What was the Cynic attitude towards politics? How did Cynics use the lexicon of politics? Was there a range of Cynic attitudes? Did Cynicism influence the political thought of others? Can one talk of Cynic political theory? My treatment of these questions will be chronological, to allow for development in Cynic thought, though Cynicism did not develop linearly (there were always Cynics who thought and behaved like Diogenes) and the notion of development is problematic (Cynicism was more a way of life than a system of thought). The treatment must also be selective: this essay presupposes the importance of the whole topic, and the more significance one attaches to Cynicism, the larger the topic will be, especially because in a fundamental sense, as we shall see, Cynic ‘politics’ are simply the Cynic way of life itself.

DIOGENES

Since Antisthenes did not found Cynicism, we begin with the problems of the ‘cosmopolitan’ sentiments anciently attributed to Diogenes. The two most important passages are in Diogenes Laertius. In VI.63 is recorded a saying: ‘Asked where he was from, he said: “[I am] a citizen of the universe”.’ The word kosmopolites is extremely rare and is first attested in Philo of Alexandria (De opif. mundi 3, Mos. 1.157).