Antisthenes

Antisthenes
Short Biography:

In 445 BC, Antisthenes was born. His father was an Athenian, but since his mother was a Thracian, Antisthenes was a "nothos", a baby born without Athenian citizenship. He grew up in Athens and fought in both the Battle of Tanagra and the Battle of Leuctra, as if to prove his faithfulness to the city-state. Initially a pupil of Gorgias, a rhetorician, he then became a disciple of Socrates, and was even present at the time of his execution. He believed an ascetic life was more bound to happiness, than the corrupt city's belief in wealth and power. Therefore, becoming the founder of the basic structure of Cynic philosophy. Antisthenes preferred to teach through lectures and conversation, although he did write 10 volumes, most of it lost today. Cicero, after reading one of his works, said he was, “a man more intelligent than learned.” Antisthenes divided his teaching into two factors, external factors and internal factors. External factors would be wealth, power, and pleasures. Internal factors would be knowledge, wisdom, and the nature of the soul. Antisthenes died in Athens in 365 BC, around the age of 80, although there had been rumors he died earlier.

Philosophical Overview:

Antisthenes saw the fault in society, an embedded desire for artificial pleasures leading to happiness. Believing that happiness derives from virtue, was a prominent tenet of his, emitting lectures and writing works of art refusing the universal belief that happiness derives from physical attributes, or “external factors.” The asceticism belief Antisthenes set forth was a life in which you leave behind all common pleasures, to accept “inner peace”. Antisthenes said, “I’d rather be mad than feel pleasure.” Antisthenes rival was Plato as well, but more of a mild conflict in comparison to Diogenes. When he was told to have been criticized by Plato, he simply said, “It is a royal privilege to do good and be ill spoke of.” Although Antisthenes set the foundation for the Cynic philosophy, the Cynic belief did not rage until latter on, mostly during the time of Diogenes.

A couple of Antisthenes’ 10 volumes include a written piece criticizing Plato, Alcibiades, reprimanding egotistic affection, and a paper called Archelaus, reprimanding tyranny.
 * “Wealth and poverty do not lie in a person’s estate, but in their souls.”


 * “It is better to fall in with crows than with flatterers; for in the one case you are devoured when dead, in the other case while alive.”


 * “Once, when he was applauded by rascals, he remarked, ‘I am horribly afraid I have done something wrong.’”


 * “Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to discover your mistakes.”

References:
 * “To all my friends without distinction I am ready to display my opulence: come one, come all; and whosoever likes to take a share is welcome to the wealth that lies within my soul.”

http://www.iep.utm.edu/antisthe/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisthenes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asceticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/28619/Antisthenes

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Antisthenes

http://www.answers.com/topic/antisthenes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicism_(philosophy)

http://biography.yourdictionary.com/antisthenes

Pictures (Pictures belong to their rightful owners, I do not own either one of the pictures)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giulio_Bonasone_-_Diogenes_and_Antisthenes_detail.jpg

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/28619/Antisthenes