Diogenes refused civilization’s demands through public theatrical negation

Evidence

Many people are familiar with “the man who lived in a tub,” scorning all material possessions except for a stick and a ragged cloak. Diogenes’s most notorious act was to roam through the city streets with a lantern, looking for an honest man; in paintings, he’s often shown with the lantern by his side, sulking inside a round terracotta tub while the life of the city goes on around him. There are also paintings of the time he dissed Alexander the Great, who had made it a point to visit this famous philosopher. Finding Diogenes lazing in the sun, Alexander expressed his admiration and asked if there was anything Diogenes needed. Diogenes replied, “Yes, stand out of my light.” — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 244

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Diogenes practiced philosophy as public performance rather than conversation — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 245; Diogenes refused by living within society, not by withdrawing from it — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 253; Diogenes’s ancient public acts anticipated twentieth-century performance art — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 249 (+1 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Diogenes practiced philosophy as public performance rather than conversation — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 245; Diogenes refused by living within society, not by withdrawing from it — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 253; Diogenes’s ancient public acts anticipated twentieth-century performance art — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 249 (+1 more)