If we ever hear about Cynism at all, for example in the media or in philosophy classes in schools, then usually only Diogenes is mentioned. Or at least it is mentioned that Cynism was famous for about 1000 years and then disappeared from history.
The philosophy of cynicism has remained relevant to this day
Unlike most other philosophical schools, Cynicism and Stoa still have followers today. Many philosophers mention Diogenes only in passing, for example, but we cynics are quick to recognize our own kind. Others are so strongly influenced by cynicism that it must be obvious to anyone who has spent just a few hours studying cynicism. These include Jesus and Nietzsche. Then there are those who refer explicitly and intensively to cynicism. An example of this is Erasmus of Rotterdam.
Jesus
Here is a “phantom image”
commissioned by the BBC
Jesus was clearly a cynic. Many passages in the gospels prove this. And also show that his followers sometimes misunderstood him. The gospels, read through cynical glasses, sometimes let the wisdom of the Jewish itinerant preacher appear in a new light.
Erasmus von Rotterdam
Der berühmte katholische Theologe war ein Widersacher von Luther, der ihn allerdings dennoch schätzte.
Er veröffentlichte den ersten Bibeldruck in griechisch/lateinisch. Luther kritisierte zB vehement, dass Erasmus sich im Vorwort dieser doch heiligen Schrift ausdrücklich positiv auf zynische Philosophen berief.
Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche called himself the “last stoic”. But his whole work is that of a cynic. By the way, the “Antichrist” had only praising words also for the historical Jesus. If cynics today call the revaluation of all values this way, it goes back to Nietzsche. During the antiquity one called this virtue the devaluation of the valid coin. What was meant, however, was exactly what Nietzsche later called the revaluation of values.
I will write more interesting things about these three cynics later. Eramus of Rotterdam, for example, was by no means poor (except in his younger years). A representative of cynicism, therefore, who refutes the common view that cynics preach unconditional poverty.