The Difference between Contemporary Cynicism and Old Cynicism

Wengian Xu
PHI197
Nov, 21st 2019,
The Difference between Contemporary Cynicism and Old Cynicism
Ancient Cynicism
Cynicism, which is a school of philosophy, was developed in the fifth century B.C.E. However, it started to fade 1000 years later in the fifth century C.E. cynicism played a crucial role in philosophy since it led to the growth of other schools such as; stoics (Bell 3). The stoics adjusted and evolved many radical views of cynicism, which left out much of the craziness like public defecation. Cynical philosophy rejected the speculative philosophy which involved figures like Aristotle and Plato. Moreover, cynics established philosophical theories that disregarded most of the abstract philosophy and embraced different means of living well. Cynics believed in living a life that was granted by nature and ignored superficial life. According to cynics, living an accorded life meant following the path of freedom, articulate reasoning, and self-sufficiency. They also believed that social conventions could restrict a good experience and lead to corruption since it could compromise with their liberty and sound logic. In an upshot, most people are cynics but they do not know it.
People believe that the nature of the environment has the capability of providing great entertainment and pleasure. This is because individuals could get simple pleasures that could lead to happiness and comfort from going for a walk, drinking a glass of water during sunny days, and feeling the warmth from the sunlight (Bell 4). On the other hand, cynics ignored luxury and wealth. They believed that a luxurious life and great wealth could make them busy with unnecessary works. Furthermore, they thought that the lavish lifestyle would make people both in ancient and modern society to forget about the goodness of nature. Since it would make them look for superficialities that they would never satisfy, thus becoming slaves of their desires (Schutijser 37). The most popular cynic in ancient times was a man known as Diogenes of Sinope. He was known for taking cynical philosophy to an extreme point since he embraced poverty, hardship, and all kinds of pain. He acquired most of his items through begging, ate scraps, and lived in ceramic tubs. Additionally, he spent most of his time making fun of the people who surrounded him like Alexander the Great.
Modern Cynicism
Contemporary society still embraces cynicism, and it describes it as an attitude of mistrust toward appealed moral and societal values. It considers it as the product of the whole community, particularly in those instances where persons believe that there are conflicts between societal objectives and motives and actual goals and motives (Schutijser 46). People think that modern cynicism is associated with greed, great desires, materialism, goals, and ambitions that are not attainable. To acquire them, they require people to compromise their freedom and accommodate the ruling power.
Moreover, cynics advocate for good manners, proper housing, decency, and suitable clothing. This is contrary to the ancient cynicism, which had no value for the lavish lifestyle. Furthermore, modern pessimism is always suspicious about the capability of people in making the right ethical choices. Many peopl...