Video: Inger Kuin on Diogenes "the dog"

Episode 24 of Ars Vivendi: Conversations on the art of living

Welcome to another episode of Ars Vivendi, our occasional series of video conversations on the art of living where I talk to authors who have written about philosophy as a way of life.

This installment features Inger N.I. Kuin, author of Diogenes-The rebellious life and revolutionary philosophy of the original Cynic. Inger is a researcher, writer, and teacher focused on the intellectual history of ancient Greece and Rome. She is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Virginia. Originally from The Netherlands, she splits her time between Charlottesville (VA) and Rotterdam, and publishes both in English and in Dutch.

In his own day, the ancient philosopher Diogenes the Cynic had a reputation for eccentricity, heckling his fellow philosophers in the marketplace, living in a clay pot, and relieving himself in public. Since his death in 323 BCE, devoted followers made him and his ideas famous the world over. But what we think we know about Diogenes remains distorted and sanitized.

In Diogenes, Inger scours all existing evidence of Diogenes and his followers to offer an in-depth account of Diogenes’ life and thought, revealing a man whose innovative ideas about power, death, nature, and the body have much to teach the contemporary world. He pioneered a vision of simplicity and autonomy in his day-to-day life, stressing the importance of living in the here and now, and of always thinking for oneself. Diogenes stands apart as history’s first recorded critic of slavery and a proud exile from polite society whose challenging thought proved foundational for the Stoics and their successors.

The book rehabilitates Diogenes as a compelling thinker for the twenty-first century, one who demands that we look at our society with fresh eyes and be unafraid of change-starting with ourselves.

Here is my conversation with Inger: