This article is mainly about the current understanding of the word cynicism. For information about the ancient Greek school of philosophy, see Cynic. For information about the band, see Cynic (band).

Cynicism (Greek κυνισμός) was originally the philosophy of a group of ancient Greeks called the Cynics, founded by Antisthenes.

Presently the word generally describes the opinions of individuals who maintain that only self-interest motivates human behavior, and who are disinclined to rely on sincerity, human virtue, or altruism. The word is typically used pejoratively.

Modern Cynicism

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A modern cynic typically has a highly contemptuous attitude towards social norms, especially those which serve more of a ritualistic purpose than a practical one, and will tend to dismiss a substantial proportion of popular beliefs, conventional morality and accepted wisdom as irrelevant or obsolete nonsense. Many cynics do not like the way the world really is, however, and wish it could be changed. They want to see the world for how it is rather than delude themselves.

Despite the negative portrayal of cynics, some would argue that such people simply “refuse to look through rose-colored glasses” and do not fear to demolish popular beliefs no matter how sacred society considers such alleged misconceptions. Cynics themselves tend to take this view, regarding themselves as enlightened free thinkers, and their critics as deluded social pretenders who “bury their heads in the sand.” However, an excess of cynicism in an individual can cause social or psychological difficulties when cynics see themselves as depersonalized and self-serving inhabitants of a meaningless, factious, and shallow world.

In modern Greek slang, the term that describes a cynical attitude towards life and relation to state and society, is Starhidismos.

Popularity of Cynicism in the Modern Era

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The present era is sometimes described as an Age of Cynicism. Subscribers to this view believe that cynicism is the only valid defence and say that as the Information age continues, the repeated exposés of malfeasance by politicians, businessmen, corporations and some organized religions justifies the adoption of cynicism (and the related philosophy of skepticism) as a primary reference. Journalistic articles frequently employ a cynical viewpoint, and no mass-market newspaper or magazine advocates an alternative viewpoint such as Stoicism or hedonism.

Opponents of the cynical viewpoint say that cynicism is bad for the soul and that being too cynical leads to an unhappy life. Opponents say that it will always be possible to find wrong-doing and that the media's focus on wrong-doing gives the impression that mankind as a whole is morally corrupt, but that this is more an effect of aggregating reports of wrong-doing rather than a true reflection of reality.

A modern development of cynicism arises from the observation that as people age and gain experience they tend to adopt opinions of their parents that they may have rejected when younger. Sometimes called Batwainism (Born-again-Twainism), reference is presumably a joke being mis-represented as fact, or an experiment in testing gullibility on the Net. In the unlikely event of it being true, a citation is needed. The inclusion of pseudo-information is widespread on Wikipedia and users are cautioned not to place reliance on Wikipedia as a sole source it takes its name from the remark attributed to Mark Twain that when he was a young teenager, he first began to realize the extent of his father's ignorance, but that by the time that he was twenty-one he was astonished by how much his father had learned in such a short time. It promotes the value of knowledge and asserts that Western civilisation, as it moves into the 21st century, has become obsessed with trivial, transient, ephemera and dangerously short-term in outlook. A central tenet of the doctrine is that at its present stage of development, mankind, far from being an advanced and highly intelligent species of life, represents either a relatively primitive or highly unsuccessful species. Batwainans observe that if mankind remains in existence for 100 million years or more, our present society, the culmination of only 6 million years of development, will probably be grouped with that of our primitive ancestors when viewed historically from 100 million years or more into the distant future. However, if mankind were to disappear within the next century or so due to self-induced or unavoidable disasters such as diseases, famines, or nuclear or ecological holocausts, as is regularly promulgated, mankind will have been very unsuccessful when compared to dinosaurs, trilobites and many other species that remained in existence for hundreds of millions of years.

See also

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• Machiavellianism
• Philosophical skepticism
• Stoicism
• Skepticism
• Zamanfou
• Hedonism

External link

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• Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Cynicism

Ethics | Psychological attitude

Cynismus | Zynismus | Escuela cínica | Cynisme | Cinismo | ציניות | Cinismo | Цинизм