The Life of Antisthenes �Founder of the Cynics � c.4th Century B.C.E

Antisthenes was born the son of an Athenian father and a Thracian mother; therefore, he was not born with Athenian citizenship. Although Antisthenes was originally a pupil of the Sophist, Georgias, (from whence came his rhetorical practices) he later learnt under Socrates. It is from here that Anisthenes learnt the ideals of indifference to external circumstances and the art of enduring. These Socratic ideals that Antisthenes embraced led him to become the founder of the Cynic school.

Antisthenes held that virtue must be taught. A person who has virtue has need of nothing else, wether it be material luxuries or social status, and all things that are associated with this. The anarchistic notions of the Cynic �doctrines� come from the far more unradical beliefs of Antisthenes concerning law abidance and virtue, ��.that the wise man would regulate his conduct as a citizen, not according to the established laws of the state, but according to the laws of virtue.� (Diogenes Laertius, Book 6. Cynics)

Antisthenes performed his lectures at the gymnasium named Cynosarges, which was generally used by the middle and lower classes of Athens at the time. It is argued that the name of the gymnasium is where the name of this philosophy school was derived from.

According to Diogenes Laertius, Antisthenes was named Haplocyon (downright dog). This is another possible source from where the term Cynics originates from. Also according to Laertius, Antisthenes was the said to have been the first individual who doubled his cloak and carried a wallet and a stick. This was later to become the general attire of a practising Cynic.