Sublime

Few credible thinkers rival Carneades in their rigorous skepticism (a class that would include the medieval Arab philosopher al-Ghaz al i, Hume, and Kant—but only Popper came to elevate his skepticism to an all-encompassing scientific methodology).

DIOGENES The philosopher Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king. Said Aristippus, “If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils” Said Diogenes, “Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to cultivate the

The easiest thing of all: to live in accordance with his own nature. It is our shared insanity that makes this difficult: we push one another into faults. And how can we be recalled to health, when all people drive us forward and no one holds us back?

He is a great man who uses earthenware dishes as if they were silver; but he is equally great who uses silver as if it were earthenware. It is the sign of an unstable mind not to be able to endure riches.

as Marcus Aurelius puts it, “Like the vine that produces its grapes, seeking nothing more once it has given forth its fruit…so the good man having done one deed well, does not shout it about, but turns to the next good deed, just like the vine turns to bear forth its fruit in due season.”

Bernard Mandeville, contemporain de Smith, indique que si nous étions tous des ascètes comme Diogène, la société capitaliste s’effondrerait48. Pour prospérer, le capitalisme a besoin de notre vanité, de notre faiblesse, de notre angoisse et de notre désespoir. Diogène refuse de participer à cette course de rats. À l’opposé, il adopte une vie de

Plato, Epicurus, Zeno, and the famous Cynic philosophers all suffered accusations of failing to practice what they preached (18.1–19.3).

Epictetus was born in Hierapolis (present-day Pamukkale in Turkey) around the year 55 CE. Epictetus was not his real name, which is lost to us: the word simply means “acquired,” reflecting the fact that he was a slave.

Cicero’s catalogue of Stoic paradoxes (with one we add for good measure).