Vite da cani. Utopie e distopie ciniche in Luciano di Samosata

Camerotto, Alberto

doi:10.19272/201806402007

The aim of this paper is to investigate, in Lucian's satire, the utopian and dystopian elements of cynical philosophy. Cynics do not arrive at the concrete realization of a project of utopia, of an imagined state of things in which everything is perfect. Its happiness is in the revelation of errors and deceptions, in the demonstrative subversion of cognitive as well as social conventions. The cynical philosopher proposes himself as a concrete paradigm of a utopian experimentation, or rather of a utopian way of life.

The aim of this paper is to investigate, in Lucian’s satire, the utopian and dystopian elements of cynical philosophy. Cynics do not arrive at the concrete realization of a project of utopia, of an imagined state of things in which everything is perfect. Its happiness is in the revelation of errors and deceptions, in the demonstrative subversion of cognitive as well as social conventions. The cynical philosopher proposes himself as a concrete paradigm of a utopian experimentation, or rather of a utopian way of life.