Antisthenes of Athens, in the quartern century BCE, inaugurated Cynic philosophy, professing that morality was the road to felicity and self-restraint the cornerstone of a virtuous life. He too advocated the reduction of wishes and self-dependence.
Diogenes of Sinope, a disciple of Antisthenes, was one of the most eminent Cynic theorists. He opined that each should live in concordance with nature and by adopting a plain lifestyle, one could be liberated from the perils and tribulations of the world. Moreover, he perceived integrity and the dismissal of avarice and material possessions as crucial.
Crates of Thebes, the most renowned of the Cynics, like his predecessors, believed that a plain life would liberate one from the agonies and tribulations of the world. He also believed that one should practise self-abnegation and abstinence and cultivate a sense of detachment from the earthly world. He was averse to political life, ascribing it as a wastage of time, and preached the repugnance of all forms of jurisdiction.
The precepts of the Cynics had a powerful influence on other schools of philosophy, such as Stoicism, and their ideas endured in the works of later philosophers such as Epictetus and Seneca. The Cynic school of philosophy was eventually superseded by the rise of Neoplatonism, but the teachings of the Cynics still have importance today, as their principles of simplicity, self-control, and living according to nature are still pertinent in our modern world.
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