Organizational Cynicism

虞聰 周翔

【Abstract】：This passage is focused on Organizational cynicism， one parts of cynicism， which exists commonly in modern society， but never attracted much attention， not to mention managing to solve it. Though it has been neglected for so many years， it still makes sense to learn about Organizational Cynicism.

【Keywords】： Cynicism， Organizational Cynicism

Induction：

Cynicism pervasively exists in our life， and it has been part of the zeitgeist of the time. Cynicism was born in BC four to five century， under the influence of Grecian cynicism philosophy. There are some differences in the eyes of the cynics at that time between nowadays. The cynics were unsatisfied with the social current situation and always were sarcastic to， for example， when people performed over desire to material possessions， or higher power. But today， the cynics have studied into various fields， such as psychology， politics， sociology， and organization behavior science.

The development of cynicism：

Cynicism has its root in ancient Greek. Having gone through the historical evolution during more than two thousand year， its connotations had also developed and changed a lot during the period.

At first， cynicism， a member of a sect of ancient Greek philosophers， believed virtue to be the only good and self-control to be the only means of achieving virtue. It is universally acknowledged that Antisthenes， the disciple of Socrates， was the representative of cynicism. But when talking about cynicism， Diogenes，an eccentric， known as the philosopher who lived in a cask and was named as “the philosopher in the cask” and cynic， is worth of being mentioned.

However， with the development of history， cynics of later time had lost the standards of their own ethical principles and they came to accept the secular ideas coming from the real world， and then turned into a kind of cynical， to some extent.

Main features of the cynicism：

Modern cynicism， a sort of self-preservation， was under the manifestation of skepticism to epistemology. It doubts whether the truth exists. People do not think highly of it and treat it with an disrespected attitude. In fact， it does understand what the truth means， but it gives up the pursuance of the truth in order to avoid the survival risk， trending to a show of obedience to “politic”and “material”. It is a rather thorough skepticism than a lost of the truth-seeking spirit.

From the authentic aspect， truth is the inevitable product of human beings in the process of survival. It transcended universality and reached a level of particularity， which， to human beings， is not only a civilization promote， but also offered an instruction to human existence and behaviors. Nevertheless， truth and ideology supports each other， which means truth provides ideology with validity while ideology offers rights of speech to truth.

For another thing， modern cynicism is more like a alienation existence， whose deeper foundation was the nihilism of axiology. Human value system can be divided into three parts， which include ultimate value， criteria value and utilitarian value. A sound value order should be the harmony of those three all. However， the nihilism of axiology takes irony attitude towards ultimate value and criteria value，which finally became a “whatever” life style.

The influence of the cynicism（China， as an example）：

Cynicism unavoidably exists in China， who has pursue modernization for a long time. Human beings heart is entangled with this illuminative false consciousness， who dominates not merely existence but also cultural concept of our daily life.

First of all， the collapse of historical teleology resulted in the shift of cultural concept from political consciousness to consumerist ideology， which forced people to choose a trifling and banal life style， modifying permanent with present， banishing elegance with mediocrity， replacing vigor with instinct. These all means that consumerist has been on the central position of elite cultural， instead of historical teleology.

In ordinary life， consumerist ideology rising seems to be logical， thus， people made up their mind to a individual， tabulated and mediocre existence which is exciting， cheerful， mad. But indeed， its spirit presented to be “no root” .

The public theories supporting our daily life， are collapsing. The lack in ethic resulted in the improper faces coming into being. And the “talk in one way and act in another” became the fundamental feature of cynicism today. It not only appears in public conversations but also become a common but unwritten rule in society while cheating， pretending or corrupting.

The more and more marketable life， utilitarian emotions and the loss of trust， forces people to consider public life as fake. Naturally， they face it with masks. Upon that， cynics make fun with the wake ideological criteria of value. They laugh at it， and sarcastic to it to show their resistances and dissatisfaction. As also， we can learn clearly that in the cynical society， people become round， mature at a very young age and disdained to dream， which show the normative crisis of the public life and urgency of ethic rebuilt.

Conclusion：

Generally speaking， once cynics are those who behave particularly，and they always are those have independent thinking and actions of principled person. They behave in their own ways， ignoring the evaluation and behavior standards from present world. On the other hand， they have their own ways to evaluate， and they are reliable， sentient and emotional. But today， cynics have lost the courage of surpassing constantly to indulge in present smooth and steady， given up the firm faith to satisfy a flash of happiness， and lower the loftiness to keep the mediocrity warm. As a result， whether it is for the “common” modern society or the “special” Chinese society， cynicism has its great harm. Therefore， how to conquer cynicism has become a significant theme of the times lying in front of us.

Word cited：

[1]劉宇，朱丹，論現代社會生存狀態的犬儒主義傾向，2014，5.

[2]孔明安，犬儒主義為什么是一種意識形態，2012，4.