Antisthenes

Antisthenes (mid-fifth to mid-fourth century) was a Greek philosopher and contemporary of Socrates. Following Diogenes Laertius, Antisthenes has been treated as the founder of the Cynic way of life -- Cynicism being an ethical, philosophical tradition. (Stoicism, that philosophy popular among the leading Romans of the first centuries B.C. and A.D., developed from Cynicism.)

Like his friend Socrates, Antisthenes believed virtue (1) could be taught and (2) was all one needed for happiness.


Another Diogenes, Diogenes of Sinope, was a pupil of Antisthenes. Diogenes was the philosopher who historically earned the label "cynic" from the Greek for "dog". It was he who sassed Alexander the Great, but for that you'll need to read the Diogenes' page.

Examples: The following is a quote from Antisthenes: "It is a royal privilege to do good and be spoken ill of."
~ Cynics Quotes

Timeline of the Greek and Roman Philosophers

 

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Sources:

• _{Christopher C. W. Taylor "Antisthenes" Who's Who in the Classical World. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Tony Spawforth. Oxford University Press, 2000.}
• _{"Cynics" The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Simon Blackburn. Oxford University Press, 2008}
• _{A History of Cynicism - From Diogenes to the 6th Century A.D., by Donald R. Dudley; 2007.}