CYNICISM

Cynicism

Cynicism is a school of ancient Greek philosophy as practiced by the Cynics . For the Cynics, the purpose of life was to live in virtue, in agreement with nature. As reasoning creatures, people could gain happiness by rigorous training and by living in a way which was natural for humans, rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, sex, and fame. Instead, they were to lead a simple life free from all possessions.

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cynicism

Noun

  1. a distrustful attitude
    David T Wolf: "Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows."
  2. an emotion of jaded negativity, or a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of other people. Cynicism can manifest itself by frustration, disillusionment and distrust in regard to organizations, authorities and other aspects of society, often due to previous bad experience. Cynics often view others as motivated solely by disguised self-interest.
  3. a skeptical, scornful or pessimistic comment or act


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: cynicism
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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