11 Facts About Aristippus

Aristippus of Cyrene was a hedonistic Greek philosopher and the founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy.

Aristippus 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.

Aristippus, the son of Aritades, was born in Cyrene, Ancient Libya, c 435 BCE.

At the court Aristippus became a counselor, and continued to seek his pleasures.

Additionally, Aristippus was the first of Socrates' disciples to make money for his teaching, which on occasion he sent to Socrates, although often returned to him, due to Socrates viewing it as an insult.

Aristippus said that he resided in a foreign land in order to escape the trouble of involving himself in the politics of his native city, to Socrates.

Aristippus is said to have been taken prisoner by Artaphernes, the satrap who drove the Spartans from Rhodes in 396.

In old age, Aristippus is said to have returned to Cyrene, living out his retirement in luxury and in the pursuit of pleasure till his death, at the age of 79.

Aristippus viewed pleasure and the pursuit of pleasure as life's supreme good, as well as valued the importance of not becoming possessed or enslaved by such pleasurable acts and objects.

Since Aristippus valued pleasure more than Socrates did and found less intrinsic value in virtue, other philosophers, like Plato and Xenophon, supported as well as initiated the accusation that Aristippus had defied and had strayed from Socrates' philosophical teachings.

One notable example of philosophers demonstrating disdain for Aristippus' values is in Plato's Phaedo, where Plato describes Aristippus having been at Aegina, a pleasure resort, rather attending as a witness of Socrates' death.