Recap - Lesson 10

After the quiz, we looked at the philosophical underpinnings of cynicism. What makes us cynical? In general, the answer has to do with having higher expectations for something than what reality entails or delivers. That's in line with Anisthenes' school - the Cynics - who believed virtue was the only good, its essence lying in self-control and independence. Following Anisthenes' disposition, the doctrine developed into a coarse opposition to social customs and opinions. Eventually, he drove away his followers, and the terms cynic and cynicism have had negative connotations ever since. Today, the cynic is characterized by a belief that human conduct is wholly motivated by self-interest, and the cynic always seems to expect the worst from his fellow humans, the baser manifestations of human conduct and motivation.

In class, we focused on cadet cynicism. For the sake of balance, here's an editorial written by a faculty member at another service academy whose experience has obviously fallen short of his expectations.