"The barrel of Diogenes": just an expression or a way of life

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

"The Barrel of Diogenes" is a catch phrase. Many have heard it, but few know what it means. It came to us from ancient Greece and is still well known today. The expression "barrel of Diogenes" was coined by a certain philosopher, and to find out what it really means, we must begin by studying the personality of Diogenes.

Who is this?

Diogenes was an ancient Greek philosopher who lived in the 4th century BC. He adhered to the worldview of the Cynics and was definitely one of its brightest representatives. In our time, he would be called outrageous.

He was born in the city of Sinop, an Asia Minor policy (policies in Ancient Greece were called areas of the country), located on the Black Sea coast. Diogenes was expelled from his hometown for making counterfeit money. Then he wandered for a long time through the cities of Greece, until he stopped in Athens. There he lived most of his life. In the capital of ancient Greece, he gained fame as a philosopher and had students who believed in the wisdom and genius of their teacher. Despite this, Diogenes rejected such sciences as mathematics, physics and others, calling them useless. According to the philosopher,the only thing a person has to know is himself.

Philosophy of Diogenes

There is a legend about how Diogenes came to philosophy. Once he was watching a mouse and thinking. The rodent did not need a lot of money, a big house, a beautiful wife, he had enough of everything. The mouse lived, rejoiced, and everything was fine with him. Comparing himself with him, Diogenes decided that there was no need for the blessings of life. A person can be happy having nothing but himself. And the need for we alth and luxury is an invention of people, because of which they become even more unhappy. Diogenes decided to give up everything he had. He left himself only a bag and a cup for drinking. But later, when he saw how the boy drinks water from his hands, he refused them. Diogenes settled in a barrel. He lived in it until the end of his days.

Why did Diogenes live in a barrel? Because he adhered to the theory of cynicism. It appeared long before him, but it was he who developed this idea and conveyed it to people. Cynicism preached the complete spiritual freedom of man. Rejection of generally accepted norms, customs, detachment from worldly life goals, such as power, we alth, fame, pleasure. Therefore, Diogenes settled in a barrel, as he considered the house a luxury, which also needs to be abandoned.

Diogenes preached the complete freedom of the human soul, and this, in his opinion, was true happiness. "Only he is free who is free from most of his needs", gastronomic, physiological and sexual were no exception.

Diogenes' lifestyle

Diogenes followed an ascetic lifestyle. enteredhistory as a role model. Asceticism is a philosophical concept, as well as a way of life based on daily training of the body and spirit. The ability to withstand life's adversities - that was the ideal of Diogenes. The ability to control your desires, your needs. He cultivated contempt for all pleasures.

One day passers-by saw him begging from the statue. They asked him: “Why are you asking, because she won’t give you anything anyway.” To which Diogenes replied: "To accustom yourself to failure." But in his life he rarely asked passers-by for money, and if he had to take it, he said: “I don’t take a loan, but what I am owed.”

The behavior of Diogenes in public

It must be said that Diogenes did not particularly like people. He believed that they did not understand the meaning of human life. The most striking example is this: he walked around the city among the crowd with a lit lantern with the words: “I am looking for a person.”

His behavior was defiant and even extremist. The latter - because he publicly demonstrated his physiological independence from a woman with the words: “I wish it was the same with hunger.”

Diogenes' statements were always ironic and even sarcastic. If you read all of his aphorisms, there will not be a single one among them that does not challenge the opinion of the human. If the crowd scolds the musician, the philosopher praises him for playing and not stealing. If people praise someone, Diogenes is sure to ridicule.

Scandalous behavior few liked incity, but there were also many followers.

Was there a barrel?

The expression "barrel of Diogenes" is used as a symbol of existence in complete solitude. It is also a sign of asceticism and renunciation of blessings. Small and poor houses, apartments, devoid of amenities and without unnecessary embellishment, are also called the "barrel of Diogenes", since they are characterized by some asceticism. I must say, many deny the plausibility of the legend. Did Diogenes really live in a barrel? The fact is that there was no such container in Ancient Greece. A barrel is a large vessel made of wooden boards fastened with a hoop. And in Greece there were only huge clay jars the size of a man, and they were called "pithos".

Summing up, "Diogenes' cask" is a catch phrase that refers to a way of life and certain ideals.