Antisthenes: The Founder of Cynicism

Antisthenes: The Founder of Cynicism by Charles Chappuis is a little gem of a book; translated from the French, it puts Antisthenes (444-365 BC), the founder of the Cynic school of Greek philosophy, in his rightful place beside Socrates, his teacher for twenty-four years; beside Plato, a fellow pupil of Socrates and competitor in ideas to Antisthenes: while Plato was teaching at the Academy, Antisthenes, a νόθοι [illegitimate child], was teaching at the Cynosarges; beside Diogenes, his own pupil and the subsequent head of Cynicism; and so on and so forth, in a long line of esteemed philosophers from Diogenes to Crates to Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, and later to Epictetus and even to Marcus Aurelius...

The earliest known nominalist in antiquity, Antisthenes developed a logic that "denies rational knowledge and general ideas," "suppresses all definition," and "rejects contradiction and error." He is consequently about as philosophically far from Plato as a philosopher can get. It may not be surprising to know that the two of them became enemies later in life.

As for ethics, Antisthenes "puts wisdom in behavior, virtue in actions, and makes exercise, work, and toil the condition of the good." While "the school of the Cyrenaics conflatesthe good with pleasure, Antisthenes identifies it with virtue, and virtue with effort and toil."