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 people believe that it is not reasonable to draw parallel lines between Diogenes' ideas and modern cynics (Schutijser 41). This is because contemporary writers can easily have thoughts of Diogenes. For example, an author known as Charles Bukowski supported Diogenes's ideas in his writing. He talks about the losers who declined to take care of their modern anticipations and found themselves finding solace in imbalanced diet, whiskey, and modern earthenware jars (Bell 2). Another author, known as Jack Kerouac, supported the ideas of Diogenes by writing about the young generation that lived a life free from exploration, which led to the fall of their modern aspirations about wealth and status.
The Cause of Modern Cynicism and its Logical Relationship
People in modern society want to live more civilized lives. Cynicism has enabled modern society to live more realistic lives, thus allowing them to improve their lives and those of others. Thirst for material wealth led to the development of contemporary cynicism (Bryan 2). In ancient philosophy, cynics were homeless and believed in living simple lives enjoying nature.
On the other hand, modern cynics decided to change the direction of cynicism since they believed in living better lives. They wanted to enjoy eating a balanced diet, dressing well, and having suitable housing. This changed the direction of cynicism in human society (Bryan 3). People have decided to comprise their freedom by engaging in daily tasks that enable them to earn their needs. They accommodate themselves to whoever is in power. However, modern cynics have lost their interests in philosophy, which has led to a lack of freedom of speech (Mazella 27). They have abandoned their philosophical ideals of reasoning and have accommodated rationalization and intellectualization (Schutijser 51). Furthermore, Peter Schutijser decided to label ancient cynicism as modern cynicism because it described old ideas that were used to harden people's ps...