Artful Immorality – Variants of Cynicism

‘Cynicism’ seems to be a viral word. Far from losing its function due to excessive use, it appears to be applied to almost anything deemed problematic – morally, societally, politically, culturally. This study aims at rendering scholarly expedient a term apparently innocent of any precise meaning, by providing precise descriptions of the cynical statement and the cynical stance in Machiavelli, Gracián, Diderot and Nietzsche.