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Ethical-Cultural Maps of Classical Greek Philosophy: the Contradiction Between Nature and Civilization in Ancient Cynicism

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Ethical-Cultural Maps of Classical Greek Philosophy: the Contradiction Between Nature and Civilization in Ancient Cynicism Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology 16(1)/2019: 39-53 Ethical-cultural Maps of Classical Greek Philosophy: the Contradiction between Nature and Civilization in Ancient Cynicism Vytis VALATKA Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies Vilnius Gediminas Technical University [email protected] Vaida ASAKAVIČIŪTĖ Department of Entertainment Industries Vilnius Gediminas Technical University [email protected] Abstract: This article restores the peculiar ethical-cultural cartography from the philosophical fragments of Ancient Greek Cynicism. Namely, the fragments of Anthistenes, Diogenes of Sinope, Crates, Dio Chrysostom as well as of the ancient historians of philosophy (Diogenes Laertius and Joanes Stobaeus) are mainly ana- lyzed and interpreted. The methods of comparative analysis as well of rational resto- ration are applied in this article. The authors of the article concentrate on the main characteristics of the above mentioned cartography, that is, the contradiction between maps of nature and civili- zation. The article comes to the conclusion that the basis of this contradiction is the concept of the main value as well as virtue in the above mentioned cynicism, namely, natural radical temperance. According to ancient cynics, this virtue is abso- lutely incompatible with pleasure-driven civilization, as the latter annihilates the former. Therefore, cynics interpreted the whole territory of the world known at that time as divided between maps of nature and civilization that never overlap or even intersect. Moreover, according to ancient cynics, the territory covered by maps of civilization is considerably smaller than that enframed by the maps of nature. More- over, the areas of nature are continuously being diminished, as civilization resolutely goes ahead. In such a situation that threatens survival of human nature the only possible way out is a return to the natural value of radical temperance. After cynics, the only effective strategy of achieving that challenging goal is askesis as excercises of temperance dedicated both to body and spirit. The authors of the article also give a certain SWOT analysis of the above mentioned cartography in the context of contemporary society. According to them, such a cartography possesses both strong and weak points. The main weak point is the contradiction itself between maps of culture and civilization. As a matter of fact, ci- vilization does not annihilate the possibility of natural temperance, whereas a human being, according to his/her nature, is a creator of culture and civilization. On the other hand, the main positive aspect is an emphasis on virtue of temperance, which © 2019 Vytis VALATKA / Vaida ASAKAVIČIŪTĖ - https://doi.org/10.3726/CUL012019.0003 - The online edition of this publication is available open access. Except where otherwise noted, content can be used under 39 the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). For details go to http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Vytis VALATKA and Vaida ASAKAVIČIŪTĖ / Ethical-cultural Maps ... is actual, significant and relevant in any epoch, culture and civilization, and which is pretty much forgotten nowadays. Keywords: Ancient Greek cynicism, radical temperance, askesis, map of nature, map of civilization INTRODUCTION One of the fundamental concepts and chief scientific tools of contempo- rary social sciences and the humanities is maps of different cultural forms and phenomena, areas and districts. They are explored in scholarly articles, monographs, the principles of their delineation, application, and testing are taught in different academic programs etc. In analyzing the phenomenon of cultural maps, of vital importance is a historical pers- pective which enables one to gain more comprehensive and deeper knowledge of this phenomenon as well as to more adequately evaluate the possibilities of this method. Viewed from the historical perspective, the prototypes and rudiments of cultural and civilization maps can be found already in ancient Greek culture. This culture is also marked by the favored tendency of its creators and consumers to divide the people of the known world of those times (it should not be confused with the phenomenological Life world conception) into the civilized and virtuous Greeks (Hellenes) and the savage barbarians with uncontrollable pas- sions. In the culture of Ancient Greece one more interesting phenomenon can be observed. It is a certain antipode of the cultural map which could be called anti-cultural – anticivilization, i.e. directed against culture and civilization, or, a map of human nature. This is the scandalous philo- sophical school of Cynics (5th c. BC – 5th c. AD) which launched a global rebellion against civilization and its morality which, according to the Cynics, destroy the temperate and virtuous human nature and thus rules out any possibility of human happiness. Figuratively speaking, the Cynics painted almost all the map of the world inhabited by people in the ominous black color of “immoral” civilization, leaving only small green oases dominated by human nature. In their pursuit to change this imagi- nary status quo, the Cynics devised strategies to win back the territories which civilization had deprived them of while expanding little by little the borders of the islets of virtuous human nature and restructuring the 40 Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology 16(1)/2019: 39-53 existing map of civilization into the anti-cultural – anticivilization – map of human nature. The cultural maps as well as relation between nature and civilization have recently been investigated from different angles by Dave Cosgrow (2008); Jeremy Crampton (2009); Richard Florida (2008); Chris Perkins (2008), Tomas Kačerauskas (2011a, 2011b, 2014); Bela Mester (2012); Heft Harry (2013); Vaiva Klajumaitė (2014); Agnieška Juzefovič and Elena Sakalauskaitė (2014); Alphonso Lingis (2015); Danielle Deveau and Abby Goodrum (2015); Ben Dick (2015); Nancy Duxbury et al. (2015); Edvardas Rimkus (2015); Raquel Freitas (2016); Nicolae Rambu (2018); Jeannotte Sharon (2016); Geoffrey Morgan et al. (2017); Lubomir Belas, Ludmila Belasova (2017); Žilvinas Svigaris (2017); Eivina Staniulytė (2017). The different aspects of the Cynic philosophical school were explored by Donald Dudley (1937); Farrand Sayre (1948); Abraham Malherbe (1977); Francis Gerald Downing (1992); Luis Navia (1996, 2001, 2005); Vytis Valatka (1999); Ian Cutler (2005); Megan Mustain (2011); Frank Redmond (2013); William Desmond (2006, 2008). Still, the Cynic ethical-cultural cartography in the aforementioned investigations has not been discussed yet. The aim of this article is to restore the contours of this cartography from the extant fragments of the Cynic philosophy and evaluate its strong and weak points from a modern-day perspective. THE MAP OF CIVILIZATION AND THE VICIOUS PRINCIPLE OF THE FLYWHEEL And why did the Cynics sought to radically restructure the cultural-civili- zation map so disliked by them ? Why did the map painted in the color of civilization meant the death of human nature to them? According to them, the chief reason lay in the conception of morality reinforced by civilization. This conception, which advocates the pursuit of pleasure as the purpose of one’s life, undermines the fundamental principle of human nature, virtue and value – a radical temperance, i.e. a maximum reduction of human needs. And temperance was regarded by the Cynics as the main maxim of human life. For example, the founder of the school of Cynics Antisthenes claimed that “the goal of human life is temperance and humility” (Clement of Alexandria, 1885: 375). Accord- ing to the Cynics, only a temperate life of minimal natural needs which 41 Vytis VALATKA and Vaida ASAKAVIČIŪTĖ / Ethical-cultural Maps ... can always be easily satisfied brings happiness – peace of mind and a cheerful disposition. On the other hand, the pursuit of a surfeit of plea- sure legitimized by civilization results in dissatisfaction, discontent, and fear. According to the so-called principle of the flywheel, a man of civili- zation has an insatiable desire for pleasure, but the pleasures gained never seem sufficient. And the more one lacks them, the greater is their thirst for them; there is a constant fear that the desired amount of plea- sures will never be reached or that the pleasures one already has will be lost through some bitter twist of fate… The Cynics aptly compared the pleasure hunter with the person who has dropsy: this person always suf- fers from thirst, and the more it is satisfied, the greater it becomes (Ioannes Stobaeus, 1882: 295). For this reason, the founder of the school of Cynics Antisthenes of Athens (c. 445-365 BCE) liked to repeat to the surprise of his contemporaries: “I would rather go mad than feel plea- sure” (Diogenes Laertius, 1915: 218). Thus for the Cynics, the map of civilization basically meant the marking of death territories. THE MAP OF HUMAN NATURE AND THE VIRTUOUS GOLDEN AGE The Cynics believed that the map of civilization which legitimized a surfeit of pleasure could not be applied to the beginnings of mankind as there was no civilization at that time. In the world of those times, there existed the universal global order of nature and human nature as its integral part. In other words, all mankind obeyed the law of natural temperance. Thus the pre-civilization map of human nature should be applied to the world of those days, whose richly green color was not dimmed by any black intrusions of civilization. This map was being drawn on the basis of mythological cartography: the Cynics constructed the pre-civilized natural state of mankind in the space of the myth of golden age well-known to the ancient world. The Cynics perceived this golden age in purely Hesiodic manner – as a state of universal virtue, happiness, peace, and contentment. The temperate people of that age were quite content with what the bounteous and rich land gave them. Then there prevailed universal human equality. Accord- ing to the Greek satirist and skeptic Lucian of Samosata (c.
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