According to Cynicism, people are reasoning animals, and the
purpose of life and the way to gain happiness is to achieve
virtue, in agreement with nature, following one's natural sense of reason by
living simply and shamelessly free from social constraints. The Cynics (
Ancient Greek: Κυνικοί,
Latin:
Cynici) rejected all conventional desires for wealth, power, pleasure,
glory,
social recognition,
conformity, and worldly possessions and even flouted such conventions openly and derisively in public.