Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Cynics
  • This book is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core
  • Cited by 45
Publisher:
Acumen Publishing
Online publication date:
February 2013
Print publication year:
2008
Online ISBN:
9781844654086
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9781844654086
Subjects:
History of Philosophy, Philosophy
Series:
Ancient Philosophies
Information

Book description

Once regarded as a minor Socratic school, Cynicism is now admired as one of the more creative and influential philosophical movements in antiquity. First arising in the city-states of late classical Greece, Cynicism thrived through the Hellenistic and Roman periods, until the triumph of Christianity and the end of pagan antiquity. In every age down to the present, its ideals of radical simplicity and freedom have alternately inspired and disturbed onlookers. This book presents the first general survey of Cynicism in antiquity for over fifty years. Drawing on a wealth of new research, William Desmond offers a comprehensive study of the most important ancient Cynics and their ideas, examining their rejection of various traditional customs and the rebellious life-style for which they were notorious. Desmond considers both the fragmentary ancient evidence on the Cynics and the historical interpretations that have shaped Cynic philosophy over later centuries. The central chapters locate major Cynic themes; its critique of convention, praise of natural simplicity, advocacy of self-sufficiency, defiance of Fortune, and celebration of freedom; within the rich matrix of ideas debated by the ancient schools and shows that far from being pessimistic or nihilistic, as modern uses of the term; suggest, the ancient Cynics were astonishingly optimistic regarding human nature. Cynics offers a fascinating introduction to some of the most colourful personalities of antiquity and a school of thought which continues to generate much philosophical interest today.

Reviews

"Another fine addition to Acumen's excellent Ancient Philosophies series . . . an ideal entry-level text to this particular branch of Greek philosophy."

Source: Yearbook of the Irish Philosophical Society

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

Contents

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.