#Philosopher diogenes free

#Philosopher diogenes free

Some of them ran off into the wide world happy to be free at last, but others moaned because they had nowhere to go, and now, nowhere to stay either. He told everyone to help themselves to anything they wanted from his accumulated stuff, he even invited his servants to help themselves, and he told them that they were, from that day on, free to leave and to do as they would. In fact, I think I'd be better off without it.' So, he decided to hold a big party to which he invited all his friends and then, at the party, he announced that he was going to give all his things away, to the astonishment of his guests. He recalled the story of Socrates that had been told to him as a child and, looking at his house and his riches, he thought to himself 'I don't need any of this stuff. He thought that maybe this was the reason why the dog was happy.

One day Diogenes saw a dog loose on the streets doing exactly what it wanted to do when it wanted to do it, and he noticed that the dog owned nothing yet seemed very happy. He never seemed to have any time to himself to think, and thinking was one thing Diogenes liked to do very much. There were always people asking him for money, there were things to be done, buildings to be mended and so on. Some time later somewhere else in Greece a man called Diogenes lived in a large house filled with beautiful things and was waited upon by many servants, but Diogenes noticed how unhappy he was.

Socrates was said to have gone to the marketplace and, having taken one look at all the things on sale in the stalls, was said to have famously declared: 'look at all these things I don't need!' This story begins some considerable years before Diogenes with the Greek philosopher Socrates. So, from this perspective Diogenes is being selfish in his decision to renounce his material wealth: maybe, according to this view, what he needs to do is mature in his attitude towards his wealth. But then, one could argue that someone like Diogenes has responsibilities that follow from his wealth, such as the welfare of his family and servants and the good that could be done with his wealth. In other words: if all I want is some bread and water then it would be relatively easy (on the whole) to get bread and water and therefore easier to be happy. This could be seen as best achieved through wealth but it could equally be seen from the flip side of the coin: by wanting only simple things. Many feel that happiness is best achieved through having the means to attain what you want and thereby the ability to satisfy your desires. In this story we explore the notion of freedom and happiness and its relationship to material gain or wealth.

The origin of the word 'cynic' comes from the Greek (via Latin) for 'dog', and has the same root as the English word 'canine'. 323-146 BCE) that dropped out of conventional society much like modern-day hippies. Diogenes was a Cynic, a group of philosophers in Hellenistic times (c.