ISSN 2029–2236 (print)
ISSN 2029–2244 (online)
SocIalINIų mokSlų StudIjoS
SocIEtal StudIES
2011, 3(4), p. 1171–1180.
Socialinių mokslų studijos/Societal Studies
Mykolo Romerio universitetas, 2011
Mykolas Romeris University, 2011
ISSN 2029–2236 (print), ISSN 2029–2244 (online)
http://www.mruni.eu/lt/mokslo_darbai/SMS/
http://www.mruni.eu/en/mokslo_darbai/SMS/
tHE cHallENGE oF aNcIENt cYNIcS to
coNtEmPoRaRY WoRld: tHE REtuRN to tHE
NatuRal VIRtuE oF tEmPERaNcE
Vytis Valatka
Mykolas Romeris University, Institute of Humanities,
Department of Philosophy
Ateities 20, LT-08303 Vilnius, Lithuania
Telephone (+370 5) 271 4628
E-mail vytisv@mruni.eu
Received 29 November, 2011; accepted 19 December, 2011
Abstract
. This article analyses the most important and interesting aspects of the Ancient
Greek Cynicism: diagnosis of the main disease of Ancient Greek civilization and prescribed
medicine for that malignant malady. The article also treats the relevance of that medicine to
the modern form of above mentioned malady.
The article begins with the Ancient Cynics’ severe criticism of the Antique Greece
civilization. According to Cynics, civilization annihilates temperance – the main feature and
essential virtue of human nature. Furthermore, civilization replaces temperance with surplus
of pleasures, regarded as the state of dangerous disease. According to Cynics, there is only one
remedy for this disease, namely, the return to the natural radical temperance. The only way
leading to that is askesis, i.e. practice for both body and soul.
The cult of pleasures is also an evident vice and disease of contemporary commodified
civilization. The qualities of this civilization turn radical temperance of Cynicism into a
too bitter tablet for the unduly squeamish stomach of a contemporary man. Meanwhile,
considerably milder form of temperance, which could promote the sense of proportion in
everything, could become a contemporary means of prophylaxis. Similarly, askesis of the
Ancient Greek Cynics deprived of its radical dimension could become one of the possible ways
to achieve the above mentioned sense of proportion.
Vytis Valatka. The Challenge of Ancient Cynics to Contemporary World: the Return to the Natural Virtue ...
1172
Keywords
: Ancient Greek Cynicism, surplus of pleasures, principle of flywheel, radical
temperance, mild temperance, reduction of consumption, contemporary society.
Introduction
The philosophical school of Cynicism founded by Antisthenes (445 BC – 365
BC) and Diogenes (412 BC – 323 BC)
1
is one of the most original and interesting
phenomena of the Ancient Greek philosophy. This school earned fame mostly because
of the uprising against the whole Antique Civilization, which was the first total uprising
against civilization in the history of western thought. According to Cynics, civilization
annihilates radical temperance – the main feature and essential virtue of human nature,
leading to a healthy, tranquil and happy life, or in modern words, a high quality life.
Moreover, civilization replaces natural temperance with surplus of pleasures, which is
especially pernicious to the human nature. The means procuring such a surplus (wealth,
fame, renown, power, nobility etc.), are as pernicious as surplus itself, also they become
significant marks and objectives within the frames of civilization. The cult of pleasures
and tools of their hunting is also an evident vice and disease of contemporary civilization
sunken in consumption. As Ecclesiast once said, “nothing under the sun is new, neither
is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it has already gone before in the ages
that were before us”
2
. Therefore it’s highly plausible that diagnosis of antique variant
of perpetual malady of civilization and proposed medicine may be also beneficial to a
contemporary society. This article attempts to grasp the above mentioned benefit. All the
more so, because this benefit still remains insufficiently explored. For, the researchers
of Ancient Cynicism (F. Sayre
3
, D. R. Dudley
4
, L. Navia
5
etc.) usually concentrate on
its role and place in Antique Philosophy and Society paying only peripheral attention to
relevance of cynical radical temperance to modern global world.
1. ancient Greek cynicism: chase of Pleasures as the main
disease of civilization
And let us begin with identification of above mentioned malady linking the ancient
world with the contemporary one. Why, according to Cynics, the chase of surplus of
1
This philosophical school was founded in Athens at the end of the 5th century BC and ended its existence in
529 AD, when Emperor Justinian I closed all philosophical schools in Athens.
2
Ecclesiastes (Ch. 1, 10). Holy Bible. Old Testament [interactive]. Douay – Rheims version: Reims – Douai,
1582 – 1610 [accessed 20-03-2011].
3
Sayre, F. Diogenes of Synope. A Study on Greek Cynicism. Baltimore: J. H. Furst Company, 1938.
4
Dudley, D. R. History of Cynicism. From Diogenes to the 6th Century A.D. London: Duckworth Publishers,
2007.
5
Navia, L. A. Classical Cynicism: a Critical Study. London: Greenwood Press, 1996.
Societal Studies. 2011, 3( 4): 1171–1180.
1173
pleasures is such a huge vice and such a complicated disease? Why did Antisthenes
maintain: “I’d rather be mad than feel pleasure”
6
? It is not easy to answer this question.
For, although philosophical school of Antique Cynicism existed for about thousand
years, although Cynical philosophers even created two important literary forms -
diatribe and Menippean satire, no writings of Ancient Cynics survived. Only small
fragments of these works and testimonies of the other authors about these works and
their contents alone that are still extant. Nevertheless, the extant material entirely
suffices to find the reason of severe Cynical criticism of pursuit of pleasures. It is the
subtle analysis of pleasures made by Cynics that elucidates that reason. Such an analysis
noticed fundamental principle, which could be entitled “the principle of flywheel”. This
principle runs like this: “the greater surplus of pleasures a person achieves, the greater
surplus of pleasures he desires in the nearest future”. Such a person little by little loses
his natural freedom and becomes a total slave to surplus of pleasures, he permanently
chases for pleasures, constantly desires them, having no possibility to live out of their
reach. Nevertheless, no surplus of pleasures can fully satisfy him, no indulgence in
pleasures can procure him with happiness – the permanent state of tranquil and
undisturbed soul. Cynical philosophers compare the hunter for pleasures with a man
possessed with dropsy: this man is constantly being tortured by unappeasable thirst, and
the more abundantly his thirst is satisfied, the greater it grows
7
. Such a man is always
discontented; he is permanently tormented by anxiety and terror that he will never reach
so desirable a quantity of pleasures or even, because of a sinister twist of fortune, will
lose the pleasures he already possesses.
According to cynics, the means for pursuit of pleasures also never suffice. There
is no limit and, more to say, there can be no limit either for fame, or for power, or even
for comparatively small property. These things never suffice, they are never enough,
there is no necessary quantity of them. A man is never satisfied with wealth and fame he
possesses, there is no end to striving and strengthening of power, and a libertine never
finds the ultimate woman to provide him with pleasures in which he could finally calm
down. Therefore, all these tools leading to pleasures are not real values at all – the only
status they possess is that of pseudovalues. Moreover, these pseudovalues are extremely
detrimental. They mutilate human nature, which, having lost its natural temperance, is
no longer capable to reach the desirable state of completeness and blissful serenity.
In other words, human nature under conditions of civilization is severely ill. To
prevent it from death it is necessary to heal that serious disease. But what kind of
treatment is required? Which remedy is capable to overcome this chronic tendency to
chase pleasures and their instruments? After Cynics, there is only one medicine for the
above mentioned malady. And it is nothing else but return to the natural temperance –
the essential human virtue.
6
Diogenes Laertius. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers [interactive]. Harvard University Press, Loeb Classical
Library edition, 1925. Volume II, Ch. 6, 3 [accessed 20-02-2011].
the_Eminent_Philosophers/Book_VI>.
7
Joannis Stobaei Florilegium. Ad manuscriptorum fidem emendavit et supplevit Thomas Gaisford. Volumen
I, Ch. 10, 46. Oxonii: E typographeo clarendoniano, 1822, p. 295.
Vytis Valatka. The Challenge of Ancient Cynics to Contemporary World: the Return to the Natural Virtue ...
1174
2. Radical temperance as medicine for the main disease of
civilization
It is important to notice that Cynical philosophers do not mean an ordinary
temperance, i. e. the sense of proportion in everything. In fact, they are talking about
a radical temperance – the ultimate constraint of human needs. In modern terms such
a variant of temperance may be entitled as the ultimate reduction of consumption.
According to Cynics, only a minimal quantity of food, drink, sexual pleasures, clothes,
shoes and other goods can entirely content human nature. It is a minimal quantity of
these goods alone that is capable to provide human being with self-sufficient pleasures
not leading to the surplus, which, according to the principle of flywheel, permanently
requires more and more new and more intensive pleasures. On the other hand, minimal
human needs are the most necessary ones, which actually can be fulfilled always and
everywhere. At least they may be easily fulfilled in the living world of Cynics–Ancient
Greece, where mild climate and exuberant nature do not allow Cynical philosophers to
starve and freeze, where simple barrel can serve as an elementary shelter, as in the case
of Diogenes.
Hence, the virtue of radical temperance allows Cynical philosopher to confine
himself to the most necessary needs, which, on the other hand, can be always satisfied.
Such a minimal number of needs easy to fulfill guarantees the absence of anxiety and
fear of the future. In turn, this freedom from fear and anxiety vouchsafes tranquility
and good disposition of human soul that, as Cynics believed, is nothing else but human
happiness itself
8
.
The ultimate restraint of needs guarantees to a Cynical philosopher happy and
careless life protecting him from pernicious pursuit of surplus of pleasures, the main
disease of the Ancient Greek civilization. According to Cynics, this radical temperance
is the only possible medicine for that disease. But how is this medicine produced? In
other words, how is it possible to reach that blissful radical temperance? Cynics offer
the only recipe for production of this remedy. In their opinion, it is asceticism (askesis)
that leads step by step to the desirable temperance.
3. Askesis as the Way to Radical temperance
But what did cynics mean by such a mysterious word “askesis”? It is the term
of ancient Greek language, and the principal meanings of it are “practice”, “training”,
“exercises”. So, Cynical askesis was the certain kind of exercises. Namely, exercises
strengthening and tempering both body and soul, deliberating human being from yoke
of passions and vices, and disaccustoming him from permanent chase of pleasures.
8
For example, Diogenes maintained: “true happiness consists in perpetual tranquility and joy of mind and
soul” ( Joannis Stobaei Florilegium. Ad manuscriptorum fidem emendavit et supplevit Thomas Gaisford.
Volumen III, Ch. 103, 21. Lipsiae: In bibliopolio Kuehniano, 1824, p. 294).
Societal Studies. 2011, 3( 4): 1171–1180.
1175
Cynical philosophers distinguished two species of askesis: training of body and
training of soul. For example, “Diogenes used to affirm that training was of two kinds,
mental and bodily: the latter being that whereby, with constant exercise, perceptions
are formed such as secure freedom of movement for virtuous deeds”
9
. Both kinds of
training perfectly complement one another. Moreover, “the one half of this training is
incomplete without the other”
10
. We face here very important question. Namely, which
exercises are designed for body and which ones are attributed to soul? It is a laconic
phrase of Antisthenes that delivers the precise answer: “who wants to get a virtuous man
ought to strengthen his body by gymnastics and exercises of endurance and his soul by
education”
11
. It is important to notice that such an education must include numerous
myths about Antique heroes having practiced radical temperance (Hercules, Theseus,
Odyssey etc.) which in modern terminology may be named the stories of success. As
for exercises of endurance, they include learning to suffer pain, heat, cold, thirst and
hunger. Among exercises, designed to body, cynics also numbered manual work, which
was honoured with status of important moral virtue.
So, according to Cynics, it is physical and spiritual askesis alone that can lead human
being to virtue of radical temperance. As an unknown Cynical philosopher maintained,
“temperance is achieved by training and, contrary to vice, does not penetrate into soul
by itself”
12
. As for the achievement of temperance, Cynics compared this process to
acquirement of artisan’s mastership. There Diogenes asserted that “in the manual crafts
and other arts it can be seen that the craftsmen develop extraordinary manual skill
through practice; again, take the case of flute-players and of athletes: what surpassing
skill they acquire by their own incessant toil”
13
, so “if they had transferred their efforts to
the training of the mind [in order to get temperance
14
], how certainly their labours would
not have been unprofitable or ineffective”
15
. In other words, regular askesis is crowned
with attitudes and skills of a moderate life, or, to speak in images, with the craftsmanship
of radical temperance.
Hence, in Cynical point of view, a human being may achieve success in temperance
only by constant training. Furthermore, the virtue of radical temperance requires practice,
which must last lifelong. Why does it take so long? The answer here is very simple. If
a person no longer cultivates temperance, this virtue little by little begins to surrender
to temptation of passions and vices and, finally, gets forgotten as a verse of Iliad or
Odyssey, which is no longer read nor repeated in memory.
9
Diogenes Laertius. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Volume II, Ch. 6, 70.
10 Ibid.
11 Ioannis Stobaei Florilegium. Recognovit Augustus Meineke. Volumen IV. Lipsiae: sumptibus typis B. G.
Teubneri, 1856, p. 198.
12 Epistola Cratetis. XII. Orioni. Epistolographi graeci. Recensuit, recognovit, adnotatione critica et indicibus
instruxit Rudolphus Hercher. Parisiis: editore Ambrosio Firmin Didot, instituti Franciae typographo, 1873,
p. 210.
13 Diogenes Laertius. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Volume II, Ch. 6, 70.
14 AN
15 Ibid.
Vytis Valatka. The Challenge of Ancient Cynics to Contemporary World: the Return to the Natural Virtue ...
1176
So, radical temperance, being achieved by askesis, is undoubtedly the main
principle of philosophy of Cynical School. What is more, Cynical philosophers faithfully
observed this categorical imperative of temperance. In other words, within the frames of
Cynicism philosophical principles were inseparable from the corresponding way of life.
The links between the Cynical philosophy and the Cynical way of life were so tight and
the practical aspect of that philosophy was so strong that some historians of philosophy
even regarded Cynicism as a mere mode of life
16
.
4. Echoes of ancient Greek cynicism: mild temperance as
Remedy for the disease of modern civilization
Cynics diagnosed the main malady of ancient Greek civilization, the pursuit of
surplus of pleasures. Such a disease is particularly characteristic of the modern consumer
civilization. There is no doubt about that. But there is some doubt as to whether the
remedy proposed by Ancient Cynics could be pertinent and effective in the modern
world as well.
Even in Ancient Greece the imperative of radical temperance sounded extraordinary.
Even more extraordinary it would sound in contemporary civilization where human beings
have considerably greater number of needs, where consumption is refined, globalized
and deified, where the tempo of life is evidently faster etc. True, even nowadays it is
possible to meet people with extremely restricted their needs. For example, the author
of this article knows a philosopher who walks in the same shabby shoes for 20 years
and is very satisfied with that. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine a modern man to
utter sincerely the words once said by an unknown Cynical philosopher: “my dress is a
thin Scythian cloak, my shoes are the soles of my own feet, my bed is the whole earth,
my food is seasoned by hunger alone, and I eat nothing but milk, cheese and meat
17
”. It
is hard to believe that in cold wintertime the author of this article could walk barefoot,
thinly dressed, that in modo Diogenis he could live in barrel etc.
Nevertheless, it has to be admitted that permanent consumption, constant chase
of pleasures, fast tempo of everyday life, a desire to be, to have, to do more and faster
wears and exhausts contemporary human being not allowing him to contend himself
with simple things, to enjoy life, to experience the beauty of the moment; sowing
continual anxiety and fear to be late, to miss, to lose, not to consume and so on. One of
possible means to mitigate these negative aspects could be the choice of more temperate
way of life, i. e. the reduction of consumption. True, modern man is accustomed to
16 See Kidd, I. Cynics. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Volume II. Edwards, P. (ed.). New York: Collier –
Macmillan, 1967, p. 284–285; Kidd, I. Cynicism. The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy.
Urmson, J. O.; Ree, J. (eds.). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2004, p. 91.
17 Pisma Anakharsisa. 5. Anakharsis – Gannonu. Antologija kinizma. Antisfen, Diogen, Kratet, Kerkid, Dion.
[Epistles of Anacharsis. 5. Anacharsis to Hanno. Anthology of Cynicism. Antisthenes, Diogenes, Crates,
Cercidas, Dio Chrysostom]. Perevod s drevnegrecheskogo jazyka prof. I. M. Nakhova. Moskva: Nauka,
1996, s. 181.
Societal Studies. 2011, 3( 4): 1171–1180.
1177
luxurious and comfortable life; he is used to desire, have and consume plenty of things.
Nevertheless, it is possible just to try to live more temperately refusing what is not
necessary, indispensable, what can be postponed for tomorrow and even declined when
tomorrow comes. In any case, at least a minimal temperance, a minimal reduction
of consumption could leastwise minimally improve the quality of life bringing more
health, sanity, tranquility, stability, consistency and elementary joy. And what is more to
say, such a minimal temperance would help people not to feel totally helpless in the face
of various local and global crises. Moreover, minimal temperance would undoubtedly
contribute to resource efficiency. The latter is an important constituent of sustainable
growth, which, as one of the main targets of the modern world, is accentuated in
many strategic European and worldwide documents. For example, Communication of
European Commission “Europe 2020” regards sustainable growth as one of 3 priorities
of Europe’s strategy for 10 nearest years
18
.
So, the remedy proposed by ancient Greek cynics would not suit in its original
radical form to contemporary consumer civilization. In a figurative sense, radical
temperance would be just a too bitter and too tough pill for the over squeamish stomach
of a citizen of the modern world. On the other hand, milder and softer form of such a
pill could hopefully contribute to facilitate the permanent malady of civilization. Of
course, not to heal, but at least to facilitate. Consequently, not radical but a mild variant
of temperance, which could be entitled as a sense of proportion in everything; not the
ultimate restriction of human needs but just a reduction of consummation could become
a contemporary prophylactic.
And what recipe can be proposed for the production of this important remedy? In
other words, which way leads to that mild temperance? Ancient Greek Cynics sought
their radical temperance by askesis – exercises for body and soul. It is widely known that
without learning, practice and training it is impossible to achieve positive result in any
activity. Temperance is also no exception to this rule. True, reaching no longer for the
ultimate constraint of human needs but simply for a sense of proportion in everything,
practice of enduring heat, cold, hunger and thirst, so emphasized by ancient cynics,
loses its former relevance. Still, body training by gymnastics, moderate exercises of
endurance and manual labour, and, on the other hand, training of soul by sciences and
letters also nowadays lead to proper sense and attitude of proportion. Therefore, it is
safe to say that askesis of ancient Greek cynics deprived of its radical dimension could
become one of the possible ways to achieve a reduction in consumption – the type of
temperance relevant to the contemporary world.
conclusions
Severe criticism of civilization is peculiar to Antique Greek Cynicism. According
to Cynics, civilization is dangerously ill by the chase of surplus of pleasures. Such a
18 Communication from the European Commission: Europe 2020 – A strategy for smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth. Brussels, 3.3.2010, COM (2010) 2020 Final, p. 5.
Vytis Valatka. The Challenge of Ancient Cynics to Contemporary World: the Return to the Natural Virtue ...
1178
disease annihilates temperance – the main feature and essential virtue of human nature,
leading to a healthy, tranquil and happy life, or in modern words, to a high quality life.
On the contrary, surplus of pleasures, which, according to the principle of flywheel,
never suffices and requires more and more new pleasures, ultimately leads a human
being to the state of internal chaos, permanent fear, anxiety and bitter dissatisfaction. In
order to overcome this disease, an efficient remedy is required. Cynics maintained that
the only possible remedy is the return to the natural radical temperance, the ultimate
restriction of human needs. The only way leading to that temperance is askesis, i.e.
training of both body and soul. According to cynics, this training must last for the whole
life of human being.
The cult of pleasures and tools of their hunting is also an evident vice and a
disease of contemporary consumer civilization. Nevertheless, the remedy proposed by
Ancient Greek Cynics, i. e. radical temperance, would not suit nowadays. The qualities
of contemporary world, considerably greater number of needs, refined and deified
consummation, evidently faster tempo of life etc., would turn radical temperance into
a too bitter and too tough tablet for an unduly squeamish stomach of the modern man.
Nowadays another type of temperance is required to mitigate the eternal malaise of
civilization. It is a mild temperance, which could be defined as the sense of proportion in
everything leading not to the ultimate constraint of human needs but just to a reduction
of consumption. Likewise, askesis of Ancient Greek Cynics deprived of its radical
dimension could become one of the possible means to achieve mild temperance.
References
Communication from the European
Commission: Europe 2020 – A strategy for
smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
Brussels, 3.3.2010, COM (2010) 2020 Final.
Diogenes Laertius. Lives of the Eminent
Philosophers
[interactive].
Harvard
University Press, Loeb Classical Library
edition, 1925. Volume II [accessed 20-
02-2011].
Lives_of_the_Eminent_Philosophers/Book_
VI>.
Dudley, D. R. History of Cynicism. From
Diogenes to the 6th Century A.D. London:
Duckworth Publishers, 2007.
Ecclesiastes. Holy Bible. Old Testament
[interactive]. Douay – Rheims version:
Reims – Douai, 1582 – 1610 [accessed 20-
02-2011].
ecc001.htm>.
Epistolographi graeci. Recensuit, recognovit,
adnotatione critica et indicibus instruxit
Rudolphus Hercher. Parisiis: editore
Ambrosio Firmin Didot, instituti Franciae
typographo, 1873.
Ioannis Stobaei Florilegium. Recognovit
Augustus Meineke. Volumen IV. Lipsiae:
sumptibus typis B. G. Teubneri, 1856.
Joannis Stobaei Florilegium.
Ad
manuscriptorum fidem emendavit et
supplevit Thomas Gaisford. Volumen I.
Oxonii: E typographeo clarendoniano, 1822.
Joannis Stobaei Florilegium.
Ad
manuscriptorum fidem emendavit et
supplevit Thomas Gaisford. Volumen III.
Lipsiae: In bibliopolio Kuehniano, 1824.
Kidd, I. Cynicism. The Concise Encyclopedia
of Western Philosophy. Urmson, J. O.;
Societal Studies. 2011, 3( 4): 1171–1180.
1179
Ree, J. (eds.). Routledge, Taylor & Francis
Group, 2004.
Kidd, I. Cynics. Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Volume II. Edwards, P. (ed.). New York:
Collier – Macmillan, 1967.
Navia, L. A. Classical Cynicism: a Critical
Study. London: Greenwood Press, 1996.
Pisma Anakharsisa. 5. Anakharsis – Gannonu.
Antologija kinizma. Antisfen, Diogen, Kratet,
Kerkid, Dion. [Epistles of Anacharsis.
5. Anacharsis to Hanno. Anthology of
Cynicism. Antisthenes, Diogenes, Crates,
Cercidas, Dio Chrysostom]. Perevod s drev
negrecheskogo jazyka prof. I. M. Nakhova.
Moskva: Nauka, 1996.
Sayre, F. Diogenes of Synope. A Study on Greek
Cynicism. Baltimore: J. H. Furst Company,
1938.
ANTIKOS KINIKŲ IŠŠŪKIS ŠIUOLAIKINIAM PASAULIUI:
GRĮŽIMAS PRIE PRIGIMTINĖS SAIKINGUMO
DORYBĖS
Vytis Valatka
Mykolo Romerio universitetas, Lietuva
Santrauka
. Vienas įdomiausių ir originaliausių antikinės graikų filosofijos fenomenų
buvo kinikų mokykla. Ji labiausiai išgarsėjo pirmuoju Vakarų minties istorijoje visuotiniu
maištu prieš civilizaciją. Kinikai tvirtino, kad civilizacija naikinanti pagrindinį žmogiško-
sios prigimties bruožą ir esminę dorybę – saikingumą, užtikrinantį sveiką, ramų ir laimingą,
o šiandieniniais terminais kalbant, kokybišką gyvenimą. Maža to, išsižadėjusi prigimtinio
saikingumo, civilizacija pagrindiniu orientyru ir siekiniu iškelia žmogaus prigimčiai pražū-
tingą malonumų perteklių, kurio niekad nepakanka, kuris nuolat reikalauja vis naujesnių ir
didesnių malonumų ir galiausiai atveda žmogų į vidinio chaoso, nuolatinės baimės bei neri-
mo, kitaip sakant, sunkios ligos būseną. Kinikų įsitikinimu, tėra vienintelis vaistas šiai ligai
išgydyti. Tai sugrįžimas prie žmogaus prigimčiai būdingo radikalaus saikingumo – maksi-
malaus poreikių apribojimo. Į šį saikingumą tegalinti atvesti askezė – sielą ir kūną stipri-
nančios, grūdinančios ir lavinančios pratybos. Jos privalančios tęstis visą žmogaus gyvenimą.
Malonumų kultas – akivaizdi ir vartojime paskendusios šių dienų civilizacijos yda bei
liga. Tad kyla klausimas: ar kinikų pasiūlytas vaistas gali būti tinkamas ir veiksmingas šiuo-
laikiniame pasaulyje? Šio pasaulio savybės – daug didesnis poreikių mastas, ištobulintas ir
sudievintas vartojimas, daug greitesnisgyvenimo tempas ir t. t. – paverčia radikalųjį kinikų
saikingumą tiesiog per karčia ir kieta tablete gana lepiam to pasaulio piliečio skrandžiui.
Tuo tarpu švelnesnis ir minkštesnis šios tabletės variantas galėtų prisidėti prie amžinojo civi-
lizacijos negalavimo sušvelninimo. Tiesa, ne išgydymo, bet bent jau sušvelninimo. Tad ne ra-
dikali, o gerokai švelnesnė saikingumo forma, kurią galėtume pavadinti tiesiog saiko visame
kame jutimu; ne maksimalus poreikių apribojimas, o tiesiog vartojimo sumažinimas galėtų
Vytis Valatka. The Challenge of Ancient Cynics to Contemporary World: the Return to the Natural Virtue ...
1180
tapti modernia profilaktikos priemone. Panašiai ir kinikų askezė, atėmus iš jos radikalųjį
matmenį, gali tapti vienu iš kelių į minėtąjį saiko visame kame jutimą.
Reikšminiai žodžiai
: antikinės Graikijos kinikų filosofija, malonumų perteklius,
smag račio principas, radikalus saikingumas, švelnus saikingumas, vartojimo apribojimas,
šiuolaikinė civilizacija.
Vytis Valatka, Mykolo Romerio universiteto Humanitarinių mokslų instituto Filosofijos katedros
profesorius. Mokslinių tyrimų kryptys: filosofijos istorija, logikos teorija ir istorija, logikos mokslas
Lietuvoje, teisės filosofijos istorija.
Vytis Valatka, Mykolas Romeris University, Institute of Humanities, Department of Philosophy,
Professor. Research interests: history of philosophy, theory and history of logics, science of logics in
Lithuania, history of legal philosophy.
Dostları ilə paylaş: |