Cyrenaic
Ἀρίστιππος
c. 435 – c. 356 BCE · Cyrene, North Africa
A companion of Socrates who, according to Diogenes Laertius, was the first Socratic to charge fees. Ancient anecdotes portray him as at ease in luxury and hardship alike. The systematic Cyrenaic doctrine may owe much to his grandson, Aristippus the Younger, so attributing particular teachings to him is uncertain.
Aristippus could adapt himself to any place, time and person, and play his part well in every circumstance.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives, II.66
Paraphrase and reference awaiting verification against the source.
Anecdotal portrait from a late source.
Of his relationship with the courtesan Lais, Aristippus reportedly said: I possess, but I am not possessed. The best thing, he held, is not to abstain from pleasure but to master it rather than be mastered.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives, II.75
Paraphrase and reference awaiting verification against the source.
Anecdote from a late source.
Diogenes, washing vegetables, called out that if Aristippus had learned to live on these he would not need to court tyrants. Aristippus replied: if you knew how to keep company with people, you would not be washing vegetables.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives, II.68 (cf. VI.58)
Paraphrase and reference awaiting verification against the source.
A reported exchange between rival ways of life; late source.
Asked what he had gained from philosophy, Aristippus said: the ability to feel at ease in any company.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives, II.68
Paraphrase and reference awaiting verification against the source.
Anecdote from a late source.
The Cyrenaics, Diogenes Laertius reports, held that the goal is particular pleasure, and that happiness, the sum of particular pleasures including past and future ones, is chosen not for itself but for those pleasures.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives, II.87–88
Paraphrase and reference awaiting verification against the source.
A report on the Cyrenaic school; may reflect later Cyrenaics more than Aristippus himself.
The Cyrenaics denied that the mere removal of pain is pleasure, comparing absence of pain to the condition of someone asleep.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives, II.89 (cf. X.136)
Paraphrase and reference awaiting verification against the source.
A point on which they explicitly differed from the Epicureans.
The Cyrenaics held that bodily pleasures are greater than mental ones, and that pleasure is good even if it comes from unseemly sources, though the act may be.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives, II.88, II.90
Paraphrase and reference awaiting verification against the source.
A report on the school; check the exact claims against the text.
Cyrenaic (4th–3rd c. BCE). Followers of Aristippus held that the goal is the pleasure of the present moment, not happiness understood as the condition of a whole life; they also denied that mere absence of pain is pleasure, unlike the Epicureans.