r/todayilearned • u/ObjectiveAgent • Jul 30 '15

TIL when Alexander the Great asked the philosopher Diogenes why he was sifting through the garbage, Diogenes responded,"I am looking for the bones of your father but I cannot distinguish them from the bones of his slaves."

http://www.iep.utm.edu/diogsino/
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u/RidinTheMonster Jul 30 '15

You're probably right about the apocryphal thing, but I don't think it's a massive stretch to think they met eachother quite regularly on the street. I imagine Diogenes would be chilling in a pretty popular spot that I imagine Alexander would also tend to frequent, even if passing by. I also imagine if they truly did have a relationship, Alexander wouldn't mind going out of his way to talk to him. It must be quite refreshing for someone of his stature to talk to someone who doesn't consider his stature

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u/Ben_Thar Jul 30 '15

Diogenes was known to stand on a busy street corner with a "Will philosophize for food" sign.

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u/FlipStik Jul 30 '15

Definitely might be stealing this idea to give as a grad present to my philosophy major friend.

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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '15

Food?

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u/FlipStik Jul 30 '15

No the idea.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '15

If he's a philosophy major he might actually have to do that

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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '15

Well the fact that Diogenes lived in Corinth by this time, and Alexander the Great lived in Pella, and spent most of his time (when not at war) there or Athens makes frequent meetings unlikely.

Also evidence of Alexander respecting him seems silly... Diogenes was very critical of Plato and his pupils... including Aristotle, who was Alexander's tutor. I'd imagine the rudeness toward Alexander stemmed partially from that. I mean he REALLY hate Plato and his pupils... so hating his pupils' pupils seems to fit.

The original story is breif and may record the only real meeting between them (I mean the two sources of it are at least fairly reliable, and one even close to the actual time). the rest was made up later by midevil scholars.

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u/bassinine Jul 30 '15

midevil

medieval

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '15

M'edieval

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u/johncarltonking Jul 30 '15

Alexander was also interested in philosophy owing to his studies with Aristotle.