La question du modèle animal chez les cyniques
This study tries to make a connection between the numerous positives references to animals in the cynic corpus and a certain conception of the philosophical activity as suggested by the Cynics and more precisely embodied by Diogenes of Sinope. As shown in the first section, the concept of the animal is practically absent in the classic Greek philosophy. It can only appear in a moral context which tries to establish the ethics and norms of human acts and in this context, positives reference to animals are rare. The Cynic’s position-- exhorting their fellow citizens to mimic animals as a means to acquiring virtue-- is in this regard exceptionally unusual. How do we interpret this radical change of  perspective in which man seems to no longer occupy the intermediate position between gods and animals ?  Following the theses of Thierry Gonthier, Olimar Florès-Junior and Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé, the second section leads us on the path of the rhethoric of exhortation that is, an essential element of the Cynic’s practice. What actions the Cynic’s exhort their fellow citizens to ?  And how the figure of the animal is able to exemplifies it?  The third section discusses the cynic’s ideal of wisdom and their emblematic figure, the dog. We will finally demonstrate with the help of studies by Jean-Marie Meilland, D. Deleule et Peter Sloterdijk that the valorisation of the animal in the Cynic’s perspective must not be understood as a vile regression to animality but as a legitimate activity in and of itself.
Cynism Animality Virtu