Whoever adopted the Epicurean or Stoic way of life and put it into practice would be considered a philosopher, even if he or she did not develop a philosophical discourse, either written or oral.
In a sense, Cynicism was also a popular, missionary philosophy. From the time of Diogenes, the Cynics had been ardent propagandists who addressed themselves to all social classes. They preached by example, denouncing social conventions and urging a return to a simple life in conformity with nature.
There is still no consensus as to whether Antisthenes, a disciple of Socrates, was the founder of the Cynic movement. It is agreed, at any rate, that his disciple Diogenes was the leading figure in this movement, which, although it never took on an institutional character, remained alive until the end of antiquity.
The Cynic way of life was spectacularly opposed not only to the life of non-philosophers but even to the lives of other philosophers. Other philosophers differentiated themselves from their fellow citizens only within certain limits; the Aristotelians, for instance, devoted their lives to scientific research, while the Epicureans led a simple, retiring life. The Cynics’ break with the world, by contrast, was radical. They rejected what most people considered the elementary rules and indispensable conditions for life in society: cleanliness, pleasant appearance, and courtesy.
They practiced deliberate shamelessness – masturbating in public, like Diogenes, or making love in public, like Crates and Hipparchia. The Cynics were absolutely unconcerned with social proprieties and opinion; they despised money, did not hesitate to beg, and avoided seeking stable positions within the city.
They were “with¬ out a city, without a home, without a country, miserable, wandering, living from day to day: ‘Their bags contained only what was strictly necessary for survival. They did not fear the powerful, and always expressed themselves with provocative freedom of speech [parrhesia].
Throughout antiquity, moreover, Cynicism was generally considered a philosophy; but it was a philosophy in which philosophical discourse was reduced to a minimum. Take, for instance, the fo l¬ lowing symbolic anecdote: when someone declared that movement did not exist, Diogenes simply got up and began to walk.
Cynic philosophy was exclusively a choice of life: it was the choice of freedom-complete independence (autarkeia) from useless needs-and the refusal of luxury and vanity (tuphos).
There are many typically Cynic philosophical concepts, but they are not used in logical argumentation. Instead, they serve to designate concrete attitudes which correspond to the choice of life: ask e sis, ataraxia (lack of worry), autarkeia (independence), effort, adaptation to circumstances, impassiveness, simplicity or the absence of vanity (atuphia), lack of modesty.
The Cynic chose his way of life because he believed that the state of nature (phusis), as seen in the behavior of animals or children, was superior to the conventions ( nomos) of civilization. Diogenes threw away his bowl and his cup when he saw children do without such utensils, and he drew comfort regarding his way of life when he saw a mouse eat a few crumbs in the dark.
The opposition between nature and culture was the object of long theoretical discussions in the Sophistic period; for the Cynics, however, what was at stake was not speculation but a decision which engaged the whole of life. Thus, their philosophy was entirely exercise (askesis) and effort. The artifices, conventions, and commodities of civilization, luxury and vanity-all soften the body and mind.
For this reason, the Cynic way of life consisted in an almost athletic, yet reasoned training to endure hunger, thirst, and foul weather, so that the individual could acquire freedom, independence, inner strength, relief from worry, and a peace of mind which would be able to adapt itself to all circumstances.
Plato is supposed to have said of Diogenes that he was “Socrates gone mad.”
Whether or not this is true, it gives us cause for reflection. In a sense, Socrates was the precursor of the Cynics. The comic poets also mocked Socrates’ external appearance-his bare feet and old cloak. If, as we have seen, the figure of Socrates is conflated in the Symposium with that of Eros the beggar, wasn’t Diogenes, that homeless wanderer with his poor traveling bag, a second Socrates, heroic figure of the unclassifiable philosopher and a stranger to the world?
Like Socrates, Diogenes thought he had been entrusted with the mission of making people reflect, and of denouncing their vices and errors with his caustic attacks and his way of life. His care for himself was, indissolubly, care for others.
And although Socratic care of the self, by making people attain inner freedom, dissolved the illusions of the appearances and phantoms linked to social conventions, it nevertheless retained a kind of smiling urbanity, which disappeared with Diogenes and the Cynics.
Source: What is Ancient Philosophy?