When they asked Plato what sort of man Diogenes (404-323 B.C) was, he said "A Socrates gone mad." Diogenes was Gonzo. . .about 2300 years ahead of the curve.
He ignored the weather by living in a barrel (like the northwest native Americans ignored the weather by wearing bear grease and loincloths). It was just enough shelter. For eating he owned a single wooden bowl. He would later destroy the bowl when he saw a peasant boy drink using his hands. When asked how to avoid the temptations of the flesh, Diogenes began masturbating. When he was chastised for this, he answered "If only I could soothe my belly by rubbing it."
He often quibbled with Plato over philosophy. Plato defined a human as a biped and featherless animal. Diogenes plucked a fowl and brought it to the lecture-hall with the words, ‘Here is Plato’s human being.’ The definition of human was soon altered to include ‘having broad nails’” (Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 6, Chapter 40). Diogenes regularly attacked Plato’s metaphysics and, in a way, transcended theoretical ethics.
He was called insane for reacting against convention, but Diogenes pointed out that it is convention itself that lacks reason: “Most people are so nearly mad that a finger makes all the difference. For if you go along with your middle finger stretched out, someone will think you mad, but, if it’s the little finger, he will not think so” (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 6, Chapter 35).
Diogenes once said that "for the conduct of life we need reason or a halter.”
He avoided the pleasures of the flesh and the delusion of most human conduct. He used to stroll through the Agora (the marketplace...and the root of the word agoraphobia) with a torch during the daytime. "I am just looking for an honest man".
On a voyage, he was captured by pirates and sold as a slave to a Corinthian named Xeniades. As tutor to the two sons of Xeniades, he lived in Corinth for the rest of his life, devoted to preaching self-control. At the Isthmian Games he lectured to large audiences who turned to him from Antisthenes. At one of these festivals he met Alexander the Great. Alexander, who was thrilled to meet the famous philosopher, asked if there was anything he might do for him. Diogenes replied, “Stand out of my sunlight.” Was Big Al pissed? No: "If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."
One great (apocryphal?) Diogenes and Alexander story has the philosopher sorting through a pile of human bones. "I am searching for the bones of your father but cannot distinguish them from those of a slave."
Diogenes may have lived until ninety. Possible causes of death passed include death by holding his breath, an illness brought on by eating raw octopus, or death by dog bite.
On his death, the Corinthians erected a pillar on which rested a marble dog. So, there is some credence to the dog bite theory...but most scholars think he probably died of old age.
What did he believe? Up front, this fantastic cat believed that virtue was the avoidance of physical pleasure; pain and hunger were helpful in the pursuit of goodness; and all the artificiality of society was incompatible with goodness.
Later, the Stoics would later say he was a perfect man. In his words, "Man has complicated every simple gift of the gods." He has been the subject of a lot of painting, sculpture, and poetry. Ed Sanders the American poet (and founder of The Fugs) has praised him often in his poems and fiction .
Diogenes is the first person known to have actually believed "I am a citizen of the whole world (cosmos)," rather than of any city or state (polis). He invented cosmopolitanism.
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