Most Famous Cynicism Philosophers

Cynicism is an ancient Greek philosophical movement traditionally founded by Antisthenes, a pupil of Socrates, and brought to its definitive form by Diogenes of Sinope in the fourth century BC. The Cynics held that the purpose of life is to live in agreement with nature, in rejection of social conventions, wealth, and the trappings of conventional respectability. Their characteristic mode was a confrontational asceticism intended to expose the folly of conventional values. Cynic ideas were later absorbed and softened by the Stoics. The English word cynicism derives from the Greek kunikos, meaning dog-like, after the Cynics' rejection of polite manners.

Philosophers in this tradition

Diogenes of Sinope c. 412 BC – 323 BC · Greek
Diogenes of Sinope was an ancient Greek philosopher and one of the founders of the Cynic school. After his exile from Sinope on the Black Sea coast he settled in Athens, where h...
Antisthenes c. 445 BC – c. 365 BC · Greek
Antisthenes of Athens was an ancient Greek philosopher of the 5th and 4th centuries BC, a student of Socrates and traditionally regarded as the founder of the Cynic school of ph...
Hipparchia of Maroneia c. 350 BC – c. 280 BC · Greek
Hipparchia of Maroneia was an ancient Greek Cynic philosopher of the late 4th and early 3rd centuries BC, one of the few women philosophers documented in the historical record f...