The more I learn about this guy, the more I think we should be teaching him as one of the great philosophers.
this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2026
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He is one of the greats.
Also the most memeable...
I mean, yes and no: he was a cynic, but he also did things like masturbate in public during Aristotle's lectures.
There's a fine line between living your principles and trolling for the sake of it (Diogenes, not you)
I feel like the cranking it in public thing is too problematic at this stage of societal development.
It was probably problematic back then too. But it is now too.
our social is so afraid of sex. let people wank in public who tf cares, as long as they don't aim at me or my food, it ain't my problem.
bored on the bus stop, go ahead. waiting for you food in a restaurant, have fun.
Id rather not sit at a table thats been busted all over
Great, so there is a free table for me now.
Sounds great. And the no?
Being too cynical about everything makes one an insufferable bastard, deprived of joy.
He is, and all the other ancient Greek philosophers you've heard of are slaver shut heels whose writing shouldn't be given so much weight
Which philosophers do you look up to then?
You know they kept having philosophers after ancient Greece, right?
Some of them weren't even personally pieces of shit.
It doesn't mean their good ideas should be totally discarded simply because other things they say and did are bad. As Bruce Lee said: take the good but discard the bad.
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"Were I not Alexander the great I would wish to be you Diogenes"
"I would wish to be me too"
Is this a real quote?
Not exactly. It's based on a quote from plutarch's history. Almost certainly apocryphal.
Now I know where Meghan Trainor gets her lyrics from.
"’Cause I got that boom boom that all the boys chase And all the right junk in all the right places" -Diogenes 370 BC
This song just came on whatever Pandora station is playing and I was standing alone in my kitchen LOLing IRL thanks to your comment. You (and Diogenes) made my day.
(I was actually referring to her song “Me Too,” but your take on it was way better!)
Diogenes would have used Linux 100%
Not so sure, computer might be decadence.
never, have I ever heard anything bad about Diogenes, and the more I learn about Socrates and Plato, the less I like them.
Fuck Plato and Socrates and everything they stood for.
Too sober to elaborate if asked. just look at why exactly was Socrates on trial. not the reason Plato says, but the actual reason.
You've never heard that Diogenes was a nudist and known for wanking in public? Or possibly even bestiality?
Also, I wonder what you think Socrates was on trial for. He called a lot of standard assumptions into question, and was called impious by the political/religious elite. They didn't like how he was educating people to think rationally instead of believing whatever they're told to believe, so they charged him with "corrupting the youth."
It's comparable to magas today going after public school teachers or college professors, because they teach "science" and other works of the devil.
A lot of people criticize Plato without really understanding him. They think he wanted a rationalist theocracy but that's missing the point entirely. He was against anti-intellectualism in a society that worshipped incestuous gods.
Also, Plato and Socrates made extensive use of elenchus and aporia, deliberately emphasizing the limitations of human knowledge. Instead of asserting what they believed to be true, they would use a series of questions to get their counterparts to examine their own beliefs, while identifying inconsistencies and irrational conclusions.
Their main thing was to point out how much of what people believe they "know," are actually assumptions based on societal conditioning.
He was on trial because his disciples committed a coup which lead to the death of about 10% of Athens in 8 months, which then ran away and the closest thing to anyone being on trial was their teacher, who campaigned against democracy, and not once in the trial disvowed his students or even acknowledged the slaughter.
that's why we think he was on trial for bs "corruption the youth" because that's the bs he talked about in his trial (written by Plato after the fact).
he was more like a conservative grifter, Jordan Peterson, or a Nazi propagandists who got sentenced to death for nazi crimes.
look into the 30 tyrants.
also non Platonic contemporary accounts portray Socrates as a grifter, teaching BS for cash while complaining of sophists doing the same (the clouds of Erastophanes).
don't think Socrates was a old kind wise man.
I've never heard that before. Do you have a source for that information?
Athenian democracy was more like "democracy for wealthy athenian landowners." It's not much like modern democracy, so there was a lot to criticize about it. Even modern democracy can be described as "rule of the ignorant" in some places, so it's not like it's impossible to validly criticize.
I don't know what kinds of arguments Jordan Peterson makes because I've never listened to him, but from what I've heard it sounds like he merely tries to rationalize male stereotypes by giving them an appearance of validity. That's definitely not what Socrates was doing; in fact the Athenian elites he criticized were closer to the Jordan Peterson type.
And nothing Socrates or Plato said remotely resembled Nazi propaganda, so unless you cite some textual examples I'm not going to take that seriously.
Also, Plato criticized the 30 tyrants. So I don't see what connection you're trying to draw there.
As far as "non-Platonic contemporary accounts" go, what primary sources are they citing? Or is it just pure navel-gazing? Criticizing old white dudes is the easiest way to get ahead in modern academia, it's the only way to slide through the peer-review process without a defensible critique. Valid criticisms can be made, but they require textual evidence (unless they're criticizing a white dude; then anything goes, apparently).
Sophists made use of wordplay and tautology to seem wise, while mostly reaffirming common assumptions that people already held. Plato and Socrates were rationalists, which is completely different. They used discursive reasoning rather than mere semantics. And if someone doesn't understand the difference, then it's not worth my time to try to explain. Too many people reject rationalism while falling for semantics; how does one reason with someone who's irrational?
Keep in mind we don't have anything about what he said. at least not directly. all we have is Plato writing him as a character. Even his "apology" was written by Plato after the trial. It being more a propaganda speech by Plato than an actual trial recording.
look at any sources regarding " 30 tyrants " wiki is a good start (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Tyrants). also, non Platonic accounts like Erastophanes portray him as a grifter (https://youtu.be/76lkcYbjdFk).
And after all, he was found guilty for that Athenian genocide (even though Plato denied it) by his own people. so there's that.
Plato got spared, he was invited to participate in the 30 tyrants government (which included his cousin and uncle), but decided not to once the genocide started. https://medium.com/the-first-philosophers/plato-4-5-the-thirty-tyrants-2447c90f3af1
for something so well documented, It is insane that no one knows about it
There are also accounts by Xenophon. And I'm aware of the limitations of citing Plato's accounts, but that doesn't justify leveling any accusation one can come up with. Also, the satires of Aristophanes hardly count as historical evidence.
Neither of the other two sources you provided say anything about Plato or Socrates being complicit with the regime or guilty of genocide. In fact, it seems like they had some animosities towards the thirty tyrants.
Where are you getting this claim that Socrates was found guilty for the Athenian genocide? It says right here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Socrates) that the charges were impiety and corrupting the youth (by encouraging them to question their elders).
The impious acts cited were "failing to acknowledge the gods that the city acknowledges" and "introducing new deities" (apparently Reason (διάνοια) was a deity in their view...)
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Lentils are yummy. I’m powerful?
Lentils are yummy. I’m powerful?
That sounds like an incomplete haiku tbh.
Lentils are yummy
I am powerful
The king can suck it
Kowtow to the king? I am not subservient… Lentils are yummy!
if I were not @danekrae, I would like to be Diogenes
Anarchy when? (And by anarchy, I mean a horizontal, egalitarian and self-sufficient society. A rule without rulers.)
I took my torn togas in to get repaired. The shop owner did not like me so he said "Euripides! Eumenides!"
So I shrugged and asked him, "Eumenides?"
Diogenes surely invented the pea shooter
Lentil launcher.
Hm.. do you get to the Cloud district very often, Diogenes?
Stay healthy.
That's a punchline but that's not philosophie.
Its from a certain political position.
I want to join this religion
Becoming a cynic means taking on the responsibility of showing the world what a truly virtuous life looks like, and then trying to teach others how to also live virtuously. Usually by making fun of them.
It's cheap.
Just get a barrel and go live in it.
If you're not sure if a possession of yours is an unnecessary luxury the answer is yes, unless you literally can't survive without it.
If you've got any doubts about what to do, look for a street dog, and just do as it does.
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