What is cynicism: an inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest; a

general distrust of others' motives

A cynic may have a general lack of faith or hope in the human species or people
motivated by ambition, desire, greed, gratification, materialism, goals, and opinions that a
cynic perceives as vain, unobtainable, or ultimately meaningless and therefore deserving
of ridicule or admonishment.
Their primary interests are ethical, but they conceive of ethics more as a way of living
than as a doctrine in need of explication
Need the bare necessities for survival
Glass is half empty
This means rejecting all conventional desires for health, wealth, power and fame, and
living a life free from all possessions and property
Thus a Cynic has no property and rejects all conventional values of money, fame, power
and reputation.
cynic believes that people are selfish and always act out of self-interest
Primary Information:
With the idea of the cynicism, you never get your hopes up, but this works best for
everyday life because by not getting your hopes up you do not expect instant gratification
and anything good that occurs out of the ordinary is a welcomed surprise.
nothing good's going to come out of it. But doubt also often has a negative connotation.
In such cases, we use the two words interchangeably.
Cynicism has a purpose and an end result, but the views on it are that nothing that is good
ever comes from an event
Keeps you prepared for the unexpected
Helps with self confidence and accepting possible failures or hardships in life
Helps a person deal with disappointment; not as heartbroken, disappointed or shocked
because your hopes arent at an extreme
When things go good, it is unexpected
cynicism manifests itself as a general or specific attitude, characterized by frustration,
hopelessness, disillusionment and distrust in regard to economic or governmental
organizations, managers and/or other aspects of work.
A study[14] published in Neurology journal in 2014 found a link between "cynical distrust"
(defined as the belief that others are mainly motivated by selfish concerns) and dementia.
The survey included 622 people who were tested for dementia for a period of 8 years. In that
period, 46 people were diagnosed with dementia. "Once researchers adjusted for other
factors that could affect dementia risk, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and
smoking, people with high levels of cynical distrust were three times more likely to develop
dementia than people with low levels of cynicism. Of the 164 people with high levels of
cynicism, 14 people developed dementia, compared to nine of the 212 people with low levels
of cynicism."
 Makes sure you dont get your hopes up
Why it is most practical for everyday life: Overall, cynicism benefits ourselves, making our
way of life more focused on ourselves, ultimately making ourselves healthier because we are
able to address what will help us for the future. life is short eat dessert first :)
Counterargument (idealism, altruism):
idealism is the practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically.
"the idealism of youth". While idealists chase after something unrealistic, cynicists chase
after realistic goals to make themselves happier.
altruism is the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being
of others. Why focus on others happiness/health when you could focus on your own?
Utilitarianism: what about making sure you, yourself are healthy. You need to look to
yourself to make yourself happy, rather than making everyone else happy?
Utilitarianism has been criticized for only looking at the results of actions, not at the
desires or intentions which motivate them, which many people also consider important.
Thus, an action intended to cause harm but that inadvertently causes good results would
be judged equal to the result from an action done with good intentions.
Idealism- How does a person deal with disappointment if they arent able to reach their
idea of perfection? Will it morally destroy them? And then wont that make them cynical
if they cant achieve their idea of perfection?
Idealism- you are setting yourself up for failure
So if you are observing these action and acting upon it, isnt that in our self interest?
Thesis: Cynicism is most the valuable philosophy in everyday life because it encourages people
to not get their hopes up, but encourages the idea that if something good happens in a persons
life it is welcomed but not expected.
Subclaims:
Cynicism keeps us healthy and in check with ourselves and what benefits to us.

Cynicism-characterized by the Cynic way of life as a shortcut to virtue.... People that

live by this way of thinking often believe that their way of life is the best however, critics
believe that this is one of the most difficult ways to live by
Ethics
Virtue is a life lived in accord with nature; nature is the clearest indication of how to live
the good life, characterized by reason, self-sufficiency, and freedom.
Conventions are absurd and worthy of ridicule by the cynics
They privilege freedom, but not merely in a personal sense as a kind of negative liberty.
Instead, freedom is advocated in three related forms: eleutheria, freedom or liberty,
autarkeia, self-sufficiency, and parrhesia, freedom of speech or frankness
Reason rule over passion is found in the ethics of this ideal
Believe in free speech; we should be frank
What it truly means:
Distrusting or disparaging the motives of others; showing contempt for accepted
standards of honesty or morality by ones actions, especially by actions that exploit the
scruples of others; bitterly or sneeringly distrustful, contemptuous or pessimistic
You believe the worst in people; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity
You doubt something will happen
Typically pessimistic in regards to the capacity of human beings to make correct ethical
choice