An Eye for An I. Robert Spillane

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СКАЧАТЬ union is one of the few marital successes in the long list of philosophers. They had two children, allegedly conceived and born in the style of the Cynics, in public. Hipparchia became famous as a Cynic and was fondly called ‘the female philosopher’. Sadly, she faded from history after Crates’ death in old age. Stoic philosopher Epictetus argued that marriage distracts Cynics from their vocation and may even be inconsistent with it. If a Cynic marries he will be caught up in the trivia and compromises of domestic life. As Cynics have a duty to be overseer to humankind, those who marry, have children, and quarrel endlessly, will see their kingdom taken away from them. When the Cynics pointed to Crates’ successful marriage, Epictetus countered that they had forgotten that Hipparchia was a female Crates.

      When he heard that Diogenes was dying, Crates advised Hipparchia to return quickly to Athens so that she may find Diogenes alive and learn from him how much philosophy can achieve even in the most terrifying circumstances. In another letter he tells his wife and fellow philosopher that it is not because they are indifferent to everything that others have called their philosophy Cynic, but because they robustly endure those things which are unbearable to those who are effeminate and subject to false opinion. He tells Hipparchia to stand firm and live the Cynic life, (for females are not by nature inferior to males, as female dogs are not by nature inferior to male dogs), in order that she might be freed even from nature, since all are slaves either by law or through wickedness. Reaffirming their commitment to the philosophical life Crates warns his wife about the dangers of ‘womanly behaviour’. He returns the tunic she wove for him because those who live a Cynic’s life are forbidden to wear such things, and he returns the gift so that he may encourage her to desist from attempting to show the masses how much she loves and serves her husband. He points out that if he had married her for this reason, she would be acting properly. But since they married for the sake of philosophy, she should renounce such pursuits and try to be of greater benefit to people through philosophising. For Crates, as for Diogenes, reason is a guide to life. So he tells her to acquire reason for herself for then she will secure a happy life. And she should seek wise men, even if she has to go to the ends of the Earth.

      After the birth of his son Crates wrote to his wife that he had heard that she had given birth quite easily. He congratulates her for believing that hard work is the cause of her not having to work hard at giving birth. He opines that she would not have given birth so easily unless, while pregnant, she had continued to work hard as the athletes do. He tells her to take care of ‘this little puppy of ours’ and when he is able to speak and walk, he will be dressed with the uniform of the Cynic: staff, cloak and wallet.

      According to Crates, we should proceed toward happiness even if it is through fire and shun not only the worst of evils – injustice and self-indulgence – but also pleasures. Rather, we should pursue self-control, perseverance and hard work. If we are Cynics we toil according to this philosophy, and to be a Cynic is to take a short-cut in doing philosophy. Living philosophy is more important than talking or writing philosophy. We should be judged by what we do so that a philosophy is judged by how we live. As Cynics we live our philosophy without compromise: we are the sum of our actions. Consequently, Crates tells us not to fear the name of Cynic, or to resent being called bad. In short, we should not be bothered by or enslaved to the opinion of others and should not allow their name-calling to have any adverse effect on us for they are only ‘mere shadows’.

      The ancient Cynics – Antisthenes, Diogenes and Crates – did not pretend to offer a systematic philosophy in the manner of Plato or Aristotle. Indeed, they were opposed to attempts to make a system out of the flux of the world. Nonetheless, the unholy trinity did agree on several points of doctrine. Laertius notes that the Cynics favoured the study of ethics over physics and logic. They agreed with Socrates that the unexamined life is of little consequence and the precept ‘know oneself’ is the foundation of true philosophy. Cynicism is, therefore, a shortcut to virtue because it dispenses with the distractions and conventions of everyday life. Despising wealth, fame, pretentiousness, pomposity and hypocrisy, the Cynics argued that virtue can be taught and when acquired cannot be lost. Virtuous individuals deserve our respect, vicious individuals deserve our censure, and what lies in between is unimportant.

      Cynicism faded when the centre of philosophy shifted from Greece to Rome. Its practical asceticism was not to the taste of Republican Romans and so it survived as a quaint literary phenomenon. It later fused with Stoicism, revived and faded again in the sixth century after it turned increasingly pessimistic and misanthropic. Cynicism revived in the period of the high Renaissance in a politicised form which was inconsistent with the anti-political stance of the first Cynics. After being driven underground in the periods of the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation, it revived in the era of the French Enlightenment and fed into the ideas so well represented by the darling of the Enlightenment, Voltaire.

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