Aristippus
435 BCE – 355 BCE · aged 80
Greek philosopher, founder of Cyrenaicism (c.435–c.356 BCE)
- Born
- 435 BCE · Cyrene
- Died
- 355 BCE · Cyrene
Life timeline
Their life from birth to death. On the timeline, world events of the time are shown faintly.
- 435 BCEBornBorn in Cyrene
- 355 BCEDiedDied in Cyrene
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Meanwhile in the world
Major world events during their lifetime (435 BCE – 355 BCE).
- 431 BCE – 404 BCEPeloponnesian War
Biography
Aristippus of Cyrene (Ancient Greek: Ἀρίστιππος ὁ Κυρηναῖος; c. 435 – c. 356 BCE) was a hedonistic Greek philosopher and the founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy. He was a pupil of Socrates, but adopted a different philosophical outlook, teaching that the goal of life was to seek pleasure by adapting circumstances to oneself and by maintaining proper control over both adversity and prosperity. His view that pleasure is the only good came to be called ethical hedonism. Due to the ideological and philosophical differences between Socrates and himself, Aristippus faced backlash from Socrates and many of his fellow pupils. With respect to his hedonistic beliefs, Aristippus's most famous phrase was, "I possess, I am not possessed." Despite having two sons, Aristippus identified his daughter Arete as the "intellectual heiress" of his work, resulting in the systematization of his work and the Cyrenaic school of philosophy, by Arete, and her son Aristippus the Younger, Aristippus's grandson, during the later years of his life and after his death.
There are indications that Aristippus was conflated with his grandson, Aristippus the Younger.
Text from the Wikipedia article Aristippus, CC BY-SA 4.0
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