The principal schools of this period that we will look at here are Cynicism, Epicureanism, Stoicism, Skepticism, and Neoplatonism. 2nd century CE Roman copy of a 3rd century BCE original by Phyromachus. This means rejecting all conventional desires for health, wealth, power and fame, and living a life free from all possessions and property. Although there was never an official Cynic doctrine, the fundamental principles of Cynicism can be summarized as follows: [10] [11] [12] Philosophy. (This phrase is a recurring theme in debates among the Hellenistic philosophies.)

Cynicism. Antisthenes, a disciple of Socrates, is considered to be the founder of the …

CYNICISM A portrait of the Greek philosopher Antisthenes (c. 450-370 BCE), founder of the Cynic school of philosophy. - Marcus Aurelius / … - very suitable philosophy for an Empire which had a large slave population and which was extremely patriarchal and hierarchical // social rank was often inherited. Cynic, member of a Greek philosophical sect that flourished from the 4th century bce to well into the Common Era, distinguished as much for its unconventional way of life as for its rejection of traditional social and political arrangements, professing instead a cosmopolitan utopia and communal anarchism. Cynicism is one of the most striking of all the Hellenistic philosophies. Conceived as philosophy in action: ‘What good is philosophy if it never moves you to criticize your comfortable habits and actually change yourself for the better?’ Cynicism was conceived of as a way of life unbeholden to social convention or political demand, that is, a life lived according to nature. Cynicism is a school of philosophy from the Socratic period of ancient Greece, which holds that the purpose of life is to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature (which calls for only the bare necessities required for existence). [9] It offered people the possibility of happiness and freedom from suffering in an age of uncertainty.