February 7, 2015
"There are four reasons why the Cynics are so named. First because of the indifference of their way of life..."
".. for they make a cult of indifference and, like dogs, eat and make love in public, go barefoot, and sleep in tubs and at crossroads. The second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal, and they make a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but as superior to it. The third reason is that the dog is a good guard, and they guard the tenets of their philosophy. The fourth reason is that the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its friends and enemies. So do they recognize as friends those who are suited to philosophy, and receive them kindly, while those unfitted they drive away, like dogs, by barking at them."
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27 comments:
Dogs certainly know their friends.
Snoop is a cynic
Wasn't the founder of the Cynics the Greek who proudly proclaimed that he was a citizen of the world, thus excusing himself from any obligation to pay taxes or serve in the military of any particular city-state? Like scrounging dogs, he lived of the fruit of other's labors with no obligation to the greater community other than his ceaseless yammering about how corrupt everyone else was. Nice work if you can get it: maybe he, rather than Socrates Plato or Aristotle, is the true founder of the modern Liberal Arts academe.
First, a dog will maintain a pretense of covering its misdeeds with a gesture of grass blades and loose soil.
Second, a dog feels shame and will turn its nose away when reminded of its cause, even if it will soon forget its discomfort.
I agree with the third and fourth reasons.
A dog is supremely, even divinely forgiving. It will surely go to Heaven.
Canine apologetics: the pros and cons of our best friend.
Dogs are not shameless. They are without artifice or pretense.
And they are proof of God's existence.
A: I am Alexander the Great.
D: I am Diogenes the Dog.
A: The Dog?
D: I nuzzle friends, bark at strangers, and bite louts.
A: I see. And what I can do for you, Mr. Dog?
D: You can get out of my light.
What you posted has to be one of the most cynical statements I've ever read.
"other dogs bite their enemies, I bite my friends to save them." - Barack Obama... is that racist?
I think it's very unfair to call a dog shameless when the specie is incapable of defending their state of mind.
your honor..
I'm going by the assumption that shamelessness is an undesired thing. See Brian Williams.
Diogenes in his earthenware tub, lighting his lamp to go in search for an honest man. Really great painting. Back in the 80’s, Dave "The Dogman" Kaplow roamed the streets of Portland Maine with a pack of wild dogs. His legal woes made it all the way to the Maine Supreme Court but he lost. I never knew he was following in the steps of Diogenes.
http://www.portlanddailysun.me/index.php/opinion/columns/7944-the-dogman
First century Yankee Doodles, huh?
n.n said...
First, a dog will maintain a pretense of covering its misdeeds with a gesture of grass blades and loose soil.
Nope. They have scent glands in their paws and they're marking territory.
Second, a dog feels shame and will turn its nose away when reminded of its cause, even if it will soon forget its discomfort.
Nope. They don't feel shame, they're acting submissive.
You should win an award for anthropomorphism.
A cynic, Vicki Hearne says somewhere, is slow to believe anything a dog can't believe.
The authority of uniforms, for instance.
Stanley Cavell, probably in Conditions Handsome and Unhandsome, says that cynicism in a democracy is a political position.
The wiki page seems to say the cynics were the hippies of their day.
That's different from the modern idea of cynicism, which Obama identified as the real enemy, back when he was promising a net cut in government spending, peace in the Middle East, health care for all without the imposition of a mandate, racial reconciliation, and an economic recovery which would benefit more than the richest Americans, among other things.
rhhardin: I just read today that "Cavell" was the name of King Arthur's loyal dog.
I had to follow the link to figure out why a passage that purported to explain why cynics were called cynics spent so much time talking about dogs. I like following links to learn more about something that interests me, I hate following links to figure out what the post is talking about. I know you're not click-baiting for Wikipedia, but this is the functional equivalent.
Fernandinande said...
n.n said...
"Second, a dog feels shame and will turn its nose away when reminded of its cause, even if it will soon forget its discomfort."
Nope. They don't feel shame, they're acting submissive.
A friend once told me something I've always wanted to test but didn't have the heart. We think dogs can know they did wrong because they cower when you come home and find they've bern in the garbage can and it's everywhere.
But no, they are not feeling guilty because you caught their misdeed, they are afraid because they know that you mistreat them if there is garbage on the floor when you come in.
As a test (which, again, I have not tried because it seems so unfair), throw a bunch of garbage on the floor, then go out for 5 minutes and come back. See if your dog doesn't act just like he would if he dumped the garbage himself.
Tim maguire, that experiment has already been done - just a little differently. Dogs were separated from their owners for several hours. When the owners returned, they were told their dog had been misbehaving badly even tho it had not. The dogs all acted guilty. Turns out, the dogs are reading their owners faces for emotional cues. Apparently, dogs figured out human body language almost from the beginning of their association with humans - and knew how to use it to their (the dogs) advantage.
May I suggest "The Science of Dogs"? Its on Netflix.
John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
tim maguire said...
As a test (which, again, I have not tried because it seems so unfair), throw a bunch of garbage...
An already documented example are the "pancake dogs" that were tortured by Obama's sadistic butt-buddy; an ignoramus might claim that they're ashamed of being alive.
It bis not in a dogs nature to be cynical.
It IS in mans nature to pompous asses.
It is in our dogs nature to forgive us for it.
Thanks Goju and Ferdinande. It's fascinating how much we think dogs know about our desires and expectations just by carefully memorizing our habits. Of course we anthropomorphize, it seems obvious that they know or think something based on their actions and it's fairly hard to tease out what's really going on.
I don't even like dogs very much.
The wiki article doesn't quite get to what drove the so-called cynics. It did get that the epithet was put on them in consequence of their -- the visible ones -- manner of living. It does not mention that most were out of human sight precisely because of their "naturalistic" manner of living. Who needs the distraction of jeering crowds?
The article does not mention that the so-called Cynics followed the logic of renunciation, of religious development, mental, spiritual and physical, to its liberating end: all is illusion, nothing is reliable, nothing can be known -- including that nothing can be know. All is relative merely, including relativism. There is no knowledge, only awareness, bliss and being.
Cynics, were honest about the consequences of their labors for insight, unlike modern "radicals," who proclaim chaos outside then retreat to their wine cellars and private islands for epicurean festivities.
Cynics were the Greek version of the Vedic Mendicant, the fourth and final stage of spiritual accomplishment (liberation), the one which immediately precedes being carried over into the ecstasy of God's Presence.
Greek is a Vedic language and Greek philosophical schools -- really religious convents -- reflect Vedic philosophy, as for example Pythagoras.
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