Life and Context
Aristippus was born in Cyrene of Northern Africa. He lived from about 435 to 356 B.C.E. At some time during his life, he migrated to Athens for the Olympic games and later studied Philosophy.
Most intellectuals speculate that he was a disciple of Socrates. Like other intellectuals of his era, his doctrine emphasizes ethics, especially on the purpose of life. For Aristippus of Cyrene, humans ought to seek pleasure as the fundamental human end, or telos.
Sources
We ascertain a lot about Aristippus in The Lives of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius. Additional sources include Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Rhetoric, Plato’s Phaedo and Memorabilia, and Horace’s Epistles.
Aristippus’ grandson, bearing the same name, taught some years later. In several cases, one may have a hard time in deciphering between the grandfather’s and grandson’s works.
Basic Philosophy
As noted above, Aristippus’ philosophy mainly highlights ethical ends, as in, “What is the fundamental purpose of human life?†To Aristippus, pleasure was the fundamental goal of human life.
Since pleasure is a linchpin to his thought, scholars tag his work as “hedonism.†The scholar contended that each and every human ought to act in the present in order to attain pleasure, so as not to make faults, cause distress, or otherwise unsettle anything that might thwart one’s quest for pleasure sometime down the road.
Moreover, Aristippus maintained an ill-famed reputation for sensual activity and additional revelry. While many condemned his tenacious desire for pleasure, he once said, “it is not abstinence from pleasures that is best, but mastery over them without ever being worsted.â€
He believed this so far as to ignore almost every societal convention held in his era. He contended that while the usual cause to obtain pleasure was dependent on something else, as in a guy's reaction to a seductive lady, making a clear-minded, conscientious decision to chase please from the beginning achieved oneself an ethical freedom.
Influence
Most intellectuals describe Aristippus as the conceiver of the Cyreanic school of Philosophy. They eventually established in more significant detail a philosophy oriented towards ends of pleasure. Aristippus and his disciples' work had great effect on following skeptics, including Epicurus.
Aristippus was born in Cyrene of Northern Africa. He lived from about 435 to 356 B.C.E. At some time during his life, he migrated to Athens for the Olympic games and later studied Philosophy.
Most intellectuals speculate that he was a disciple of Socrates. Like other intellectuals of his era, his doctrine emphasizes ethics, especially on the purpose of life. For Aristippus of Cyrene, humans ought to seek pleasure as the fundamental human end, or telos.
Sources
We ascertain a lot about Aristippus in The Lives of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius. Additional sources include Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Rhetoric, Plato’s Phaedo and Memorabilia, and Horace’s Epistles.
Aristippus’ grandson, bearing the same name, taught some years later. In several cases, one may have a hard time in deciphering between the grandfather’s and grandson’s works.
Basic Philosophy
As noted above, Aristippus’ philosophy mainly highlights ethical ends, as in, “What is the fundamental purpose of human life?†To Aristippus, pleasure was the fundamental goal of human life.
Since pleasure is a linchpin to his thought, scholars tag his work as “hedonism.†The scholar contended that each and every human ought to act in the present in order to attain pleasure, so as not to make faults, cause distress, or otherwise unsettle anything that might thwart one’s quest for pleasure sometime down the road.
Moreover, Aristippus maintained an ill-famed reputation for sensual activity and additional revelry. While many condemned his tenacious desire for pleasure, he once said, “it is not abstinence from pleasures that is best, but mastery over them without ever being worsted.â€
He believed this so far as to ignore almost every societal convention held in his era. He contended that while the usual cause to obtain pleasure was dependent on something else, as in a guy's reaction to a seductive lady, making a clear-minded, conscientious decision to chase please from the beginning achieved oneself an ethical freedom.
Influence
Most intellectuals describe Aristippus as the conceiver of the Cyreanic school of Philosophy. They eventually established in more significant detail a philosophy oriented towards ends of pleasure. Aristippus and his disciples' work had great effect on following skeptics, including Epicurus.
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