Cynicism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Cynics, the performance artists of philosophy. Eating live octopus with fresh lupins, performing intimate acts in public places and shouting at passers by from inside a barrel is behaviour not normally associated with philosophy. But the Cynics were different. They were determined to expose the meaninglessness of civilised life by action as well as by word. They slept rough, ate simply and gave their lectures in the market place. Perhaps surprisingly, their ideas and attitudes were immensely popular in the ancient world. But how coherent was cynicism as a philosophy? What was its influence on literature and politics and is there any truth to the contention that Jesus himself was influenced by the Cynics?

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Guests

• Angie Hobbs 25 episodes
  Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Warwick
• Miriam Griffin No other episodes
  Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford
• John Moles No other episodes
  Professor of Latin, University of Newcastle

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Programme ID: p003k9js

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003k9js

Auto-category: 183 (Sophistic, Socratic, related philosophies)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello. Eating fresh lupins, performing intimate acts in public places and shouting at passers-by from inside a barrel is behaviour not normally associated with philosophy.