This collection of essays—the first of its kind in English—brings together the work of an international group of scholars examining the entire tradition associated with the ancient Cynics. The essays give a history of the movement as well as a state-of-the-art account of the literary, philosophical and cultural significance of Cynicism from antiquity to the present. Arguably the most original and influential branch of the Socratic tradition, Cynicism has become the focus of renewed scholarly interest in recent years, thanks to (...) the work of Sloterdijk, Foucault, and Bakhtin, among others. The contributors to this volume—classicists, comparatists, and philosophers—draw on a variety of methodologies to explore the ethical, social and cultural practices inspired by the Cynics. The volume also includes an introduction, appendices, and an annotated bibliography, making it a valuable resource for a broad audience. (shrink)

Eusebius of Cesarea, in his Praeparatio Evangelica, quotes a large piece of Plotinus’ writing to which Porphyry, in his edition of the Enneads, gave the title “On the Immortality of Soul”. Surprisingly, the piece quoted by Eusebius is absent from the Porphyrian edition. Some reasons for this absence have been adduced: some scholars think that the text quoted by Eusebius might be a trace of the edition of Plotinus’s writings made by Eustochius; others think that it might come from the (...) copies Amelius carried to Apameia. This paper will try to show that the opinion that the text quoted by Eusebius come from an edition other than that of Porphyry is hardly defendable, and that the absence of such piece from Porphyry’s edition can be explained by an accident on the direct tradition of the Enneads. (shrink)

Le cynisme ancien préconise un retour total à la nature et refuse de se soumettre aux interdits qui relèvent de l’arbitraire social. Pour un Cynique, le plaisir que procure la sexualité est un plaisir naturel, instinctif, qui ne diffère en rien de celui que connaissent les animaux. C’est pourquoi ces philosophes admettent, en matière de sexualité, des actes qui choquaient les contemporains, tels que la masturbation ou l’union en public, l’inceste, l’union libre ou encore la communauté des femmes et des (...) enfants. A l’arrière de ces prises de position, qu’avait exprimées Diogène dans sa République et que nous a transmises sous une forme polémique et partiale l’Épicurien Philodème (ier siècle ap. J.-C.), se profilent les valeurs qui sous-tendent la morale cynique, à savoir, avant toutes choses, la liberté de l’individu et sa totale indépendance. Les Cyniques ne voulaient pas choquer pour choquer : s’ils provoquaient, c’était par souci pédagogique afin de faire tomber les masques et de forcer les gens à se poser des questions sur les coutumes établies. (shrink)