In "Philosophy Twitter," I wrote about how an online philosopher had solicited candidates for the single greatest sentence in the history of philosophy. This one, from Kant,
Desire is the capacity to be, by means of a representation, the cause of the object of that representation
and this one, by a "philosopher" unnamed by the submitter,
What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others
I thought represented the range, among the submissions, of what is often called these days "relatability." By putting "philosopher" in quotes I mean to confess that I thought the submitter was just having fun with the earnest practitioners of Philosophy Twitter. But . . . you can see where this is going. I discovered last night that I was wrong when, reading the Enchiridion of Epictetus, I came to the paragraph wherein the author praises Diogenes and Heraclitus. I knew enough of Heraclitus not to be curious, but I decided to look up Diogenes, whom I'd never heard of, and soon found myself reading his maxims, here--one of which, concerning his favorite beverage, had been nominated as the greatest philosophy sentence, ever. Scanning the article I see that he might have earned several nominations.
Asked at what age a man should marry, he replied that an older man must never marry, and that a young one should wait.
Once, criticized for drinking at a tavern, he replied that he also got his haircuts at the barbershop.
When asked about his hometown, he said only that he was cosmopolitan, a citizen of the world.
Charged with public indecency, he defended himself by saying he wished he could allay his hunger by rubbing his belly.
Diogenes was a contemporary and fierce critic of Plato, whose abstractions repelled him. He is said to have eaten, loudly and with relish, while attending lectures at the Academy, which recalls another of his famous retorts: asked about the best time to eat, he said for a rich man whenever he wants, and for a poor man whenever he can. After Plato, tongue in cheek, defined man as "a featherless biped," Diogenes set loose in the Academy a plucked chicken, thereby causing the definition to be emended to "a featherless biped with broad flat nails."
For his part Plato, evaluating the character of Diogenes, said it was "as if Socrates had gone mad." Diogenes does seem to have pushed the envelope on the gadfly thing. He recommended poverty and his asceticism was such that, having seen a boy drinking out of cupped hands, he gave away his only bowl.
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