Giving Cynicism a Bad Name

By BogusMagus

 I realise that with a living language we have to accept that meanings shift over the years, so using words hoping that people will  understand the original meanings can lead to confusion. Still, sometimes we can rescue and revitalise words that appear to have become demonized or degenerate, like 'Anarchism' for instance - a viable political alternative, but hated by both Left and Right. Few people could tell you what it stands for, apart from chaos, selfishness, and nihilistic bombs. (actually, Nihilists also have an agenda, but I don't want to get into that). 

The Oxford English Dictionary tries to track all these changes in the meaning of words, and for "Cynic" it offers: 

Belonging to or characteristic of the sect of philosophers called Cynics, founded by Antisthenes, a pupil of Socrates, who were marked by an ostentatious contempt for ease, wealth, and the enjoyments of life; the most famous was Diogenes, a pupil of Antisthenes, who carried the principles of the sect to an extreme of asceticism. 

A person disposed to rail or find fault; now usually: One who shows a disposition to disbelieve in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions, and is wont to express this by sneers and sarcasms; a sneering fault-finder. 

Of course, when we talk of people acting in a 'cynical' way these days we mostly refer to powerful people lying and cheating, acting immorally, and sneering at the 'suckers'. Originally the sneering and growling came from people who deliberately abandoned any part in the manipulative games of society - or any respect for social conventions, theories, religions and other abstractions - dropped-out to a low status position, and aimed their barbs at the rich and powerful. 

This parallels the position of the Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Travellers, etc - those 'back to nature' drop-outs who put themselves in a position from which they can freely criticize society, unlike people who still have a vested interest in their reputation, and a desire for security. I'd like to restore that more positive meaning to the word. 

To me, Diogenes and the Cynics represent a position I can totally understand and respect. Many religions got founded by people who suggest that we simplify our lives, abstain from ambition, wealth and property, lose our fear of the future (take no heed of the morrow), cultivate virtue and throw ourselves on the mercy of the world (the Buddhist begging bowl). Established religions, however, reverse this modesty and humility, and far too often flaunt their wealth and power and prejudice. 

These two attitudes seem perfectly displayed in the exchange between Alexander the Great and Diogenes. 

Alexander The Great: It is true that you live in that tub? Or it is just one of those pranks philosophers do in order for the people to talk and admire them? 

Diogenes: I will answer with a question, Alexander!  Is it true you want to conquer Persia, and so unite all Greeks under your leadership? Or do you do all this just for the sake of getting the admiration of the people?

 You could consider The Cynics as early anarchists, because they made it clear that they thought of the individual as solely responsible for their own moral code, and personal integrity. Diogenes denied his citizenship of Athens, or Greece, and called himself "a citizen of the world" or cosmopolitan. That word, too, has become distorted to mean a jet-setter, rather than a dropped-out beggar. 

"I am Diogenes the dog. I nuzzle the kind, bark at the greedy and bite scoundrels." 

Some people claim that the Cynics named themselves based on the Greek word for Dog. The name might seem appropriate as Diogenes chose to live in an amphora (often translated as 'barrel'), snarled at passers-by, and even disturbed people by (say) masturbating in public. When asked about that he said "I wish it was as easy to satisfy hunger by rubbing your belly". From just that one-liner you can see that Diogenes belongs in the 'rascal guru' or Trickster tradition. We have very little record of the Cynics, so these brief glimpses have to do.  He strikes me as having something in common with the Dadaists and some performance artists, too - manifesting his philosophy through his shocking actions, not mere abstract words.

As well as the strong echoes of Bohemianism (the bedroll, the hatred of 'society') and Buddhism (simplicity of needs and minimal possessions) we might recognise a similarity to Zen (gnomic utterances, no 'scriptures', a dislike for Plato's idealistic abstractions, etc). As an example, this story sounds familiar:

 On reaching Athens he fell in with Antisthenes. Being repulsed by him, because he never welcomed pupils, by sheer persistence Diogenes wore him out. Once when he stretched out his staff against him, the pupil offered his head with the words, " Strike, for you will find no wood hard enough to keep me away from you, so long as I think you've something to say." From that time forward he was his pupil, and, exile as he was, set out upon a simple life. 

You may also recognize him in the teaching tales of the Mulla NasRuddin from the Sufi tradition. He also has companions in the crazy hermit poets Han Shan and Shih-te. 

Diogenes apparently used to carry a lantern around with him in the daylight, 'in search of one honest man', which makes him a good candidate as the source for Nietzsche's madman in the market place (the one who announced God is Dead). I suspect he also has something to do with the Hermit card in the Tarot (in my Marseilles deck it looks like day time). 

THE MADMAN----Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly: "I seek God! I seek God!"---As many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated?---Thus they yelled and laughed The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him---you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. 

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science 

Nietzsche certainly fits into the cynical tradition, but we could add less obvious candidates, like Henry David Thoreau. This might seem strange, as he never appears to have written a cruel word, but as in the older sense of the word he dropped out to simplify his life, distrusted social rules and pressures, etc. 

Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes. 

I had three chairs in my house: one for solitude, two for company, three for society.    Thoreau

 Other notable cynics I enjoy the company of include 

• W.C.Fields "You can't cheat an honest man". 

• Ambrose Bierce "A cynic is a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, and not as they ought to be." 

If nothing else, they seem masters of the devastating one-liner. I do dislike the use of the word 'cynic' in its negative connotation, however, as it seems so counter to everything the original Cynics proclaimed:

• Cynicism is cheap -- you can buy it at any Monoprix store -- it's built into all poor-quality goods. Graham Greene 

• What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Oscar Wilde 

I do not mind the cynicism of the underdogs, showing distrust for their so-called masters, but I heartily despise the 'cynicism' of the rich and powerful (which they manifest as a total lack of warmth, humanity or morals). I guess this explains why the word stirs up such diverse responses. Amusingly enough, Diogenes of Sinope may have dropped out after witnessing his father 'cynically' shaving coins...(or did he, himself do that in his early days?)

 To me, a cynic remains a 'disillusioned romantic' - someone who had high hopes and expectations for the world. Those of us researchers who love Sherlock Holmes (but secretly prefer his older brother, Mycroft) would love a place to retreat to like The Diogenes Club...if it didn't appear such a place of privilege...  but these days we might settle for an online Sanctuary for Cynics.

When he was sunning himself in the Craneum, Alexander the Great came and stood over him and said, " Ask of me any favour you like." To which he replied, "Stand out of my light." 

Observing a child drinking out of his hands, he cast away his cup with the words, 'A child has beaten me in simplicity of living.'" 

"Once he saw the officials of a temple leading away someone who had stolen a bowl belonging to the treasurers, and said, 'The great thieves are leading away the little thief.'" 

If I have stimulated your interest, then I recommend you read the source material. 

If I choose to try to put the case for positive cynicism in this piece, I will finish with a quote from Robert Anton Wilson  doing an interview with a Russian magazine, to show that he appears to, maybe, share such a view: 

I have 35 books in print in my own country, and they seem to stay in print. Some also have infiltrated Germany, Greece, Japan, Brazil, the Scandinavian countries etc. This seems remarkable to me because I don't believe in anything -- my whole philosophy consists of non-philosophy: persistent and vehement agnosticism -- but I still remain just popular enough to stay in circulation. I'm not sure I understand why. Maybe the world has more cynics and relativists than any of our diverse Establishments suspect?