A couple of weeks ago, I wrote here about Diogenes Laertius' work on the "lives and opinions" of the classical philosophers. I will continue that discussion now. In book six, our Diogenes gets around to someone else of the same name, Diogenes of Sinope [the cynic]. I am fascinated by the proximity of the following two sentences. A man once proved to him syllogistically that he had horns, so he put his hand to his forehead and said 'I do not see them.' And in a similar manner he applied to one who had been asserting that there is no such thing as motion, by getting up and walking away. This little passage confirms the point I made in the earlier post about Diogenes L's utter lack of creative impulse. No pausing to explain, no over-arching narrative. Just one damned thing after another. More important I have no idea who our Diogenes was mentioning in the first of those sentences, i.e. what argument Diogenes of Sinope had encountered. Was there any standar...