Diogenes

Statue of Diogenes laertios. Handmade of alabaster,and painted in museum patina.

Diogenes of Sinope (c. 404-323 BCE) was a Greek Cynic philosopher best known for holding a lantern (or candle) to the faces of the citizens of Athens claiming he was searching for an honest man. He was most likely a student of the philosopher Antisthenes (445-365 BCE) and, in the words of Plato (allegedly), was “A Socrates gone mad.” He was driven into exile from his native city of Sinope for defacing currency (though some sources say it was his father who committed the crime and Diogenes simply followed him into exile).

THE PHILOSOPHY

According to Diogenes society was an artificial contrivance set up by human beings . Which did not accord well with truth or virtue and could not in any way make someone a good and decent human being.  And so follows the famous story of him . Holding the light up to the faces of passers-by in the market place looking for an honest man or a true human being. Everyone, he claimed, was trapped in this make-believe world.  Which they believed was reality and, because of this, people were living in a kind of dream state. He was not the first philosopher to make this claim; Heraclitus, Xenophanes, and, most famously.   Socrates all pointed out the need for human beings to wake from their dream state to full awareness of themselves and the world

DIOGENES AND ALEXANDER THE GREAT

In the case of Alexander the Great, both Diogenes Laertius and Plutarch relate how, when HE was living in Corinth, Alexander came to the city and was very interested in meeting the philosopher. He found Diogenes resting in the sunlight, introduced himself, and asked if there was anything he could do for him. He replied,”Yes. Get out of my sunlight.” .  Alexander admired his spirit and said, “If I were not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes” .  To which He replied, “If I were not Diogenes, I would also wish to be Diogenes.” . On another occasion, when some people were discussing a man named Callisthenes and the fine treatment he received from Alexander.  HE said, “The man then is wretched, for he is forced to breakfast and dine whenever Alexander chooses.”