Aristippus

Philosopher

Born: c. 435 b. c.e.; Gyrene, Cyrenaica (now in Libya) Died: 365 b. c.e.; Athens, Greece Category: Philosophy

Life Because Aristippus (ar-uh-STIHP-uhs) left no writings for posterity, what is known about him is derived from secondary sources, the most notable of which is Xenophon’s Apomnemoneumata (c. 381-355; Memorabilia of Socrates, 1712). It appears that Aristippus was born in North Africa in the city of Cyrene, in what is currently Libya but was then Cyrenaica. His family was reputed to have had considerable influence and to have been sufficiently rich to support the young Aristippus in his travels and studies.

Aristippus studied with Socrates, attracted to this pivotal Athenian philosopher by his obvious humanity, his fun-loving qualities, his cordiality, and, most important of all, his indisputable intellectual superiority. Aristippus spent considerable time in Athens during its Golden Age, its most significant period of intellectual influence. He also went to Syracuse, where he taught rhetoric and was associated with the court of Dionysius, an ill-tempered, often rude tyrant. Aristippus returned to his native Cyrene to begin a school of philosophy. He remained there for several years until his ultimate return to Athens, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Schooled by Socrates, the great master of the Sophist philosophy based on dialogue and structured argument, Aristippus had been exposed continually to the prevailing Socratic theory of innate ideas—to the notion that ideal forms exist, while the objects of the “real” world are mere imitations of the ideal forms (the word “idea” is derived from a Greek word meaning “shape” or “form”). Aristippus early questioned this notion, believing rather that all individuals experience and perceive things around them in unique and individual ways.

In modern philosophical terminology, Aristippus would likely be classified as a relativist. For him, no physical object (table, chair), quality (blue), or concept (goodness) in the real world possesses generalized qualities de-

Aristippus.

Tached from the specific object, quality, or concept. To him, perception, which is wholly individual and idiosyncratic, determines what any object or concept communicates to any single individual. These notions led Aristippus to the conclusion that there exists no explicit, objective, and absolute world identically perceived by all people. He further posited that it is impossible to compare the experiences of different people accurately, because all individuals can know are their own perceptions and reactions.

Aristippus further contended that, from birth, all living humans seek

Pleasure and avoid pain. He contended that life must be lived in pursuit of pleasure. His one caveat was that pleasure must be defined by all people for themselves, that there is no universal pleasure. Some people, therefore, find the greatest pleasure in leading law-abiding, virtuous lives, whereas others find it in raucous, drunken revelry. Aristippus did not make moral judgments about where individuals sought and found their pleasures.

Aristippus also argued that the source of pleasure is always the body— which, he was quick to point out, includes the mind. For him, pleasures were most fully and satisfactorily experienced in the present. Memories of pleasures past or the contemplation of pleasures promised at some future date are weak semblances of pleasures that are immediately enjoyable.

The school of philosophy that Aristippus founded at Cyrene, based on concepts such as these, was designated the Hedonistic school, “hedonistic” being derived from the Greek word for “pleasure.” Hedonism was closely akin in many ways to the Cynicism of Antisthenes, who, like Aristippus, questioned the existence of universals. Together, Antisthenes and Aristippus formulated the Nominalist theory of universals, which flew in the face of Socrates’ and Plato’s realism.

Influence Perhaps Aristippus’s greatest contribution to Western thought came in his questioning of Socrates’ theory of ideas. In disputing these theories, he focused on individual differences and arrived at a philosophy infinitely more relativistic than the prevailing philosophies of his day. In a sense, Aristippus took the earliest tentative steps in a march of insurgent ideas that led inevitably to the Reformation of the sixteenth century.

If the Cynics, under the leadership of Antisthenes, represented the school of apathy in the ancient world, the Cyrenaics, following the lead of Aristippus, represented the school of happiness. These ideas ran counter to the prevailing philosophy emerging from Athens and were considered both exotic and quixotic by the most influential thinkers of the day. As Athens skulked into defeat and steady decline, however, many of its citizenry found Hedonism—and Epicurus’s refinement of it, Epicureanism—quite to their liking.

Further Reading

Durant, Will. The Story of Philosophy. New York: Simon & Schuster,

1967.

Feldman, Fred. Pleasure and the Good Life: Concerning the Nature, Varieties, and Plausibility of Hedonism. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 2004.

Fuller, B. A. G. AHistory of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy. Revised by Sterling M. McMurrin. New York: Henry Holt, 1955.

Hamlyn, D. W. A History of Western Philosophy. NewYork: Viking, 1987. Kenny, Anthony, ed. The Oxford History of Western Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Renault, Mary. The Last of the Wine. New York: Random House, 1975.

R. Baird Shuman

See also: Antisthenes; Cynicism; Epicureanism; Epicurus; Hedonism; Philosophy; Socrates; Sophists.