 When painting the picture of a man, such as Diogenes of Sinope, otherwise known as Diogenes of the Sinic, I believe it imperative that we know of both his life and his philosophy. For the way in which he chose to convey his philosophical ideal was not through a comprehensive doctrine, but through action. We must keep in mind throughout this video that what we know of the man is not first hand, but comes to us through various second hand accounts, namely in the work of Diogenes Laertius, titled Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, published some 500 years after the fact. It would be a shame if these stories were not true, but as with most men shrouded in such a thick fog of myth and legend, we must take them as only partially authentic. With this forewarning out of the way, let us begin uncovering the most outlandish man in all of Athens. He lived in the days of Plato and Aristotle when Greek culture was in full bloom, and though the exact date of his birth is not known, we do know that his early life was spent in Sinope, Paphlegonia, an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia. The only thing we know for certain about the time he spent here is that he was involved in a scandal which centered around the adulteration of Sinopean currency. It is unclear whether this act was perpetrated by his father, who was a banker, or whether Diogenes was complicit in some way. Regardless of how the incident came to be, the result was the confiscation of their possessions, revoking of their citizenship, and exiled to foreign lands without the possibility of parole. He landed in Athens, but we are told that prior to his arrival, he met the oracle Delphi, who instructed him to debase coinage, and from this ambiguous instruction, he promptly took to debasing the coinage of custom, and it was Athens, which was to be a stage. When he arrived in Athens, he became enamored with the aesthetic teachings of Antisthenes. Legend has it that Diogenes' dogged persistence convinced Antisthenes to make him his pupil, but the likely dates associated with this arrival and the death of Antisthenes makes this meeting questionable at best. However, whether or not the two ever crossed is beside the point. What is important is the influence he had on the way Diogenes would come to see the world. These two men, and the later crates of Thebes, are credited with beginning the philosophical tradition which would come to be known as cynicism. The cynic philosophy as it was practiced by Diogenes is in many ways separate from our modern sense of the cynic, questioning the motives of those daring enough to state their beliefs without sufficient evidence. Cynicism in this sense is characterized by self-sufficiency, rejection of custom, shamelessness, and an exaltation of reason as the prerequisite for all that is good in life. In the case of Diogenes, we might add to this list a profound wit and humor unrivalled in ancient Greece, and dare I say it, in the history of philosophical discourse. The name cynic was derived from the Greek word for dog-like. It is not clear if this title originated because of Diogenes' proclivity for dog-like living, or whether it was assigned because Antisthenes taught lessons in the Sinosargus Gymnasium in Athens, Sinosargus meaning place of the white dog. When he himself was asked why he was referred to this way, he replied, I fawn on those who give me anything. I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals. He also claimed no allegiance to any formal governmental body, and believed himself to be a citizen of the world, and can be said to have minted the word cosmopolitan. This may seem to us a minor statement of little significance, but in an age of city-states where one's identity was inextricably connected to the particular state in which they lived, it carried much more weight. According to the cynics' view of the world was the concept of reason. We are told that Diogenes, in broad daylight, would meander around with a fully lit lamp in hand. Our modern sources tell us that he was in search of an honest man, but more contemporary accounts tell us that it was simply a man of which he was in search of. Something that seems to be an easy find, but this was not so for Diogenes. Such as he may, all that he could find were rascals, closer to beasts than men. A frequent phrase he uttered was that, for the conduct of life, we need right reason, or a halter, meaning that the unreasonable men he encountered were not in his view men at all. They were merely beasts walking upright, and without reason to guide them they would instead require a leash to direct them. Something which Diogenes made well known, both through his words and actions, was his utter disregard and disdain for the conventions of his day. It seemed to be a fervent wish of his to uncover, for all to see, the falsity of most conventional standards and beliefs, and to bring men back to a simple life in accord with nature. For Diogenes, standard conventions included things such as family, sociopolitical organization, and property rights. Another facet of this disdain was vehement hatred for Sophism's, Plato's theoretical philosophy among them. When he caught word of Plato's newfound definition of man as a featherless biped, he swiftly mobilized, plucking a chicken and presenting it to the academy, with the blithe announcement that he had found Plato's man. To this, Plato changed his definition, adding, having broad nails, and labeling Diogenes as a Socrates gone mad. This attitude of disdain apparently extended to even the greatest of kings, legend has it, that when approached by Alexander the Great, and offered anything which was in the king's power to grant, which was virtually anything the mind could imagine, he defiantly requested that the king move so that he could resume his sunbathing. Alexander, undoubtedly surprised, responded with the proclamation, if I were not Alexander, I would rather be Diogenes. To which Diogenes quipped, if I were not Diogenes, I would still wish to be Diogenes. One cannot help but recognize the utter carelessness which Diogenes championed and embodied. He truly lived up to the cynic ideal of subjugating his life to nature and reason. It was his thought that, if a man can perform an act shamelessly in private, then this same act should be of no problem and engender no more shame when performed in public. Virtually no act was off limits to this principle, urinating in public, pointing his middle finger at passersby, spitting, and even masturbating in plain view. When confronted with the apparent indecency, he responded, if only it were so easy to banish hunger by rubbing my belly. He firmly believed and abhorred that while occupying themselves with such trivial matters as public decency, they allowed true evil to pass beneath their nose without so much as a whiff of their occurrence. If the action in question be harmless, there is no reason to be ashamed, just as the dog would be unashamed. Every simple gift of the gods, said Diogenes, has been complicated by human beings. This was an impossibility if one ignorantly assimilates to the artificiality of society. The only chance we have is if we submit to reason and place societal concerns in the hands of nature. Even the Stoics would understand him to be a wise man worthy of their praise. The origin of his asceticism may be traced to an encounter with a mouse. By watching the animal and dawned on Diogenes that whatever the circumstances may be, he could adapt to it. Most famously, as seen in many works of art, he took what can only be labeled a gigantic pot as his humble abode. Perhaps this was him taking the opportunity to harden himself to nature and its elements. In addition to this eccentric choice of residence, Diogenes wore plain clothes, ate the simplest of foods, and shunned the luxury which so characterized the Athenians that surrounded him. Diogenes has it that when he witnessed a young boy drinking from cup tans, he berated himself. Fool that I am to have been carrying superfluous baggage all this time. This extra baggage, of course, was a simple wooden bowl. It was not his wish to convince all men to live as he did. The missionary zeal was not his. He wished simply to show that happiness and freedom were possible under any circumstance. The way Diogenes chose to live his life became a powerful influence to the later Stoics. It is thought that Crates of Thieves was one of his students, from whom Zeno of Syntium, the founder of the Stoic school, took much of what he taught. Sometime later in his life tells the menopause of Gadara, he was captured and sold into slavery by what we are told were pirates. When they inquired into Diogenes labor skills, he told his captors that he had but one skill, governing men, and to place him in the care of one who needed to be governed. A man named Zeniotis took him and his word and purchased him to Tudor's sons. What happened after this purchase is unclear, but what is of most certainty is that he lived the remainder of his life in Corinth. His death, like much of his life, has multiple reported endings. If his contemporaries are to be believed, then he held his breath until he expired, but other accounts tell us how he had been bitten by a dog and died of an infected wound, or that he had been sickened by eating raw octopus. The most likely account is less exotic, that he grew to be almost 90, dying of natural causes, approximately 323 BCE. The man who had everything, and the man who had nothing, passed in the same year, there is little doubt which lived a more fulfilled life. Where and how he was buried is unknown, but if Diogenes had his wish, he would have been thrown outside the city for the animals to consume. If I lack awareness, he said, then why should I care what happens to me when I am dead? After his death, vocal populace of Corinth, honoring his memory, erected a pillar on which rested a dog of Perian marble. No doubt, an act which would have spurred a wavy remark from the man it was meant to honor. We thank Diogenes for showing us the value of self-sufficiency, and for giving us the knowledge that those things which come from within outweigh those which come from without. As always, thank you for talking philosophy with me. Until next time.