Pleasure is the only good in life and pain is the only evil. The Cyrenaics were hedonists and held that pleasure was the supreme good in life, especially physical pleasure, which they thought more intense and more desirable than mental pleasures. By the middle of the 3rd century BC, the Cyrenaic school was obsolete Epicureanism had successfully beaten its Cyrenaic rivals by offering a system which was more sophisticated. At the least, however, it can be said that the foundations of Cyrenaic philosophy were ideas originated by the elder Aristippus, refined by Arete, and then further refined by Aristippus the Younger.Īfter the time of the younger Aristippus, the school broke up into different factions, represented by Anniceris, Hegesias, and Theodorus, who all developed rival interpretations of Cyrenaic doctrines, many of which were responses to the new system of hedonistic philosophy laid down by Epicurus. It was he, according to Aristocles, who created a comprehensive system. Among Aristippus' pupils was his daughter, Arete of Cyrene, and among her pupils was her son Aristippus the Younger. However, Diogenes also wrote that Sosicrates had stated that Aristippus had written nothing. Diogenes Laërtius, based on the authority of Sotion and Panaetius, provided a long list of books said to have been written by Aristippus. It is uncertain precisely which doctrines ascribed to the Cyrenaic school were formulated by Aristippus. We have only limited knowledge of his movements after the execution of Socrates in 399 BCE, although he is said to have lived for a time in the court of Dionysius of Syracuse. He came to Athens as a young man and became a pupil of Socrates. The history of the Cyrenaic school begins with Aristippus of Cyrene, who was born around 435 BCE. History of the school Part of a series on

The school died out within a century and was replaced by the philosophy of Epicureanism.

They did, however, recognize the value of social obligation and that pleasure could be gained from altruistic behaviour.

Of these, momentary pleasures, especially physical ones, are stronger than those of anticipation or memory. The Cyrenaics taught that the only intrinsic good is pleasure, which meant not just the absence of pain (as it did for Epicurus), but positively enjoyable sensations. It was one of the earliest Socratic schools. The school was so called after Cyrene, the birthplace of Aristippus. The Cyrenaics or Kyrenaics ( Ancient Greek: Κυρηναϊκοί, romanized: Kyrēnaïkoí), were a sensual hedonist Greek school of philosophy founded in the 4th century BCE, supposedly by Aristippus of Cyrene, although many of the principles of the school are believed to have been formalized by his grandson of the same name, Aristippus the Younger.

Ancient Greek philosophical movement Aristippus of Cyrene

Define hedonism