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Philosopher

Diogenes of Sinope

dye-AH-juh-neez of sih-NOH-pee
Ethics

An ancient Greek philosopher and the school's most famous exemplar, who took Cynic principles to their most provocative extreme: he lived in a large ceramic jar in the Athenian marketplace, walked the streets by daylight carrying a lit lamp and explaining he was looking for an honest man, and treated shameless public simplicity as a philosophical demonstration that convention, not nature, made most human wants necessary.

Facts
Defining Moment
Exiled from Sinope for defacing currency, he settled in Athens and made his own homelessness and self-sufficiency into a public philosophical performance, coining the term kosmopolites, citizen of the world, when asked where he was from. 3
Death Year
323 BCE 3
Tradition
Ancient Greek philosophy, Cynicism 3
Disputed
Birth Year
412 BCE 3
Ancient sources disagree on Diogenes's exact birth year; c. 412 or c. 404 BCE are both defended.
Classification
Nationality
Ancient Greece (Historical) 1
Tradition
Tradition (category)
Cynicism 2
Diogenes of Sinope
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Connections

Associated With

Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

In Branch

Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

In Tradition

Traditions Founded

Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
In the Other Atlases

Nationality

Also in History Atlas: the nationality of this subject.

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Sources
1. Diogenes (Wikipedia)
  • Lead section
    was an ancient Greek philosopher during the period of Classical Greece
  • In Group: Ancient Greek And Roman Ethics, Infobox: school_tradition
    Cynicism
View the Source
2. Wikidata: Diogenes of Sinope
  • Wikidata Q59180, class allow-list match, case-insensitive label variant (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/resolve_ci.ps1)
  • Wikidata Q59180, P135,P737 (w-bbfill-smallsix3-0926)
View the Source
3. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Information
  • s.v. Ancient Ethical Theory (Cynicism)
    Diogenes the Cynic, the central figure, is famous for living in a wine jar (Diogenes Laertius [= DL] VI 23).
  • Associated With: Cynicism
  • In Branch: Ethics
View the Source
Diogenes of Sinope (Wikipedia)
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