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The Allure of Cynical Philosophers
Three Pied Pipers of doom and gloom
Trigger Warning! Sacred cows are toppled in this article.
This is a breed of philosophers who, when reading their works, I understand what they are saying, but I see no point in what they are saying. I’ve become convinced that the intention of this breed of philosophers is not to make a point, but merely to fling rhetorical mud.
In that, this breed is not really made up of philosophers because they aren’t searching for truths or trying to build a better life. They trade instead in snark and gloom. They are professional cynics. Merriam-Webster defines a cynic as ”a faultfinding captious critic.” These trendy cynics are selling the message that life is dreadful, society is horrible, everyone is stupid, we’re all doomed. Just don’t ask them for any solutions; they are only there to complain about problems and blame everyone else for them.
And yet, there is something in the human psyche that gravitates toward gloom, doom, and eternal cynicism. If you can bundle cynical fatalism into an attractive package, you can make money off it. Just look at Ryan Holiday, though he at least tries to polish the turd of stoic fatalism. Not so for the cynical philosophers, or more accurately, pseudo-philosophers, for whom trying to…
