Class VIII notes // Feb. 27, 2013 // Diogenes + Cynicism + Thesis Statements
- Further Notes on Diogenes / part II
-“I am a citizen of the world” (p. 40, fragment 7). Is that possible? And, if so, why should it matter?
-The basic Cynic principles, even through the movement's transformations, are: an ascetic, independent life; a commitment to the drastic reduction of needs to the simple basics of an animal existence; a missionary zeal in their criticism of society; a sharp, scouring tongue (parrhesia, or free speech); an open defiance of tradition, rituals, and organized religion; a scorn for idealist theories and for head teachers (Plato) in particular; a cosmopolitan attitude born from a critique of contemporary politics and nationalism…
-The name Cynic captures the threefold character of the movement . . . the noun, itself, claims two roots -- one in Kynosarges (the name of an Ancient Greek gymnasium where Antisthenes is said to have held his lessons, and the other in the Greek kyon --- dog.
-QUESTION: How can Cynicism help an individual? ** The transvaluation of values . . .(point of discussion)
-Examine some of Diogenes’ fragments.
-The Cynic shuns long discourses in favor of quips, aphorisms, and physical gestures.
-Most Cynicism scholars agree that, for Diogenes, cosmopolitanism signifies a form of apoliticism, of antipoliticism. Nature over culture. A rejection, not only of the polis (city, state, etc...) but of all social ties. Look at this as an ideological way out of the ghetto, off the farm, a way of communal reformation . . . This helps us seek new ways of relating to ourselves and to the world. This helps us free ourselves from the many opaque illusions and achieve further clarity and a less filtered state of mind.
-Think: Diogenes behaves like an animal to negate the state and the social ties but this helps him become more of a human being. Why? How would behaving like an animal, in the Diogenes-sense, help us get closer to humanity?
- Thesis Statements
-Ask someone in class to be your proofer and work with you…
-Read/Show your thesis to the proofer.
-Proofer: read it once, notating any grammatical errors.
Read it a second time, looking for the following: is it coherent, does it make sense, will this person be able to argue this point, do you find it interesting? If many of these are not in the thesis statement, discuss how he or she might make it better.
- Assignment(s)
-Thesis Statement(s): fully revised, typed up, double-spaced, on a Microsoft Word .DOC (e-mailed), DUE by 11:59pm on Monday, 3/4.
-3 Questions and/or statements regarding the fragments of Diogenes, posted to the blog by Monday 3/4 at 8:15am.