The proposal of Ancient Greek Cynics to global society: the universal virtue of temperance

Abstract

The cult of pleasure is a conspicuous illness of our modern global consumer society. Yet the remedy proposed by Ancient Greek Cynics, i.e. radical temperance, would not suit us nowadays. The qualities of contemporary world (considerably greater number of needs, refined and deified consummation, evidently faster tempo of life etc.) would turn radical temperance into a too bitter and too tough a pill for the unduly squeamish stomach of the modern person. Nowadays another type of temperance is required to mitigate the eternal malaise of civilization. It is a mild temperance, which could be defined as the sense of proportion in everything leading not to the ultimate constraint of human needs but just to a reduction of consumption. Nonetheless, askesis of Ancient Greek Cynicism, deprived of its radical dimension, could become one of the possible means to achieve mild temperance.