ZARATUSTRA METACÍNICO

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to compare the foucaultian interpretation of
cynicism with the Nietzsche’s critique of culture and his project of transvaluation of
values. From an anecdote on Diogenes, the cynic, Foucault develops his hypotheses about
the true cynical life, starting from the imperative to change the value of the currency. In
this task, the relation that the author establishes between currency, values and norms is
crucial, since cynicism effectively assumes a certain position against conventions,
diametrically averse to social habits and customs. There would be in cynicism a
destructive impulse to conventions, and dominant cultural routes established for and by
the collectivity. Thus the cynical life would express a way of living, transfiguring
conventional values and lifestyles. I therefore believe there is a fertile closeness between
these conceptions and Nietzsche's philosophical positioning, his critique of culture, and
the affirmation of a revaluation of values.