Diogenes of Sinope vs Socrates
Diogenes of Sinope was a self-described disciple of Socrates' student Antisthenes, and the Cynic tradition Diogenes founded considered itself a faithful continuation of the Socratic ethical project. Whether the inheritance is genuine has been disputed since antiquity.
At a glance
| Diogenes of Sinope | Socrates | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | c. 412 BC – 323 BC | 470 BC – 399 BC |
| Nationality | Greek | Greek |
| Era | Ancient | Ancient |
| Movements | Cynicism, Hellenistic, Ancient Greek Philosophy | Ancient Greek Philosophy |
| Profile | Diogenes of Sinope → | Socrates → |
Where they agree
Both held that virtue is sufficient for happiness, both rejected the conventional valuation of wealth, status, and political power, and both took philosophical practice to be inseparable from a way of life. Both became famous for confronting their fellow citizens with embarrassing questions about how they actually lived, and both treated the philosopher as a kind of public moral provocation.
Where they disagree
Socrates pursued his ethical inquiries within the Athenian polis, observing its laws even to the point of accepting his own execution rather than fleeing into exile. Diogenes lived in a wine jar and treated convention as such — Greek, civic, civilized — as the obstacle to natural virtue, rejecting polite participation in civic life altogether. Socrates' ethical practice is the disciplined cross-examination of his interlocutors' moral beliefs; Diogenes' is the shameless performance of natural life against social pretension. Where Socrates is the philosopher who annoys the city by asking too many questions, Diogenes is the philosopher who annoys it by refusing to participate in its conventions at all.
Representative quotes
Diogenes of Sinope
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“I am looking for an honest man.”
He lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, "I am looking for a human . -
“I am a citizen of the world.”
Diogenes Laërtius , vi. 63 -
“When Alexander the Great addressed him with greetings, and asked if he wanted anything, Diogenes replied "Yes, stand a little out of my sunshine .”
From Plutarch , Alexander , 14. Cf. Diogenes Laërtius , vi. 38, Cicero , Tusculan Disputations , v. 32
Socrates
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“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”
Variant: The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance. | Socrates II: xxxi . Original Greek: ἓν μόνον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, τὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ ἓν μόνον κακόν, τὴν ἀμαθίαν -
“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”
Plato, Phaedo 115e -
“I only wish that wisdom were the kind of thing that flowed ... from the vessel that was full to the one that was empty.”
Plato , Symposium , 175d
Continue reading
- Full profile: Diogenes of Sinope
- Full profile: Socrates
- Shared movements: Ancient Greek Philosophy
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