Editing Antisthenes

{{Short description|Greek philosopher, founder of Cynicism (c.446–c.366 BCE)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region           = [[Western philosophy]]
| era              = [[Ancient Greek philosophy]]
| image       = Antisthenes Pio-Clementino Inv288.jpg
| caption     = Portrait bust of Antisthenes, found at the Villa of Cassius at [[Tivoli, Lazio]], 1774 ([[Museo Pio-Clementino]])
| name             = Antisthenes
| birth_date       = {{circa}} 446 BCE<ref name="Brill">{{cite book |last1=Luz |first1=Menahem |title="Antisthenes' Portrayal of Socrates" from "Brill's Companion to the Reception of Socrates" |date=2019 |publisher=Brill |location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands |isbn=978-90-04-39674-6 |page=124}}</ref>
| birth_place      = [[Athens]]
| death_date       = {{circa}} 366 BCE<ref name="Brill">{{cite book |last1=Luz |first1=Menahem |title="Antisthenes' Portrayal of Socrates" from "Brill's Companion to the Reception of Socrates" |date=2019 |publisher=Brill |location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands |isbn=978-90-04-39674-6 |page=124}}</ref> (aged approximately 80)
| death_place      = Athens
| school_tradition = [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynicism]]
| main_interests   = [[Asceticism]], [[ethics]], [[language]], [[literature]], [[logic]]
| notable_ideas    = Laying the foundations of [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynic]] philosophy<br>Distinction between [[sense and reference]]
}}
'''Antisthenes''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|n|ˈ|t|ɪ|s|θ|ᵻ|n|iː|z|}};<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Daniel |editor2-last=Roach |editor2-first=Peter James |editor3-last= Hartman | editor3-first=James|editor4-first=Jane |editor4-last=Setter |title=Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/englishpronounci00dani |url-access=registration |edition=17th |publisher=Cambridge UP |year=2006}}</ref> {{langx|grc|Ἀντισθένης}}, {{IPA|grc|an.tis.tʰén.ε:s|pron}}; {{circa}} 446{{snd}}{{circa}} 366 BCE)<ref name="Brill">{{cite book |last1=Luz |first1=Menahem |title="Antisthenes' Portrayal of Socrates" from "Brill's Companion to the Reception of Socrates" |date=2019 |publisher=Brill |location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands |isbn=978-90-04-39674-6 |page=124}}</ref> was a [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Greek philosopher]] and a pupil of [[Socrates]]. Antisthenes first learned [[rhetoric]] under [[Gorgias]] before becoming an ardent disciple of Socrates. He adopted and developed the [[ethical]] side of Socrates' teachings, advocating an [[ascetic]] life lived in accordance with [[virtue]]. Later writers regarded him as the founder of [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynic]] philosophy.

==Life==
Antisthenes was born {{circa}} 446 BCE, the son of Antisthenes, an [[Athenian]]. His mother was thought to have been a [[Thracians|Thracian]],<ref>''[[Suda]]'', ''Antisthenes''.; {{harvnb|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 1}}.</ref> though some say a [[Phrygians|Phrygian]], an opinion probably derived from his sarcastic reply to a man who reviled him as not being a genuine [[Athens|Athenian]] citizen, that the mother of the gods was a Phrygian<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology — Antisthenes|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=antisthenes-bio-2|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-10|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531064318/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=antisthenes-bio-2 |archive-date=2021-05-31 }}</ref> (referring to [[Cybele]], the Anatolian counterpart of the Greek goddess [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]).<ref>{{Cite web|title=CYBELE (Kybele) - Phrygian Goddess, Mother of the Gods|url=https://www.theoi.com/Phrygios/Kybele.html#:~:text=KYBELE%20(Cybele)%20was%20the%20ancient,gods--the%20Titaness%20Rhea.|access-date=2021-08-10|website=www.theoi.com}}</ref> In his youth he fought at [[Battle of Tanagra (426 BC)|Tanagra]] (426 BCE), and was a disciple first of [[Gorgias]], and then of [[Socrates]]; so eager was he to hear the words of Socrates that he used to walk daily from the port of [[Peiraeus]] to Athens (about 9 kilometres), and persuaded his friends to accompany him.<ref name="EB1911" /> Eventually he was present at Socrates' death.<ref>Plato, ''Phaedo'', 59b.</ref> He never forgave his master's persecutors, and is said to have been instrumental in procuring their punishment.{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 9}} He survived the [[Battle of Leuctra]] (371 BCE), as he is reported to have compared the victory of the [[Thebans]] to a set of schoolboys beating their master.<ref>Plutarch, ''Lycurgus'', 30.</ref> Although [[Eudokia Makrembolitissa]] supposedly tells us that he died at the age of 70,<ref>Eudocia, ''Violarium'', 96</ref> he was apparently still alive in 366 BCE,<ref>Diodorus Siculus, xv. 76.4</ref> and he must have been nearer to 80 years old when he died at Athens, {{circa}} 365 BCE. He is said to have lectured at the [[Cynosarges]],{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 13}} a gymnasium for the use of Athenians born of foreign mothers, near the temple of [[Herakles|Heracles]]. Filled with enthusiasm for the Socratic idea of virtue, he founded a school of his own in the Cynosarges, where he attracted the poorer classes by the simplicity of his life and teaching. He wore a cloak and carried a staff and a wallet, and this costume became the uniform of his followers.<ref name="EB1911"/>

[[Diogenes Laërtius]] says that his works filled ten volumes, but of these, only fragments remain.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Antisthenes|volume=2|page=146}}</ref> His favourite style seems to have been dialogues, some of them being vehement attacks on his contemporaries, as on [[Alcibiades]] in the second of his two works entitled ''Cyrus'', on [[Gorgias]] in his ''Archelaus'' and on [[Plato]] in his ''Satho''.<ref>Athenaeus, v. 220c-e</ref> His style was pure and elegant, and [[Theopompus]] even said that Plato stole from him many of his thoughts.<ref>Athenaeus, xi. 508c-d</ref> [[Cicero]], after reading some works by Antisthenes, found his works pleasing and called him "a man more intelligent than learned".<ref>"''Κῦρος δ᾽, ε᾽ mihi sic placuit ut cetera Antisthenis, hominis acuti magis quam eruditi''". Cicero, ''Epistulae ad Atticum'', Book XII, Letter 38, section 2. In English translation: "Books four (δ᾽) and five (ε᾽) of ''Cyrus'' I found as pleasing as the others composed by Antisthenes, he is a man who is sharp rather than learned".</ref> He possessed considerable powers of wit and sarcasm, and was fond of playing upon words; saying, for instance, that he would rather fall among crows (''korakes'') than flatterers (''kolakes''), for the one devour the dead, but the other the living.{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 4}} Two declamations have survived, named ''Ajax'' and ''Odysseus'', which are purely rhetorical.

Antisthenes's nickname was ''The (Absolute) Dog'' ({{lang|grc|ἁπλοκύων}}, Diog. Laert. 6.13) <ref>{{cite journal |last= Prince|first=Susan (Dept. of Classics, University of Colorado, Boulder) |url=http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2001/2001-06-23.html |title=Review of LE. Navia - Antisthenes of Athens: Setting the World Aright |journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review |access-date=6 August 2017}} — {{cite book |first=Luis E. |last=Navia |title=Antisthenes of Athens: Setting the World Aright |year=2001 |location=Westport |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=xii, 176 |isbn=0-313-31672-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Magill |first=Frank N. |year=2003 |title=The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography   |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-45740-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7NVFUi7G6TEC&pg=PA89 89]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Judge |first1=Harry George |last2=Blake |first2=Robert |year=1988 |title=World history |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OokYAAAAIAAJ&q=Antisthenes++%27%27+Dog 104] |isbn=978-0-19-869135-8}}</ref>

==Philosophy==
[[File:Antisthenes BM 1838.jpg|right|thumb|Marble bust of Antisthenes based on the same original ([[British Museum]]) ]]

===According to Diogenes Laertius===
In his ''[[Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers]]'' Diogenes Laertius lists the following as the favourite themes of Antisthenes: "He would prove that virtue can be taught; and that nobility belongs to none other than the virtuous. And he held virtue to be sufficient in itself to ensure happiness, since it needed nothing else except the strength of spirit. And he maintained that virtue is an affair of deeds and does not need a store of words or learning; that the wise man is self-sufficing, for all the goods of others are his; that ill repute is a good thing and much the same as pain; that the wise man will be guided in his public acts not by the established laws but by the law of virtue; that he will also marry in order to have children from union with the handsomest women; furthermore that he will not disdain to love, for only the wise man knows who are worthy to be loved".{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 10}}

===Ethics===
Antisthenes was a pupil of Socrates, from whom he imbibed the fundamental ethical precept that [[virtue]], not [[pleasure]], is the end of existence.  Everything that the wise person does, Antisthenes said, conforms to perfect virtue,{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 11}} and pleasure is not only unnecessary, but a positive evil. He is reported to have held pain<ref>Julian, ''Oration'', 6.181b</ref> and even ill-repute ({{langx|el|ἀδοξία}}){{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 3, 7}} to be blessings, and he said, "I'd rather be mad than feel pleasure".{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 3}} However, it is probable that he did not consider all pleasure worthless, but only that which results from the gratification of sensual or artificial desires, for we find him praising the pleasures which spring "from out of one's soul,"<ref>Xenophon, ''Symposium'', iv. 41.</ref> and the enjoyments of a wisely chosen friendship.{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 12}} The supreme good he placed in a life lived according to virtue {{mdash}} virtue consisting in action, which when obtained is never lost, and exempts the wise person from error.{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 11–12, 104–105}} It is closely connected with reason, but to enable it to develop itself in action, and to be sufficient for happiness, it requires the aid of ''Socratic strength'' ({{langx|el|Σωκρατικὴ ἱσχύς}}).{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 11}}

===Physics===
His work on [[natural philosophy]] (the ''Physicus'') contained a theory of the nature of the [[gods]], in which he argued that there were many gods believed in by the people, but only one natural [[God]].<ref>Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum'', i. 13.</ref> He also said that God resembles nothing on earth, and therefore could not be understood from any representation.<ref>Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'', v.</ref>

===Logic===
In [[logic]], Antisthenes was troubled by the [[problem of universals]]. As a proper [[nominalist]], he held that definition and predication are either false or [[Tautology (logic)|tautological]], since we can only say that every individual is what it is, and can give no more than a description of its qualities, e.g. that silver is like tin in colour.<ref name="aristot1">Aristotle, ''Metaphysics'', 1043b24</ref> Thus, he disbelieved the Platonic system of Ideas. "A horse I can see," said Antisthenes, "but horsehood I cannot see".<ref>Simplicius, ''in Arist. Cat.'' 208, 28</ref> Definition is merely a circuitous method of stating an identity: "a tree is a vegetable growth" is logically no more than "a tree is a tree".

===Philosophy of language===
[[Image:Antisthenes Lebiedzki Rahl.jpg|right|thumb|Antisthenes, part of a fresco in the [[National and Kapodistrian University of Athens|National University of Athens]]]]
Antisthenes apparently distinguished "a general object that can be aligned with the meaning of the utterance" from "a particular object of extensional reference". This "suggests that he makes a distinction between sense and reference".<ref>{{cite book|last=Prince|first=Susan |title=Antisthenes of Athens: Texts, Translations, and Commentary|publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2015}} p. 20</ref>  The principal basis of this claim is a quotation in [[Alexander of Aphrodisias]]' “Comments on [[Aristotle]]'s 'Topics'” with a three-way distinction: 
# the semantic medium, {{lang|grc|δι' ὧν λέγουσι}}
# an object external to the semantic medium, {{lang|grc|περὶ οὗ λέγουσιν}}
# the direct indication of a thing, {{lang|grc|σημαίνειν … τὸ …}}}<ref>Prince 2015, pp. 518–522 (Antisthenes's literary remains: t. 153B.1).</ref>

==Antisthenes and the Cynics==
In later times Antisthenes came to be seen as the founder of the [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynics]], but it is by no means certain that he would have recognized the term. [[Aristotle]], writing a generation later refers several times to Antisthenes<ref>Aristotle, ''Metaphysics'', 1024b26; ''Rhetoric'', 1407a9; ''Topics'', 104b21; ''Politics'', 1284a15</ref> and his followers "the Antistheneans",<ref name="aristot1"/> but makes no reference to Cynicism.<ref name="long32">Long 1996, page 32</ref> There are many later tales about the infamous Cynic [[Diogenes of Sinope]] dogging Antisthenes' footsteps and becoming his faithful hound,<ref>{{harvnb|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 6, 18, 21}}; Dio Chrysostom, ''Orations'', viii. 1–4; Aelian, x. 16; Stobaeus, ''Florilegium'', 13.19</ref> but it is similarly uncertain that the two men ever met. Some scholars, drawing on the discovery of defaced coins from [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]] dating from the period 350–340 BCE, believe that Diogenes only moved to Athens after the death of Antisthenes,<ref name="long45">Long 1996, page 45</ref> and it has been argued that the stories linking Antisthenes to Diogenes were invented by the [[Stoics]] in a later period in order to provide a succession linking Socrates to [[Zeno of Citium|Zeno]] via Antisthenes, Diogenes, and [[Crates of Thebes|Crates]].<ref>Dudley 1937, pages 2-4</ref> These tales were important to the Stoics for establishing a chain of teaching that ran from Socrates to Zeno.<ref>Navia, ''Diogenes the Cynic'', page 100</ref> Others argue that the evidence from the coins is weak, and thus Diogenes could have moved to Athens well before 340 BCE.<ref>Navia, ''Diogenes the Cynic'', pages 34, 112-3</ref> It is also possible that Diogenes visited Athens and Antisthenes before his exile, and returned to Sinope.<ref name="long45"/>

Antisthenes certainly adopted a rigorous [[ascetic]] lifestyle,<ref>Xenophon, ''Symposium'', iv. 34–44.</ref> and he developed many of the principles of Cynic philosophy which became an inspiration for Diogenes and later Cynics. It was said that he had laid the foundations of the city which they afterwards built.{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§  15}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
*Brancacci, Aldo. Oikeios logos. ''La filosofia del linguaggio di Antistene'', Napoli: Bibliopolis, 1990 (fr. tr. Antisthène, Le discours propre, Paris, Vrin, 2005)
*Dudley, Donald R. (1937), [https://archive.org/details/historyofcynicis032872mbp ''A History of Cynicism from Diogenes to the 6th Century A.D.'']. Cambridge
*{{cite LotEP|chapter=Antisthenes |§=1–19 }}
*Long, A. A. (1996), "The Socratic Tradition: Diogenes, Crates, and Hellenistic Ethics", in Bracht Branham, R.; Goulet-Caze Marie-Odile, ''The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy''. University of California Press. {{ISBN|0-520-21645-8}}
*Luis E. Navia, (2005). ''Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World''. Humanity Books. {{ISBN|1-59102-320-3}}
*{{cite book |last=Prince |first=Susan |title=Antisthenes of Athens: Texts, Translations, and Commentary |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2015}} {{ISBN| 978-0-472-11934-9}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Branham|editor1-first=R. Bracht|editor2-last=Cazé |editor2-first=Marie-Odile Goulet |title=The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy|location=Berkeley|publisher=University of California Press|year=1996}}
*{{cite book |last=Chappuis |first=Charles |title=Antisthenes: The Founder of Cynicism |translator-last=Robinson |translator-first=Richard |location=Portland, OR |publisher=Sunny Lou Publishing |year=2024 |isbn=978-1955392730
|url=https://sunnyloupublishing.com}}  
*{{cite journal |last=Fuentes González |first= Pedro Pablo |title=En defensa del encuentro entre dos Perros, Antístenes y Diógenes: historia de una tensa amistad |journal=Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios Griegos e Indoeuropeos |volume=23 |year=2013 |pages= 225–267 (reprint in: V. Suvák [ed.], Antisthenica Cynica Socratica, Praha: Oikoumene, 2014, p. 11–71)}}
*{{cite book |last=Guthrie |first=William Keith Chambers |series=A History of Greek Philosophy |volume=3 |title=The Fifth-Century Enlightenment |location=London |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1969}}
* Meijer P. A., ''A New Perspective on Antisthenes: Logos, Predicate and Ethics in his Philosophy'', Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press B.V., 2017
*{{cite book |last=Navia |first=Luis E. |title=Classical Cynicism: A Critical Study |location=Westport, CT |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1996}}
*{{cite book |last=Navia |first=Luis E. |title=The Philosophy of Cynicism An Annotated Bibliography |location=Westport, CT |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1995}}
*{{cite book |last=Rankin |first=H. D. |title=Anthisthenes Sokratikos |location=Amsterdam |publisher=A.M. Hakkert |year=1986 |isbn=90-256-0896-5}}
*{{cite book |last=Rankin |first=H. D. |title=Sophists, Socratics, and Cynics |url=https://archive.org/details/sophistssocratic0000rank |url-access=registration |location=London: Croom Helm |year=1983|isbn=9780389204213 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Sayre |first=Farrand |title=Antisthenes the Socratic |journal=The Classical Journal |volume=43 |year=1948 |pages=237–244}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Antisthenes}}
{{Wikiquote}}
*{{cite IEP |url-id=antisthe |title=Antisthenes}}
* [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=cynics:cynic_lives ''Lives & Writings on the Cynics''], directory of literary references to Ancient Cynics
*[[Xenophon]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20080806130441/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/x/xenophon/x5sy/chapter4.html ''Symposium'', Book IV]

{{Cynics}}
{{Greek schools of philosophy}}
{{Ancient Greece topics|state=autocollapse}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antisthenes}}
[[Category:440s BC births]]
[[Category:360s BC deaths]]
[[Category:5th-century BC Athenians]]
[[Category:5th-century BC Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:4th-century BC Athenians]]
[[Category:4th-century BC Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek ethicists]]
[[Category:Ascetics]]
[[Category:Cynic philosophers]]
[[Category:Pupils of Socrates]]
[[Category:Classical Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:Ancient Athenian philosophers]]