Antisthenes
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Antisthenes For other people named Antisthenes, see Antisthenes (disambiguation). Antisthenes (/ænˈtɪsθɨniːz/; [1] Greek: Ἀντισθένης; c. 445 – c. 365 BC) was a Greek philosopher and a pupil of Socrates. Antisthenes first learned rhetoric under Gorgias before becoming an ardent disciple of Socrates. He adopted and developed the ethical side of Socrates’ teachings, advocating an ascetic life lived in accordance with virtue. Later writers regarded him as the founder of Cynic philosophy. 1 Life Antisthenes was born c. 445 BC and was the son of An- tisthenes, an Athenian. His mother was a Thracian. [2] In his youth he fought at Tanagra (426 BC), and was a disci- ple first of Gorgias, and then of Socrates, at whose death he was present. [3] He never forgave his master’s perse- cutors, and is said to have been instrumental in procur- ing their punishment. [4] He survived the Battle of Leuc- tra (371 BC), as he is reported to have compared the vic- tory of the Thebans to a set of schoolboys beating their master. [5] Although one source tells us that he died at the age of 70, [6] he was apparently still alive in 366 BC, [7] and he must have been nearer to 80 years old when he died at Athens, c. 365 BC. He is said to have lectured at the Cynosarges, [8] a gymnasium for the use of Atheni- ans born of foreign mothers, near the temple of Heracles. Diogenes Laërtius says that his works filled ten volumes, but of these, only fragments remain. His favourite style seems to have been dialogues, some of them being vehe- ment attacks on his contemporaries, as on Alcibiades in the second of his two works entitled Cyrus, on Gorgias in his Archelaus and on Plato in his Satho. [9] His style was pure and elegant, and Theopompus even said that Plato stole from him many of his thoughts. [10] Cicero, af- ter reading some works by Antisthenes, found his works pleasing and called him “a man more intelligent than learned”. [11] He possessed considerable powers of wit and sarcasm, and was fond of playing upon words; saying, for instance, that he would rather fall among crows (korakes) than flatterers (kolakes), for the one devour the dead, but the other the living. [12] Two declamations have survived, named Ajax and Odysseus, which are purely rhetorical. Antisthenes’ nickname was the (Absolute) Dog (ἁπλοκύων, Diog.Laert.6.13) [13][14][15] 2 Philosophy Marble bust of Antisthenes based on the same original (British Museum) 2.1 According to Diogenes Laertius In his “Lives of the Eminent Philosophers,” Diogenes Laertius lists the following as the favorite themes of An- tisthenes: “He would prove that virtue can be taught; and that nobility belongs to none other than the virtuous. And he held virtue to be sufficient in itself to ensure happi- ness, since it needed nothing else except the strength of a Socrates. And he maintained that virtue is an affair of deeds and does not need a store of words or learning; that the wise man is self-sufficing, for all the goods of others are his; that ill repute is a good thing and much the same as pain; that the wise man will be guided in his public acts not by the established laws but by the law of virtue; that he will also marry in order to have children from union with the handsomest women; furthermore that he will not dis- 1
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Antisthenes
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Antisthenes
For other people named Antisthenes, see Antisthenes(disambiguation).
Antisthenes (/ænˈtɪsθɨniːz/;[1] Greek: Ἀντισθένης; c.445 – c. 365 BC) was a Greek philosopher and a pupilof Socrates. Antisthenes first learned rhetoric underGorgias before becoming an ardent disciple of Socrates.He adopted and developed the ethical side of Socrates’teachings, advocating an ascetic life lived in accordancewith virtue. Later writers regarded him as the founder ofCynic philosophy.
1 Life
Antisthenes was born c. 445 BC and was the son of An-tisthenes, an Athenian. His mother was a Thracian.[2] Inhis youth he fought at Tanagra (426 BC), and was a disci-ple first of Gorgias, and then of Socrates, at whose deathhe was present.[3] He never forgave his master’s perse-cutors, and is said to have been instrumental in procur-ing their punishment.[4] He survived the Battle of Leuc-tra (371 BC), as he is reported to have compared the vic-tory of the Thebans to a set of schoolboys beating theirmaster.[5] Although one source tells us that he died at theage of 70,[6] he was apparently still alive in 366 BC,[7]and he must have been nearer to 80 years old when hedied at Athens, c. 365 BC. He is said to have lecturedat the Cynosarges,[8] a gymnasium for the use of Atheni-ans born of foreign mothers, near the temple of Heracles.Diogenes Laërtius says that his works filled ten volumes,but of these, only fragments remain. His favourite styleseems to have been dialogues, some of them being vehe-ment attacks on his contemporaries, as on Alcibiades inthe second of his two works entitled Cyrus, on Gorgiasin his Archelaus and on Plato in his Satho.[9] His stylewas pure and elegant, and Theopompus even said thatPlato stole from him many of his thoughts.[10] Cicero, af-ter reading some works by Antisthenes, found his workspleasing and called him “a man more intelligent thanlearned”.[11] He possessed considerable powers of wit andsarcasm, and was fond of playing upon words; saying, forinstance, that he would rather fall among crows (korakes)than flatterers (kolakes), for the one devour the dead, butthe other the living.[12] Two declamations have survived,named Ajax and Odysseus, which are purely rhetorical.Antisthenes’ nickname was the (Absolute) Dog(ἁπλοκύων, Diog.Laert.6.13) [13][14][15]
2 Philosophy
Marble bust of Antisthenes based on the same original (BritishMuseum)
2.1 According to Diogenes Laertius
In his “Lives of the Eminent Philosophers,” DiogenesLaertius lists the following as the favorite themes of An-tisthenes: “He would prove that virtue can be taught; andthat nobility belongs to none other than the virtuous. Andhe held virtue to be sufficient in itself to ensure happi-ness, since it needed nothing else except the strength ofa Socrates. And he maintained that virtue is an affair ofdeeds and does not need a store of words or learning; thatthe wise man is self-sufficing, for all the goods of othersare his; that ill repute is a good thing and much the sameas pain; that the wise man will be guided in his public actsnot by the established laws but by the law of virtue; that hewill also marry in order to have children from union withthe handsomest women; furthermore that he will not dis-
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2 4 NOTES
dain to love, for only the wise man knows who are worthyto be loved.”[16]
2.2 Ethics
Antisthenes was a pupil of Socrates, from whom he im-bibed the fundamental ethical precept that virtue, notpleasure, is the end of existence. Everything that thewise person does, Antisthenes said, conforms to perfectvirtue,[17] and pleasure is not only unnecessary, but a pos-itive evil. He is reported to have held pain[18] and even ill-repute (Greek: ἀδοξία)[19] to be blessings, and said that“I'd rather be mad than feel pleasure.”[20] It is, however,probable that he did not consider all pleasure worthless,but only that which results from the gratification of sen-sual or artificial desires, for we find him praising the plea-sures which spring “from out of one’s soul,”[21] and the en-joyments of a wisely chosen friendship.[22] The supremegood he placed in a life lived according to virtue, – virtueconsisting in action, which when obtained is never lost,and exempts the wise person from error.[23] It is closelyconnected with reason, but to enable it to develop itself inaction, and to be sufficient for happiness, it requires theaid of Socratic strength (Greek: Σωκρατικὴ ἱσχύς).[17]
2.3 Physics
His work on Natural Philosophy (the Physicus) containeda theory of the nature of the gods, in which he arguedthat there were many gods believed in by the people, butonly one natural God.[24] He also said that God resemblesnothing on earth, and therefore could not be understoodfrom any representation.[25]
2.4 Logic
In logic, Antisthenes was troubled by the problem of uni-versals. As a proper nominalist, he held that definitionand predication are either false or tautological, since wecan only say that every individual is what it is, and cangive no more than a description of its qualities, e. g. thatsilver is like tin in colour.[26] Thus he disbelieved the Pla-tonic system of Ideas. “A horse,” said Antisthenes, “I cansee, but horsehood I cannot see.”[27] Definition is merelya circuitous method of stating an identity: “a tree is a veg-etable growth” is logically no more than “a tree is a tree.”
3 Antisthenes and the Cynics
In later times, Antisthenes came to be seen as the founderof the Cynics, but it is by no means certain that he wouldhave recognized the term. Aristotle, writing a genera-tion later refers several times to Antisthenes[28] and his
Antisthenes, part of a fresco in the National University of Athens.
followers “the Antistheneans,”[26] but makes no refer-ence to Cynicism.[29] There are many later tales aboutthe infamous Cynic Diogenes of Sinope dogging Anti-sthenes’ footsteps and becoming his faithful hound,[30]but it is no means certain that the two men ever met.Some scholars, drawing on the discovery of defaced coinsfrom Sinope dating from the period 350-340 BC, believethat Diogenes only moved to Athens after the death ofAntisthenes,[31] and it has been argued that the storieslinking Antisthenes to Diogenes were invented by theStoics in a later period in order to provide a successionlinking Socrates to Zeno, via Antisthenes, Diogenes, andCrates.[32] These tales were important to the Stoics forestablishing a chain of teaching that ran from Socrates toZeno.[33] Others argue that the evidence from the coinsis weak, and thus Diogenes could have moved to Athenswell before 340 BC.[34] It is also possible that Diogenesvisited Athens and Antisthenes before his exile, and re-turned to Sinope.[31]
Antisthenes certainly adopted a rigorous asceticlifestyle,[35] and he developed many of the principlesof Cynic philosophy which became an inspiration forDiogenes and later Cynics. It was said that he had laid thefoundations of the city which they afterwards built.[36]
4 Notes[1] Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter, James Hartman and Jane Set-
ter, eds. Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary. 17thedition. Cambridge UP, 2006.
3
[2] Suda, Antisthenes.; Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 1
[3] Plato, Phaedo, 59b.
[4] Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 9
[5] Plutarch, Lycurgus, 30.
[6] Eudocia, Violarium, 96
[7] Diodorus Siculus, xv. 76.4
[8] Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 13
[9] Athenaeus, v. 220c-e
[10] Athenaeus, xi. 508c-d
[11] "Κῦρος δ᾽, ε᾽ mihi sic placuit ut cetera Antisthenis, hominisacuti magis quam eruditi." Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum,Book XII, Letter 38, section 2. In English translation:“Books four (δ᾽) and five (ε᾽) of Cyrus I found as pleas-ing as the others composed by Antisthenes, he is a manwho is sharp rather than learned.”
[12] Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 4
[13] Susan Prince, Dept. of Classics, University of Colorado,Boulder review of LE. Navia - Antisthenes of Athens: Set-ting the World Aright. Westport: Greenwood Press, Pp.xii, 176. ISBN 0-313-31672-4 Bryn Mawr Classical Re-view 2001.06.23 [Retrieved 2015-04-20]
[14] The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography, Vol-ume 1 Routledge, 16 Dec 2003 (edited by FN. Magill)ISBN 1135457409 [Retrieved 2015-04-20]
[15] H George Judge, R Blake - World history, Volume 1 Ox-ford University Press, 1988 [Retrieved 2015-04-20]
[16] Diogenes Laërtius, Book VI. Chapter 1, 10
[17] Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 11
[18] Julian, Oration, 6.181b
[19] Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 3, 7
[20] Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 3
[21] Xenophon, Symposium, iv. 41.
[22] Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 12
[23] Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 11–12, 104–105
[24] Cicero, De Natura Deorum, i. 13.
[25] Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, v.
[26] Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1043b24
[27] Simplicius, in Arist. Cat. 208, 28
[28] Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1024b26; Rhetoric, 1407a9; Top-ics, 104b21; Politics, 1284a15
[29] Long 1996, page 32
[30] Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 6, 18, 21; Dio Chrysostom, Ora-tions, viii. 1–4; Aelian, x. 16; Stobaeus, Florilegium,13.19
[31] Long 1996, page 45
[32] Dudley 1937, pages 2-4
[33] Navia, Diogenes the Cynic, page 100
[34] Navia, Diogenes the Cynic, pages 34, 112-3
[35] Xenophon, Symposium, iv. 34–44.
[36] Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 15
5 References
• Dudley, Donald R. (1937), A History of Cynicismfrom Diogenes to the 6th Century A.D.. Cambridge
• Long, A. A. (1996), “The Socratic Tradition: Dio-genes, Crates, and Hellenistic Ethics”, in BrachtBranham, R.; Goulet-Caze Marie-Odile, The Cyn-ics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy.University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21645-8
• Luis E. Navia, (2005), Diogenes The Cynic: TheWar Against The World. Humanity Books. ISBN1-59102-320-3
6 Further reading
• Branham, R. Bracht; Cazé, Marie-Odile Goulet,eds. (1996). The Cynics: The Cynic Movement inAntiquity and Its Legacy. Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press.
• Guthrie, William Keith Chambers (1969). TheFifth-Century Enlightenment. A History of GreekPhilosophy 3. London: Cambridge UniversityPress.
• Navia, Luis E. (2001). Antisthenes of Athens: Set-ting the World Aright. Contributions in philosophy80. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-31672-4.
• Navia, Luis E. (1996). Classical Cynicism: ACriticalStudy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
• Navia, Luis E. (1995). The Philosophy of CynicismAn Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Green-wood Press.
• Rankin, H.D. (1986). Anthisthenes Sokratikos. Am-sterdam: A.M. Hakkert. ISBN 90-256-0896-5.
• Rankin, H.D. (1983). Sophists, Socratics, and Cyn-ics. London: Croom Helm.
• Sayre, Farrand (1948). “Antisthenes the Socratic”.The Classical Journal 43: 237–244.
4 7 EXTERNAL LINKS
7 External links• Antisthenes entry in the Internet Encyclopedia ofPhilosophy
• Lives & Writings on the Cynics, directory of literaryreferences to Ancient Cynics
• Diogenes Laërtius, Life of Antisthenes, translated byRobert Drew Hicks (1925).
• Xenophon, Symposium, Book IV
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