that Diogenes was looking for "an honest" man is a modern interpretation. The original texts say simply, "a man."
In either case, he was mocking no one, neither philosophers nor Athenians. Because so little of his original work, and that of his mentor Anisthenes, survives it is speculative—but, many would consider Diogenes to be a quasi-mystic. His philosophy might be interpreted: 1) There is an 'essence' that defines what it is to be human. 2) In order to fully embody (realize) this essence, you need to strip away all and every "thing' that disguises this essence—hence the vow of poverty; tossing his wooden bowl when he realized he could drink from cupped hand; and dismissal of convention—eating, sleeping, masturbating, defecating ... in public. 3) the only important thing a person could do would be to seek one's essence, to fully become human. 4) Laws, mores, customs, language, and philosophy are totally superfluous to this quest, just as a lantern in daylight. 4) could be interpreted as 'mocking', I suppose, but for Diogenes is was simply a statement of fact; albeit as metaphor. davew On Tue, Feb 4, 2025, at 1:42 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > ... wandered the streets of Athens with a lantern, in broad daylight, looking > for an honest man. This act was supposed to ironically demonstrate the > dishonest of Athenians. To me, it seems more to demonstrate the vanity of > "enlighted" search. In other words, Diogenes was mocking philosophers, not > Athenians. > > Can anybody help me with this metaphor, or is my inquiry just an example of > itself. > > Nick > > -- > Nicholas S. Thompson > Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology > Clark University > nthomp...@clarku.edu > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... > --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
.- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom https://bit.ly/virtualfriam to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
