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Plato once described the philosopher Diogenes of Sinope as ‘a Socrates gone mad!’ It’s a good comparison. Like Socrates, Diogenes gave the bird to respectable society. He undermined status and manners in the 4th century BCE with his bottomless reserve of shamelessness and irreverence, opting to live on the streets like a stray dog. But, of course, there was a method to his madness. In this short video by TED-Ed, the Irish philosopher William D Desmond explains how Diogenes lived an authentic and ascetic life in accordance with nature, and how in doing so he founded the philosophy of cynicism – an iconoclastic tradition that continues to illuminate and infuriate today.
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Spirituality
Trek alongside spiritual pilgrims on a treacherous journey across Pakistan
6 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
Photographs offer a colonialist window to the past – one that must be challenged
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Meaning and the good life
The world turns vivid, strange and philosophical for one plane crash survivor
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Art
Inside the unique creative space where ‘outsider’ artists find their form
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Gender
When aggression is viewed as brilliance, it hurts women in science, and science itself
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Religion
From God’s shoes to satellites in heaven – children weigh in on religion
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Stories and literature
Myths from Earth’s edge – what the Icelandic sagas reveal about Norse morality
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Technology and the self
Why we should worry less about ‘sentient’ AIs and more about what we’re teaching them
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Art
Why European artists shifted their focus from power to peasants in the 16th century
5 minutes