La souris, ennemie de l’homme et modèle du cynique

Abstract

This article analyses the figure of mouse in cynical sources. In the first part, I show that parasitism is the main characteristic of this traditionally despised animal. In the second part, my analysis focuses on some passages taken from cynical literature, where the mouse has both a negative or a positive connotation. Finally, I develop some reflections on the trinomial mouse-parasite-cynical philosopher regarding the concepts of reciprocity and self-irony.

Keywords

• mice
• Cynicism
• Diogenes
• parasite
• self-irony