The cynic enlightenment : Diogenes in the salon

Author(s)

• Shea, Louisa

Bibliographic Information

The cynic enlightenment : Diogenes in the salon

Louisa Shea

（Parallax : re-visions of culture and society）

Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010

Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This original study reveals the importance of ancient Cynicism in defining the Enlightenment and its legacy. Louisa Shea explores modernity's debt to Cynicism by examining the works of thinkers who turned to the ancient Cynics as a model for reinventing philosophy and dared to imagine an alliance between a socially engaged Enlightenment and the least respectable of early Greek philosophies. While Cynicism has always resided on the fringes of philosophy, Shea argues, it remained a vital touchstone for writers committed to social change and helped define the emerging figure of the public intellectual in the 18th century. Shea's study brings to light the rich legacy of ancient Cynicism in modern intellectual, philosophical, and literary life, both in the 18th-century works of Diderot, Rousseau, Wieland, and Sade, and in recent writings by Michel Foucault and Peter Sloterdijk. Featuring an important new perspective on both Enlightenment thought and its current scholarly reception, The Cynic Enlightenment will interest students and scholars of the Enlightenment and its intellectual legacy, 18th-century studies, literature, and philosophy.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments 1. Ancient Rascals: Diogenes of Sinope and the Cynic Tradition Part I: Eighteenth-Century Cynicisms 2. Taming Wild Dogs: The Polite Education of Monsieur Diogene 3. Menippus on the Loose, or Diderot's Twin Hounds 4. Diogenes' Lost Republic: From Philodemus to Wieland and Rousseau 5. Francais, encore un effort! Sade's Cynic Republic Part II: Theory Turns Cynical: Diogenes after the Frankfurt School 6. Cynicism and the Dialectic of Enlightenment 7. Mystic Carnival: Sloterdijk's Cynic Enlightenment 8. Cynicism as Critical Vanguard: Foucault's Last Lecture Course Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BB02598269
• ISBN:
  • 9780801893858
• LCCN: 2009011827
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Baltimore
• Pages/Volumes: xx, 262 p.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : B809.5
  • DC22 : 149
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Cynicism
  • LCSH : Diogenes, d. ca. 323 B.C
  • LCSH : Enlightenment
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA07305098