Ansgar Allen - Cynicism (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge)

The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series

A complete list of the titles in this series appears at the back of this book.

Ansgar Allen

The MIT Press | Cambridge, Massachusetts | London, England

2020 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Allen, Ansgar, author.

Title: Cynicism / Ansgar Allen.

Description: Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 2020. | Series: The MIT Press

essential knowledge series | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019006326 | ISBN 9780262537889 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Cynicism.

Classification: LCC B809.5 .A45 2019 | DDC 183/.4dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019006326

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The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers accessible, concise, beautifully produced pocket-size books on topics of current interest. Written by leading thinkers, the books in this series deliver expert overviews of subjects that range from the cultural and the historical to the scientific and the technical.

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A cynic has a low view of humankind. To be cynical is to regard others with distrust. Contemptuous, if not mocking, of noncynical natures, the cynic views human sincerity and integrity with scorn, believing them to be a cover for self-interest. As a cultural disposition, cynicism foments distrust, derails progress, and reduces all higher things, all that is good about humankind, to the level of its own diminished outlook. It assumes that all human motives are basically selfish and denies the possibility of a better world.

There was once a very different form of cynicismCynicism with a capital C. Its most famous practitioner was the Cynic Diogenes, born around 412403 BCE. Diogenes was known for his low opinion of his ancient Greek contemporaries, but was committed to changing the conditions by which they lived. In this respect, his Cynicism was the opposite of our own jaded condition where mass cynicism encourages us to believe that any attempts to change the world are doomed to fail before they even begin. This book will compare ancient and modern forms of cynicism in order to better understand the latter. It will explore how each cynicism is the product of and holds a mirror to the society in which it appears. As it compares the two, it will also investigate how one turned into the other, offering a journey through the various intermediate forms that cynicism has taken over the last two and a half thousand years.

At first glance, the differences are indeed stark. As a loosely connected group of mendicant philosophers, the ancient Cynics were easy to identify by their characteristic dressthe famous staff and cloaktheir deliberate self-impoverishment, unrefined manners, lack of shame, perplexing behavior, and barking tone. These Cynics criticized the culture in which they found themselves by adopting a way of life designed to scandalize contemporaries, draw out their prejudices, and bear witness to the possibility of a completely different attitude to existence. By contrast, modern cynics are much harder to identify. No longer a philosophy practiced by a tiny minority of converts, cynicism has gone mainstream. We are all cynics now. The modern cynical attitude still casts a suspicious gaze on cultured refinements and rarefied customs, yet its scandalizing impulse functions at a lower key. Operating without

Both ancient and modern C/cynicisms can be understood as devianteach entails some kind of departure from accepted principles of public and individual conduct. These principles provide the framework within which C/cynic deviance is understood and furnish the rationale by which it is rejected or denounced. C/cynicism is always expressed in relation to some standard or other by which it is judged, and against which its hostility is measured. Both ancient and modern C/cynics cannot abide higher standardsthe former more fervently than the latterwhere all turgid talk, all pomposity is undercut, or pierced, so that (in Cynic terms) the inflated gut of the idealist can let out a little gas. C/cynics are not good people in any conventional sense. Or, in the modern case, and to be more precise, if one is a good person it is in spite of rather than because of ones cynicism. These commonalities between ancient and modern C/cynicisms should not be overdrawn, however. Though deviance provides a common theme, it is still construed differently in each context. Whereas ancient Cynicism was willfully abnormalif it was sick, it was deliberately sothe waywardness of modern cynicism is largely unwilled if not automated.

As an attitude, modern cynicism is deviant in the pathological sense of the word: it afflicts us. This cynicism ranges from the opportunistic and manipulative cynicism of the powerfulwho will do anything to secure greater influence and wealthright through to the abject cynicism of the oppressed and marginalized. The two are bound together, with the cynicism of the powerful giving endless cause to be cynical for those lacking influence, and with the cynicism of the latter leading to a state of indifference or paralysis before the crimes of the former. In these settings there may be good reason to be cynical, but this cynicism will get us nowhere, or so the argument goes. Only hope and concerted political action motivated by a commitment to higher or collective ideals will change things for the better. But still our cynicism returns. It is experienced as a condition we are reduced to in moments of frustration or despair. We excuse our cynicism today as if it were an involuntary outburst, something issuing from a darker part of ourselves that the greater self must resist succumbing to entirely: I hate to be cynical, but

We excuse our cynicism today as if it were an involuntary outburst, something issuing from a darker part of ourselves that the greater self must resist succumbing to entirely: I hate to be cynical, but

Given all of the above, it is expected that we all have our cynical moments. Widespread, almost inevitable if not endemic, the tendency to cynicism in present-day society is understood by some to be as much a feature of political crisisthe rise of post-truth and the alt-right, the weakening of liberal democracy and progressive politics in the face of populism, the failure of international organizations to respond adequately to global challenges such as climate changeas it is a political or personal choice. One might understand modern cynicism as just one indicator of a broader cultural malaise. It manifests as contemporary polities veer between violent extremism and collective apathy. This cynicism is both a sign and a symptom, perhaps even a cause of dark times. In such contexts, individuals are rarely directly imperiled by their cynical attitudes; rather, the pervasive nature of their cynicism places us all in danger.