Robert Dobbin

This is a helpful collection of classical writings concerning the cynic philosophers and their way of life. I find the source material a bit repetitive, and it's not as literarily or philosophically sophisticated as the work produced by the later stoics. But, this simplicity is kind of the point. The cynics believed that they had found happiness and moral excellence in an ascetic self sufficiency intended to defeat "irrational" motives of desire and fear. They regarded the ordinary stock of civilization, fancy clothes, refined foods, even speculative philosophies, as a pernicious distraction. "Defacing the currency," that is, demonstrating the worthlessness of social norms upheld merely by convention, is the most interesting idea in the book.… (altro)

The Cynic Philosophers is a book that I wish I read a while ago. It places the the work of the later Stoics in a new light by demonstrating the evolution of the beliefs and ideas they would propagate. The later Stoics were very concerned with seeing their ideas in a lineage going back to Socrates, and the Cynics were the bridge: Socrates taught Antisthenes, Antisthenes taught Diogenes, Diogenes taught Crates, and Crates taught Zeno, the founder of Stoicism. The introduction highlights how this tight pedigree was probably more of a Stoic invention than a reality, but this in no way detracts from the point that appreciating the Cynics goes a long way to contextualizing the Stoics. In a sense, the final achievement of Stoicism was to take the idea of Cynicism full circle: from the outsider critique of modern society to a mainline belief of modern society itself.

Dobbin's translation lively. I am suspicious at the occasional use of contemporary idioms. It is most appreciated when one does not approach it as a literal translation.

If you enjoy the likes of Cicero, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius, you should read this book. Here are the kernels of thought that would morph into their convictions. This compilation widens the scope for appreciating the evolution of thought in the later classical writers in the 'tradition'.… (altro)