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The Dangerous Life and Ideas of Diogenes the Cynic

By: Jean-Manuel Roubineau, Malcolm DeBevoise - translator, Phillip Mitsis - editor
Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
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Publisher's summary

The ancient philosopher Diogenes—nicknamed "The Dog" and decried by Plato as a "Socrates gone mad"—was widely praised and idealized as much as he was mocked and vilified. A favorite subject of sculptors and painters since the Renaissance, his notoriety is equally due to his eccentric behavior, scorn of conventions, and biting aphorisms, and to the role he played in the creation of the Cynic school, which flourished from the 4th century B.C. to the Christian era. Jean-Manuel Roubineau paints a new portrait of an atypical philosopher whose life left an indelible mark on the Western collective imagination and whose philosophy courses through various schools of thought well beyond antiquity.

Roubineau sifts through the many legends and apocryphal stories that surround the life of Diogenes. Was he a counterfeiter? Did he meet Alexander the Great? Was he an apologist for incest, patricide, and anthropophagy? How did he actually die? Roubineau retraces the known facts of Diogenes' existence.

Beyond the rehashed clichés, this book inspires us to rediscover Diogenes' philosophical legacy—whether it be the challenge to the established order, the detachment from materialism, the choice of a return to nature, or the formulation of a cosmopolitan ideal strongly rooted in the belief that virtue is better revealed in action than in theory.

©2023 Oxford University Press (P)2024 Tantor
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The Dog Lives On

This is a fascinating compendium of the disparate works that mention Diogenes, who did not write his philosophy himself. I feel so in tune with this ancient philosopher, and looking around the contemporary environment it is easy to say he has been largely ignored. Even if I don't live the way he did, it is humbling to know another mind was aware of the thin veneer of civilization and society cover up our animal natures.

Thank you Diogenes!

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Diogenes the man, the myth, the dog

Extremely enlightening to the ambiguities and teachings of Diogenes’ life. The book is formatted based on the attention of the reader, making each idea flow seamlessly into the next. Cites sources of history and encourages readers to learn more of the great philosophers.

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