“The Greek Political Animal: Diogenes as a Critic of Aristotle”

Location: Bowden Hall, Room 216
Date: August 27, 2011
Time: 4.15pm – 5.30pm

Abstract

In this paper, I want to compare the ways in which the Aristotelian model of man is called into question by the ancient Cynic Diogenes of Sinope. By analyzing the teleological underpinnings of Aristotelian political theory, I defend the claims that (1) Aristotelian thought rests upon a conformist notion of democratic life in which the possibility of individual freedom gets eclipsed under the force of the community, and (2) the cynic conception of man, which omits any metaphysical commitments, gives us valuable resources for rethinking the Aristotelian doctrine of the “political animal.”