Cyrenaics
Encyclopedia
The Cyrenaics were an ultra-hedonist Greek school of philosophy founded in the 4th century BC, 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
. The school was so called after Cyrene
, the birthplace of Aristippus. It was one of the earliest Socratic
schools. The Cyrenaics taught that the only intrinsic good is pleasure, which meant not just the absence of pain, but positively enjoyable sensations. Of these, momentary pleasures, especially physical ones, are stronger than those of anticipation or memory. They did, however, recognize the value of social obligation, and that pleasure could be gained from altruism. The school died out within a century, and was replaced by the philosophy of Epicureanism
.
as a young man and became a pupil of Socrates
. 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
. It is uncertain precisely which doctrines ascribed to the Cyrenaic school were formulated by Aristippus. Diogenes Laërtius
, on the authority of Sotion
and Panaetius
, provides a long list of books said to have been written by Aristippus, though he also says that Sosicrates
stated that he wrote nothing. Among his pupils was his daughter Arete
who passed on the teachings to her son Aristippus the Younger
, and it was he, according to Aristocles
, who turned the teachings of his grandfather into a comprehensive system, although it can at least be said that the foundations of Cyrenaic philosophy were laid down by the elder Aristippus.
After 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
.
The Cyrenaics were also known for their skeptical theory of knowledge. They thought that we can know with certainty our immediate sense-experiences (for instance, that I am having a sweet sensation now) but can know nothing about the nature of the objects that cause these sensations (for instance, that the honey is sweet). They also denied that we can have knowledge of what the experiences of other people are like.
Mathematics and physical science they held to be useless, because they had nothing to do with what was good or evil, and thus did not aid happiness. Logic, too, was neglected, being reduced to a basic doctrine concerning the criterion of truth. All knowledge is immediate sensation. These sensations are motions which are purely subjective, and are painful, indifferent or pleasant, according as they are violent, tranquil or gentle. Further they are entirely individual, and can in no way be described as constituting absolute objective knowledge. Feeling, therefore, is the only possible criterion of knowledge and of conduct. Our modes of being affected alone are knowable. Thus Cyrenaicism goes beyond the critical scepticism of the Sophists and deduces a single, universal aim for all people, namely pleasure. Furthermore, all feeling is momentary and homogeneous. It follows that past and future pleasure have no real existence for us, and that among present pleasures there is no distinction of kind. Socrates had spoken of the higher pleasures of the intellect; the Cyrenaics denied the validity of this distinction and said that bodily pleasures as being more simple and more intense are to be preferred. Momentary pleasure, preferably of a physical kind, is the only good for humans.
Yet the Cyrenaics believed that some actions which give immediate pleasure entail more than their equivalent of pain. The wise person should be in control of pleasures rather than be enslaved to them, otherwise pain will result, and this requires judgement to evaluate the different pleasures of life. They held that regard should be paid to law and custom, because even though these things have no intrinsic value on their own, violating them will lead to unpleasant penalties being imposed by others. Likewise, friendship and justice are useful because of the pleasure they provide. Thus the Cyrenaics also believed in the hedonistic value of social obligation and altruistic behaviour. Like many of the leading modern utilitarians, they combined with their psychological distrust of popular judgments of right and wrong, and their firm conviction that all such distinctions are based solely on law and convention, the equally unwavering principle that the wise person who would pursue pleasure logically must abstain from that which is usually denominated wrong or unjust. This idea, which occupies a prominent position in systems like those of Jeremy Bentham
, Volney
, and even William Paley
, was evidently of prime importance to the Cyrenaics.
The later Cyrenaics, Anniceris
, Hegesias
, and Theodorus
, all developed variations on the standard Cyrenaic doctrine. For Anniceris, pleasure is achieved through individual acts of gratification which are sought for the pleasure that they produce. However, Anniceris laid great emphasis on the love of family, country, friendship and gratitude, which provide pleasure even when they demand sacrifice. For Hegesias, happiness is impossible to achieve, and hence the goal of life becomes the avoidance of pain and sorrow. Conventional values such as wealth, poverty, freedom, and slavery are all indifferent and produce no more pleasure than pain. For Hegesias, Cyrenaic hedonism was simply the least irrational strategy for dealing with the pains of life. For Theodorus, the goal of life is mental pleasure not bodily gratifications, and he placed greater emphasis on the need for moderation and justice. He was also famous for being an atheist.
Diogenes, Laertius, (1925) Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Translated by Robert Drew Hicks. 2 vols. Vol. 1, The Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Aristippus the Younger
Aristippus the Younger, of Cyrene, was the grandson of Aristippus of Cyrene, and is widely believed to have formalized the principles of Cyrenaic philosophy.He lived in the second half of the 4th century BC...
. The school was so called after Cyrene
Cyrene, Libya
Cyrene was an ancient Greek colony and then a Roman city in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar...
, the birthplace of Aristippus. It was one of the earliest Socratic
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
schools. The Cyrenaics taught that the only intrinsic good is pleasure, which meant not just the absence of pain, but positively enjoyable sensations. Of these, momentary pleasures, especially physical ones, are stronger than those of anticipation or memory. They did, however, recognize the value of social obligation, and that pleasure could be gained from altruism. The school died out within a century, and was replaced by the philosophy of Epicureanism
Epicureanism
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus, founded around 307 BC. Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to a general attack on superstition and divine intervention. Following Aristippus—about whom...
.
History of the school
The history of the Cyrenaic school begins with Aristippus of Cyrene, who was born around 435 BCE. He came to AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
as a young man and became a pupil of Socrates
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
. We have only limited knowledge of his movements after the execution of Socrates
Trial of Socrates
The Trial of Socrates refers to the trial and the subsequent execution of the classical Athenian philosopher Socrates in 399 BC. Socrates was tried on the basis of two notoriously ambiguous charges: corrupting the youth and impiety...
in 399 BCE, although he is said to have lived for a time in the court of Dionysius of Syracuse
Dionysius I of Syracuse
Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, in what is now Sicily, southern Italy. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Greek colonies...
. It is uncertain precisely which doctrines ascribed to the Cyrenaic school were formulated by Aristippus. Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is one of the principal surviving sources for the history of Greek philosophy.-Life:Nothing is definitively known about his life...
, on the authority of Sotion
Sotion
Sotion of Alexandria was a Greek doxographer and biographer, and an important source for Diogenes Laërtius. None of his works survive; they are known only indirectly...
and Panaetius
Panaetius
Panaetius of Rhodes was a Stoic philosopher. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon and Antipater of Tarsus in Athens, before moving to Rome where he did much to introduce Stoic doctrines to the city. After the death of Scipio in 129, he returned to the Stoic school in Athens, and was its last...
, provides a long list of books said to have been written by Aristippus, though he also says that Sosicrates
Sosicrates
Sosicrates of Rhodes was a Greek historical writer. Sosicrates was born on the island Rhodes and is noted, chiefly, for his frequent mention by Diogenes Laërtius in his Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers — referencing Sosicrates as the sole authority behind such facts as Aristippus having...
stated that he wrote nothing. Among his pupils was his daughter Arete
Arete of Cyrene
Arete of Cyrene was a Cyrenaic philosopher, and the daughter of Aristippus of Cyrene.She learned philosophy from her father, Aristippus, who had himself learned philosophy from Socrates. Arete, in turn, taught philosophy to her son - Aristippus the Younger - hence her son was nicknamed...
who passed on the teachings to her son Aristippus the Younger
Aristippus the Younger
Aristippus the Younger, of Cyrene, was the grandson of Aristippus of Cyrene, and is widely believed to have formalized the principles of Cyrenaic philosophy.He lived in the second half of the 4th century BC...
, and it was he, according to Aristocles
Aristocles of Messene
Aristocles of Messene in Sicily, a Peripatetic philosopher, who probably lived in the 1st century AD. He may have been the teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias.According to the Suda and Eudokia, he wrote several works:...
, who turned the teachings of his grandfather into a comprehensive system, although it can at least be said that the foundations of Cyrenaic philosophy were laid down by the elder Aristippus.
After the time of the younger Aristippus, the school broke up into different factions, represented by Anniceris
Anniceris
Anniceris was a Cyrenaic philosopher. He argued that pleasure is achieved through individual acts of gratification which are sought for the pleasure that they produce, but he also laid great emphasis on the love of family, country, friendship and gratitude, which provide pleasure even when they...
, Hegesias
Hegesias of Cyrene
Hegesias of Cyrene was a Cyrenaic philosopher. He argued that happiness is impossible to achieve, and that the goal of life was the avoidance of pain and sorrow. Conventional values such as wealth, poverty, freedom, and slavery are all indifferent and produce no more pleasure than pain...
, and Theodorus
Theodorus the Atheist
Theodorus the Atheist, of Cyrene, was a philosopher of the Cyrenaic school. He lived in both Greece and Alexandria, before ending his days in his native city of Cyrene. As a Cyrenaic philosopher, he taught that the goal of life was to obtain joy and avoid grief, and that the former resulted from...
, who all developed rival interpretations of Cyrenaic doctrines, many of which were responses to the new system of hedonistic philosophy
Hedonism
Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure .-Etymology:The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" ....
laid down by Epicurus
Epicurus
Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism.Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works...
.
Philosophy
The Cyrenaics held that pleasure was the supreme good in life, but pleasure primarily in the sense of bodily gratifications, which they thought more intense and more choice-worthy than mental pleasures. As hedonists, they believed that pleasure is the only good in life and pain is the only evil. Aristippus and his followers seized upon this, and made it the prime factor in existence, denying to virtue any intrinsic value.The Cyrenaics were also known for their skeptical theory of knowledge. They thought that we can know with certainty our immediate sense-experiences (for instance, that I am having a sweet sensation now) but can know nothing about the nature of the objects that cause these sensations (for instance, that the honey is sweet). They also denied that we can have knowledge of what the experiences of other people are like.
Mathematics and physical science they held to be useless, because they had nothing to do with what was good or evil, and thus did not aid happiness. Logic, too, was neglected, being reduced to a basic doctrine concerning the criterion of truth. All knowledge is immediate sensation. These sensations are motions which are purely subjective, and are painful, indifferent or pleasant, according as they are violent, tranquil or gentle. Further they are entirely individual, and can in no way be described as constituting absolute objective knowledge. Feeling, therefore, is the only possible criterion of knowledge and of conduct. Our modes of being affected alone are knowable. Thus Cyrenaicism goes beyond the critical scepticism of the Sophists and deduces a single, universal aim for all people, namely pleasure. Furthermore, all feeling is momentary and homogeneous. It follows that past and future pleasure have no real existence for us, and that among present pleasures there is no distinction of kind. Socrates had spoken of the higher pleasures of the intellect; the Cyrenaics denied the validity of this distinction and said that bodily pleasures as being more simple and more intense are to be preferred. Momentary pleasure, preferably of a physical kind, is the only good for humans.
Yet the Cyrenaics believed that some actions which give immediate pleasure entail more than their equivalent of pain. The wise person should be in control of pleasures rather than be enslaved to them, otherwise pain will result, and this requires judgement to evaluate the different pleasures of life. They held that regard should be paid to law and custom, because even though these things have no intrinsic value on their own, violating them will lead to unpleasant penalties being imposed by others. Likewise, friendship and justice are useful because of the pleasure they provide. Thus the Cyrenaics also believed in the hedonistic value of social obligation and altruistic behaviour. Like many of the leading modern utilitarians, they combined with their psychological distrust of popular judgments of right and wrong, and their firm conviction that all such distinctions are based solely on law and convention, the equally unwavering principle that the wise person who would pursue pleasure logically must abstain from that which is usually denominated wrong or unjust. This idea, which occupies a prominent position in systems like those of Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...
, Volney
Constantin-François Chassebœuf
Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de Volney was a French philosopher, historian, orientalist, and politician...
, and even William Paley
William Paley
William Paley was a British Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian. He is best known for his exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work Natural Theology, which made use of the watchmaker analogy .-Life:Paley was Born in Peterborough, England, and was...
, was evidently of prime importance to the Cyrenaics.
The later Cyrenaics, Anniceris
Anniceris
Anniceris was a Cyrenaic philosopher. He argued that pleasure is achieved through individual acts of gratification which are sought for the pleasure that they produce, but he also laid great emphasis on the love of family, country, friendship and gratitude, which provide pleasure even when they...
, Hegesias
Hegesias of Cyrene
Hegesias of Cyrene was a Cyrenaic philosopher. He argued that happiness is impossible to achieve, and that the goal of life was the avoidance of pain and sorrow. Conventional values such as wealth, poverty, freedom, and slavery are all indifferent and produce no more pleasure than pain...
, and Theodorus
Theodorus the Atheist
Theodorus the Atheist, of Cyrene, was a philosopher of the Cyrenaic school. He lived in both Greece and Alexandria, before ending his days in his native city of Cyrene. As a Cyrenaic philosopher, he taught that the goal of life was to obtain joy and avoid grief, and that the former resulted from...
, all developed variations on the standard Cyrenaic doctrine. For Anniceris, pleasure is achieved through individual acts of gratification which are sought for the pleasure that they produce. However, Anniceris laid great emphasis on the love of family, country, friendship and gratitude, which provide pleasure even when they demand sacrifice. For Hegesias, happiness is impossible to achieve, and hence the goal of life becomes the avoidance of pain and sorrow. Conventional values such as wealth, poverty, freedom, and slavery are all indifferent and produce no more pleasure than pain. For Hegesias, Cyrenaic hedonism was simply the least irrational strategy for dealing with the pains of life. For Theodorus, the goal of life is mental pleasure not bodily gratifications, and he placed greater emphasis on the need for moderation and justice. He was also famous for being an atheist.
Further reading
- Voula Tsouna, (2008), The Epistemology of the Cyrenaic School, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521036364
Diogenes, Laertius, (1925) Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Translated by Robert Drew Hicks. 2 vols. Vol. 1, The Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.