Antisthenes (c. 444–c. 366 BC)

Greek philosopher. He is sometimes regarded as the founder of the cynic school, but he also influenced Stoicism with his practical ethics. He believed that virtue could be taught and that virtue with physical exercise was the way to happiness.

Antisthenes was born in Athens. He studied under Gorgias the sophist and Socrates, at whose death he was present. He disapproved of all speculation, and so was opposed to Plato. Although not ascetic, he held that wealth and luxury were unimportant, as were established laws and conventions, birth, sex, and race. One of his pupils was Diogenes the Cynic.