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In memory of my parents: Jim [1935-2025] and Sara [1950-2024], and the family dog, Shillelagh "Puppy" [2010-2025]
The grandfather of Stoic philosophy, the Cynic, Diogenes of Sinope was born into a wealthy family around the year 413BC. A Greek citizen by birth, he later advocated for "Cosmopolitanism", considering himself to be a "Citizen of the World". When he was accused of debasing the currency, he left (or perhaps was exiled from) what is now modern day Turkey, marking a distinct turning point in his life whereupon he began to discover, if not invent, the cynic philosophy. He began to detach himself from posessions and sentimentality, and embraced his poverty, taking a very self-centric, reverse view on reality. Example, when his slave, Manes, escaped, Diogenes is noted for reacting to this by saying "If Manes can live without Diogenes, why not Diogenes without Manes?". This philosophy was later reiterated when upon Alexander the Great visited Athens to meet the legendary man himself, stating "If I were not Alexander the Great, I should wish to be Diogenes", to which Diogenes replied, "If I were Alexander the Great, I would still wish to be Diogenes". The man lived in a ceramic jar, originally meant for storing wine, or food, but he was held in such high regard by the Athenians, that when a young man broke his jar, they conspired to deliver him a new one. Diogenes lived in Athens during the winters, where he was known to embrace the cold statues, and then he would spend his summers in Corinth, where he would roll in the hot sands. My favorite story about Diogenes though, involves the philosopher Plato, who once defined man as a "featherless biped", to which Diogenes responded by arriving to Plato's theatre with a fully plucked chicken (not an expired chicken, merely a very unhappy, plucked chicken), with which he introduced "here is Plato's man".