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Diogenes of Sinope: The Man in the Tub (Contributions in Philosophy)

By: Luis E. Navia
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Greenwood Press
ISBN: 0313306729
ISBN-13: 9780313306723
Released: 30 Sep 1998
RRP: £49.95
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Customer Reviews

An important philosophy for our time. - By: , 18 Feb 2001
I thoroughly recommend The Man in The Tub as essential reading for both scholars of cynicism & those who wish find out more about the Cynics & their philosophy. Scholarly in its approach, this book is yet compulsively readable. I was easily carried through the text which is generously peppered with fascinating anecdotes from the primary sources as well as Navia's own compelling interpretations. What better place to start an understanding of Cynicism than through its hero Diogenes.

In Chapter 4, Hegel's view that Cynicism contains little philosophy & no 'system' is demolished. Navia presents the reader with a very comprehensive & systematised account of what Cynicism's philosophy is, & yet achieves this without undermining Cynicism's integrity, for instance by not leaving a trail of 'truths' for some unscrupulous management theorist to claim as the latest quick fix to turn a failing company, school, or individual, into a dynamic overnight success. At the end of this chapter, Cynicism emerges with its anti-scientific credentials intact, but also with much greater clarity about what Diogenes' brand of Cynicism stands FOR as well as what it opposes. I deliberately choose the present tense here, because what Navia demonstrates in these pages, is that (unlike the ideas of say Freud or Marx, who as one writer put it 'were weighed down by the cultural baggage of their time'), Diogenes' philosophy is as fresh & relevant today as it was then. The reader should be left in no doubt that Cynicism represents a very powerful philosophy, even if he or she is not inclined to share it.

Throughout the book I was impressed by passages that sent me off contemplating contemporary issues & debates, but I also appreciated the detail & minutia that conjured up vivid portraits of life at the time ~ Diogenes life in particular. The appendix of Diogenes Laertius' (not to be confused with Navia's own hero) original writings about Diogenes the Cynic was very helpful in supporting Navia's own text. What Navia has achieved cleverly in this book, is to strike a balance between producing an authoritative text which reinforces the 'facts' available, while at the same time, acknowledging ~ even adding to ~ the myth-making that is essential for a real understanding of the Diogenes phenomenon.