Mauro Bonazzi – A Plato gone mad: Diogenes and his intellectual context – Septembre 24, 2026

Abstract:
One important ancient debate concerning Cynicism was whether it could properly be regarded as a philosophical school or not. In this debate, the Cynics’ relationship with other philosophers also played a significant role, the most prominent case being that of Socrates and the Socratic tradition (that is, Antisthenes). Yet Plato was no less important. Several testimonies and anecdotes bring Diogenes into direct confrontation with Plato, and, as I shall argue through an analysis of some particularly revealing texts, this is far from insignificant. The reason is relatively straightforward. When discussing ancient philosophy, we must bear in mind that the very concept of philosophy was, to a considerable extent, a recent Platonic invention and the subject of heated controversy throughout the fourth century BCE. By participating in these debates, Diogenes could present himself as a practitioner of this new intellectual discipline. More importantly, at a time when philosophy had not yet been clearly or rigidly defined, he could defend his own conception of what philosophy should – and should not – be. It is difficult to determine how historically reliable the testimonies and anecdotes concerning Plato and Diogenes are. Nevertheless, the Cynic strategy of engaging polemically with the leading philosopher of the age is readily intelligible if its purpose was to establish Cynicism as a genuine – and particularly compelling – form of philosophy.

Bio:
Mauro Bonazzi is Professor of History of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Bologna. His research focuses primarily on Plato and Platonism, ancient political thought, and the Sophists, with broader interests in the reception of ancient philosophy. He has published extensively on Plato and the Platonic tradition, as well as books aimed at a wider readership. His most recent publications include Processo a Socrate (Carocci 2021), The Sophists(Cambridge University Press 2021), Platonism: A Concise History from the Early Academy to Late Antiquity (Cambridge University Press 2023), and Il demone della nostalgia. L’invenzione della Grecia da Nietzsche a Arendt(Einaudi 2025). He is also a regular contributor to “Corriere della Sera” and “La Lettura”.