“Sheer Doggedness or Love of Neighbor?

Motives for Self-Sufficiency in the Cynics and

Others”. Frederick E. Brenk. Illinois Classical Studies, Vol. 27/28 (2002-2003), pp. 77-96
p. 78:
“If we can exclude the remote possibility that Laertios’ Diogenes was speculating in nature/culture structuralism, his
immediate motive was adaptation and toughening up”
[Autarkeia, autosuficiencia. Independencia]
“Autarkeia pervaded virtually all aspects of Greek culture. Thus, it is difficult to define and not too sharply
distinguished from the quest for “the simple life”. Still, though similar to independence, autarkeia is not the same as
independence. One might, for example, be slavishly dependent upon one’s philosophical master (…) Moreover,
Diogenes was criticized for making himself dependent upon others.
“A primary consideration is that the “autarkist” not only embraces the simple life, but also wants all his desires to
conform to the concept of self-sufficiency.”
p.79:
“…through autarkeia the Greeks principally wanted independence.”
[Dos aspectos de la autarkeia]
1. “…the autarkist has or produces by himself everything necessary”; 2. “…he avoids acquiring what is not strictly
necessary”
“The ethical ideal was to resemble the divine, which needs nothing outside itself”
“The ethical Leitmotiv is contained in the portrayal of Sokrates in Xenophon’s Memorabilia” (1.6.10)
[Eros. Amor]
“Eros, for example, particularly when women were involved, was seen as a sickness or frailty to be avoided when
possible and minimized when unavoidable”
“the only kind of dependence the Greeks willingly accepted was due to inferiority to the gods”
[Libertad]
“…autarkeia as a means of achieving freedom, independence, and as essentially a form of individualism.”
p.80:
“…it was a curious contradiction, much talked about but little practiced.”
Demócrito: “Happiness (eudaimonia) resides not in flocks or gold; the soul is the dwelling place of
p.81:
(the) daimon.” The expression has been interpreted as a call for inner freedom, or freedom from needs. (…) Only in
the inner life of the soul, presumably without interest in vast possessions, i.e., autarkeia, is true happiness to be
found.”
“…in Politeia (republic) 372E-374A, autarkeia helps to suppress desires not in accordance with our nature.
p.83:
[Autarkeia en el Epicureismo y el Estoicismo]
“This pleasure, however, does not consist in endlessly partying and drinking heavily, but rather in freedom from pain
in body and disturbance in soul. Ultimately, then, Epikouros’ motive for autarkeia is pleasure, which he equates with
happiness, or-in its negative formulation-freedom from physical or mental pain.”
p.84:
“Zenon (Zeno) and other early Stoics may have deliberately avoided the formulation, since it appears already in
Antisthenes: the sage is self-sufficient, since he has (in his wisdom) the wealth of all men.”
p.89:
“In Xenophon’s portrait of Sokrates, we find the paradigm of self-sufficiency, “to need nothing is divine; to need the
least possible is the closest thing to divine perfection” (Memorabilia 1.6.10). Assimilation to the divine, then, is the
goal. Strictly speaking, neither independence nor individualism has anything to do with Sokrates’ assertion.”
Antístenes en el Banquete de Jenofonte 4.34-44, razones para la autarkeia.
p.90:
“In the story [Laercio], Diogenes is concentrating not on independence so much as on adaptation to his environment.”
A. A. Long: “Diogenes’ radical criticism of traditional attitudes stressed the individual human being and the well being
that a person might achieve through inner resources. Only through employing his rationality can a person establish a
firm basis for a happy and tranquil life. Long contrasts Diogenes’ position on slavery with the painful defense of it in
the first book of Aristotle’s Politics. Long also favorably contrasts Diogenes’ emphasis on ethical values, and his lack
of concern with social status or nationality, against Sokrates’ chauvinistic attitude toward Athens.