoic reelaboration of the Cynic position, see Sorabji (1993), 158-161 and for the general influence of cynicism on Hellenistic ethics (and especially on Stoicism) see Long (1996).
[2] "Excellent people" (
spoudaioi) is Stoic (and Aristotelian) terminology to designate virtuous persons; cf.
sigma 970.
[3] Julian,
Speech 7, 225c Hertlein.
References:
Arthur J. Pomeroy, Arius Didymus. Epitome of Stoic Ethics, Atlanta, Georgia 1999
Anthony A. Long, "The Socratic Tradition: Diogenes, Crates, and Hellenistic Ethics", in R. Bracht Branham and Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé (eds.) The Cynics. The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy (Berkeley/Los Angeles/London) 1996, 28-46
Richard Sorabji, Animal Mind and Human Morals. The Origins of the Western Debate, Ithaca, New York 1993
Keywords: definition; ethics; philosophy; rhetoric
Translated by: Marcelo Boeri on 15 February 2000@10:10:02.
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