According to Freud, love and work are all that are required in order to have a fulfilling life. “Love and work... work and love, that's all there is”. They are “the cornerstones of our
humanness”. It follows from this that if you have neither work nor love, then you have no life.One can understand what Freud was getting at. Many of us have, at some stage in our lives, had neither love nor work, and few of us would deny that these were challenging, if not excruciatingly difficult, periods.
On the other hand, if you have love but no work, or work but no love, then you may just about get by. And if you are lucky enough to have both, then you are, as they say, well set up.
What about the Ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic? He was a different kettle of fish altogether. His basic philosophy was: if you want nothing, then you have everything you want. He was the first Bohemian, the original hippie, the quintessential drop out. He lived in a tub, and went around with a bowl (see picture above). He believed that one should live a dog’s life.
So what was Diogenes’s attitude to work and love?
Well, he never did anything much. In one famous anecdote Alexander the Great was returning to Greece after conquering Asia. Alexander saw a little crumpled, dishevelled heap on the side of the road. It was none other than Diogenes the Cynic. Feeling generous, Alexander went up to the poor wretch, announced himself, and told Diogenes he would grant him whatever he wished. Diogenes said: ‘Actually, there is something you could do for me. Could you move slightly to the left, as you are blocking my view of the landscape’.
On another occasion Diogenes was found masturbating furiously in the village square, in full view of everyone. When someone went up to him and reprimanded him for his disgraceful behaviour, Diogenes replied: ‘If only I could make my stomach full just by rubbing it.’
Words to live by.
So that’s Diogenes the Cynic. He didn’t need work or love in order to lead a fulfilling life.
So fuck you Freud.
Been reading Luis Navia's very informative and beautifully written books on the Cynics lately. Antisthenes and Crates of Thebes were also great Cynics.
ReplyDeleteBut are there any contenders for a modernday Cynic philosopher?
Maybe Wittgenstein, who gave away his fortune... maybe Foucault, who admired Diogenes... maybe Ivan Illich who practiced extreme frugality and would rather die of facial cancer than go to a hospital... or maybe this homeless guy called Blanket Man who lives in my city (Wellington, New Zealand) and abuses people who try and give him money and thinks all land should belong to everyone.
Who says Diogenes didn't find work and love? He worked very hard at physically loving himself.
ReplyDeleteCould you please tell me where that Freud quote is from?
ReplyDeleteIn Civilization and Its Discontents (1930), Sigmund Freud wrote: "The communal life of human beings had, therefore, a two-fold foundation: the compulsion to work, which was created by external necessity, and the power of love." Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, trans. James Strachey (New York: Norton, 1961), 48. Erik H. Erikson apparently shortened this formulation into "Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness." Erikson, Childhood and Society (W. W. Norton, 1986), chap. 7.
ReplyDeleteSo the famous quote is actually from Erikson.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the closest Freud actually said to it was "The communal life of human beings had, therefore, a two-fold foundation: the compulsion to work, which was created by external necessity, and the power of love."
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information. One more question: Does Erikson cite Freud for the idea that "love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness" or does he present it as his own idea?
ReplyDelete