Cynicism and Anarchy

Last class I am pretty sure someone started to talk about the relationship between Cynicism and Anarchy. This observation struck a chord, which in turn spawned some thinking on what I consider to be the ontology of both cynicism and anarchy--utopia. This utopia shouldn't be conceived as a regulated life controlled by certain hegemonic judiciaries, but as a way of life in search of the good life. The means of attaining this good life are many, but in searching for your own way you can become wrapped up in a collective consciousness that regulates itself by law--even if the law is nothing more than a signifier. One of the main problems with assessing the philosophies behind cynicism and anarchy is the common myopic view or conception we associate with each; anarchy is not chaos that is kept in check by political institutions and cynicism is not Diogenes. The seemingly eccentric nature of Diogenes should not be looked upon as anti-social but I dare say that they are ultra-social! The idea of masturbating in public may seem to be a rather unpleasant anti-social behavior, but if we look at it through the lens of eating in public we can see how some people may actually carry on a rather interesting, possibly enlightening conversation while getting their rocks off (before I finished typing this sentence I started to type shameless as a means to describe masturbating in public, but to consider it shameless is to consider it abnormal in some sense, which is missing the point). Cynicism should be looked at as a way to rise out of complacency, be it the complacency of tradition, religion, colonization, empire, and social relations. It is a profession of our fundamental freedom--which in turn gives rise to anarchy and philosophies concerning the morality of freedom and the pursuit of the good life as exemplified by Joseph Raz.

I think the importance of Diogenes is more than just the fact that he went all out and presented us with a "high note." Diogenes presents us with a caricature of freedom or self-sufficiency, but within this caricature can we not sees it's resemblance to reality? This caricature is represented as one's self mastery over the self and the ablility to integrate your thoughts with your actions. It is of key importance to realize that the lifestyle supersedes the philosophy. If you are not living freely are you living? In the search for the good life Joseph Raz gives an interesting interpretation of the how conceptions of the good are not necessarily absolute. The function of justice, law, or government is not to provide citizens with a unanimous decision as to what is just, but as long as there is a plurality among people concerning ideals of the good we can begin to see underlying elements similar to various conceptions of the good that are unanimous.

The origins of ideals held by Americans --liberty and justice for all--seem to have strong anarchist underpinnings that seem to make up a radical unconscious that is not too different from the radical life of Diogenes.



No wonder he was called a Dog.