You Know Youre a Cynic When

Diogenes looking for a man being

Source: Wikicommons

Cynics oftentimes come across every bit contemptuous, irritating, and dispiriting. But they are the first to suffer from their cynicism. They can miss out on the things, such as friendship or honey, that make a life worth living. They tend to hold back from the public sphere, leading to a reduced social and economical contribution and relative poverty and isolation—which, forth with their cynicism, can predispose them to low and other ills. Their cynicism seems cocky-fulfilling: past always assuming the worst about everyone, they tend to bring it out, and not least, perhaps, in themselves.

Diogenes the Cynic

Merely pessimism also has brighter sides. To understand these, information technology helps to accept a look at the long and distinguished history of cynicism. The beginning Cynic appears to take been the Athenian philosopher Antisthenes (445-365 BCE), who had been an agog disciple of Socrates. Then came Diogenes, the paradigm of the Cynic, who took the simple life of Socrates to such an extreme that Plato called him "a Socrates gone mad."

The people of Athens driveling Diogenes, calling him a domestic dog and spitting in his face. Just in this he took pride rather than criminal offence. He held that human beings had much to learn from the simplicity and candor of dogs, which, different human beings, had not "complicated every simple gift of the gods." The terms cynic and cynical derive from the Greek kynikos, which is the adjective of kyon, or 'canis familiaris'.

Diogenes placed reason and nature firmly above custom and convention, which he held to exist incompatible with happiness. It is natural for man beings to act in accordance with reason, and reason dictates that human being beings should live in accord with nature. Rather than giving up their fourth dimension and efforts in the pursuit of wealth, renown, and other worthless things, people should have the courage to live like animals or gods, revelling in life'due south pleasures without bail or fear.

The stories surrounding Diogenes, though embellished, or because embellished, aid to convey his spirit. Diogenes wore a simple cloak which he doubled upwards in winter, begged for food, and sheltered in a tub. He fabricated it his mission to challenge custom and convention, which he called the "simulated coins of morality." Upon beingness challenged for masturbating in the marketplace, he mused, "If simply it were so easy to soothe hunger by rubbing an empty belly." He strolled about in broad daylight brandishing a lamp. When people gathered around him, as they inevitably did, he would say, "I am only looking for a homo being." His fame spread far beyond Athens. One day, Alexander the Great came to run across him. When Alexander asked whether he could practice anything for him, he replied, "Yes, stand out of my sunlight."

History of Pessimism and Related Schools

Diogenes was followed past Crates of Thebes, who renounced a large fortune to live the Contemptuous life of poverty. Crates married Hipparchia of Maroneia, who, uniquely, adopted male person clothes and lived on equal terms with her hubby. By the first century, Cynics could be institute throughout the cities of the Roman Empire. Cynicism vied with Stoicism, a broader philosophical system that emphasized cocky-command, fortitude, and clear thinking, and that, in the second century, could count the emperor Marcus Aurelius among its adherents. Zeno of Citium (334-262 BCE), the founder of Stoicism, had been a pupil of Crates, and Pessimism came to be seen as an idealized form of Stoicism.

Other philosophical schools that took off around the time of Alexander include Skepticism and Epicureanism. Similar the fifth century BCE sophists whom he opposed, Socrates had skeptical tendencies, claiming that he knew picayune or zippo, and cultivating a state of not-noesis, or aporia. Pyrrho of Elis travelled with Alexander into India, where he encountered the gymnosophists, or "naked wise men." Pyrrho denied that knowledge is possible and urged suspension of judgement, with the aim of exchanging the twin evils of feet and dogmatism for mental tranquillity, or ataraxia. The most important source on Pyrrhonism is Sextus Empiricus, who wrote in the late second century or thereabouts. In the 16th century, the translation of the consummate works of Sextus Empiricus into Latin led to a resurgence of skepticism, and the work of René Descartes—"I retrieve therefore I am," and then on—can exist read as a response to a skeptical crunch. Just David Hume, who lived some hundred years afterward, remained unmoved by Descartes, writing that "philosophy would return united states of america entirely Pyrrhonian, were non Nature likewise strong for it."

Like Antisthenes and Diogenes, Epicurus of Samos dedicated himself to attaining happiness through the practice of reason: reason teaches that pleasure is good and pain bad, and that pleasure and hurting are the ultimate measures of skilful and bad. This has often been misconstrued as a call for rampant hedonism, but actually involves a kind of hedonic calculus to decide which things, over fourth dimension, are likely to result in the almost pleasance or least hurting.

Epicurus explicitly warned against overindulgence, because overindulgence and so frequently leads to hurting; and, rather than pleasure per se, emphasized the abstention of pain, the elimination of desire, and mental tranquillity (ataraxia). "If m wilt make a man happy" said Epicurus "add together not unto his riches but take away from his desires."

I think that their shared emphasis on ataraxia makes the 4 Hellenistic schools of Cynicism, Stoicism, Skepticism, and Epicureanism more related than different.

Cynicism endured into the fifth century. In Urban center of God (426 CE), St Augustine says that "even today we still see Cynic philosophers." Although Augustine scorned Cynic shamelessness, Cynicism and especially Cynic poverty exerted an of import influence on early Christian asceticism, and thereby on later monasticism. In the early on first century, when information technology was more pop, it may even have influenced the teachings of Jesus.

Cynicism Today

"Cynicism" acquired its modern meaning in the grade of the 18th and early 19th centuries, stripping Aboriginal Pessimism of most of its tenets and retaining but the Cynic propensity to puncture people's pretensions.

Today, cynicism refers to doubt or disbelief in the professed motives, sincerity, and goodness of others, and, by extension, in social and ethical norms and values. This attitude is frequently accompanied by mistrust, contemptuousness, and pessimism about others and humanity as a whole.

Pessimism is oft dislocated with irony, which is saying the opposite of what is meant, ofttimes for levity, accent, or concision; and with sarcasm, which is saying the opposite of what is meant to mock or convey anger or contempt. Sarcasm tin can involve cynicism if information technology punctures the pretensions of its target, especially when the target has not been given the do good of dubiousness. Adding to the confusion, irony can besides refer to an event that is clearly and emphatically contrary to the ane that would unremarkably have been expected.

Antonyms, or opposites, of cynicism include trust, faith, credulity, and naivete, which refers to lack of experience or understanding, often accompanied by starry-eyed optimism or idealism. In Voltaire's Candide, the naïve Candide befriends a cynical scholar named Martin:

"Y'all're a bitter human being," said Candide.

"That's because I've lived," said Martin.

The Psychology of Cynicism

The line between cynicism and accurate observation can be very fine, and it is easy and oft expedient to dismiss objectivity as cynicism. Few grownups in our society are entirely devoid of pessimism. Cynicism exists on a spectrum, and it might exist argued that most cynics, cynical though they may be, are non virtually contemptuous enough. As Terry Pratchett wrote of the fictional Vimes:

If in that location was annihilation that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite ofttimes information technology still wasn't equally cynical equally real life.

Cynics often take pride and pleasure in their pessimism, including perhaps in the uneasy mix of discomfort and laughter that it can provoke in others. They may seek out the company of other cynics to "let rip" and exam the limits of their cynicism. Pop satirical publications and programs such equally the Onion and Daily Testify have a strong cynical streak. Beyond the humor, cynicism, like broader satire, holds up a mirror to lodge, simply equally Diogenes held up a lamp to the Athenians, inviting people to question their beliefs, values, and priorities, and pointing them towards a more authentic and fulfilling way of living.

This all fits with the theory that cynics are zero but disappointed idealists. On this reading, cynics are people who began life with unrealistically high standards and expectations. Rather than adjusting or compromising, or quietly withdrawing like the hermit, they went to war with the world, deploying their cynicism every bit both weapon and shield. Sometimes their pessimism is fractional rather than global, confining to those areas, such as love or politics, which have led to the greatest disillusionment.

Cynicism may exist understood as a defensive posture: by always assuming the worst of everyone and everything, nosotros cannot be hurt or disappointed—while also making ourselves feel smug and superior. Under her apparently thick peel, the cynic may be much more frail and sensitive than is ordinarily imagined.

At the same time, cynicism tin exist a kind of pragmatism, ensuring that all angles have been covered and all eventualities foreseen. The nature of the cynicism reveals itself in its temperature or season: scornful and gratuitous pessimism is more likely to be an ego defense force, whereas calm and happy pessimism, however actually cynical, is more probable to exist a grade of efficiency—non to mention comedy.

Cynicism tin besides be understood in terms of project. Equally I explicate in my book Hibernate and Seek: The Psychology of Self-Charade, the ego defence force of projection involves the attribution of one's unacceptable thoughts or feelings to others—and is the basis of playground retorts such as "mirror, mirror" and "what you lot say is what you are." By projecting uncomfortable thoughts and feelings onto others, a person is able not simply to altitude himself from those thoughts and feelings, merely likewise, in many cases, to play them out vicariously and even to utilise them in the service of his ego. Simply in that location is a caveat. While projection is near certainly an ego defense, to dig deep into our shared humanity to read the minds of others is, of course, a kind of wisdom—then long as we are not as well deceiving ourselves in the process.

Decision

Then are you besides contemptuous?

Probably yeah, if your cynicism is primarily a psychological defense, and hindering more than than helping yous.

Probably no, if your cynicism is measured and adaptive, and more of a thought through philosophical mental attitude that aims at joy, simplicity, and peace of mind.

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Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201809/are-you-too-cynical

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