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- A school of Greek philosophy, founded in
- Athens about 400 BC by Antisthenes, a
- disciple of Socrates, who advocated a stern
- and simple morality and a complete disregard
- of pleasure and comfort. His followers, led
- by Diogenes (c. 340 BC), not only showed a
- contemptuous disregard for pleasure, but
- despised all human affection as a source of
- weakness. Their `snarling contempt' for
- ordinary people earned them the name of
- Cynic, which in Greek means `doglike'.
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