Vol. 6 No. 1 (2025): Limiares destituintes: política, direito, teologia e linguagem (jan/jun 2025)
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“No Exceptions”: cynical solidarity in the face of the Uncontrollable and the Unconscionable

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  • John McGuire
John McGuire
University College Dublin

Published 2025-03-25

Keywords

  • Cynicism,
  • Diogenes of Sinope,
  • Political Rhetoric,
  • Social Movements (BLM and Palestine),
  • Donald Trump

Copyright (c) 2025 John McGuire

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

MCGUIRE, John. “No Exceptions”: cynical solidarity in the face of the Uncontrollable and the Unconscionable. (Des)troços: revista de pensamento radical, Belo Horizonte, v. 6, n. 1, p. e55967, 2025. DOI: 10.53981/destrocos.v6i1.55967. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/revistadestrocos/article/view/55967. Acesso em: 25 dec. 2025.
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Abstract

Conventional analyses of cynicism tend to portray the phenomenon as a depoliticising, morally corrosive pathology. Against this view—and against the assumption that modern cynicism abandons the ethical integrity of ancient Cynics—I defend cynicism as an indispensable and revitalising mode of political consciousness encompassing: (1) a distinct mode of  solidarity fostered and maintained among those who feel alienated or excluded from conventional political processes; (2) a rhetorical strategy (‘invidious ascription’) deploying biting humour and derisive analogy to undermine vacuous ideals and oppressive consensus; (3) a ethical-existential commitment to prepare for radical uncertainty. Understanding cynicism as a set of political techniques (rather than a persona or moral posture) encourages a reassessment of its supposed parasitism and contamination of otherwise healthy democracies. Cynicism is never itself the instigator of political corruption or moral turpitude, but it might be seen as a catalyst for the ruination/rebuilding of corrupted political contexts. This is cynicism’s danger, as well as the source of its creative potential.

 

 

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