Aristippus of Cyrene

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Aristippus of Cyrene

Aristippus of Cyrene ( ancient Greek Ἀρίστιππος ὁ Κυρηναίος Aristippos hò Kyrēnaíos , Latinized Aristippus Cyrenaeus ; * about 435 BC in Cyrene ; † about 355 BC) was a Greek ancient philosopher . He is considered to be the founder of the Cyrenean school and hedonism .

Aristippus was a student of Socrates . His writings are lost; only a number of reports about life and teaching, so-called testimonies, are preserved .

Lore and lore difficulties

The earliest sources on Aristippus are Xenophon , Plato and Aristotle . The most important of the later ancient sources are Diogenes Laertios (especially on life and ethical views), Eusebios of Caesarea (on ethical views) and Plutarch , Sextus Empiricus and Eusebios of Caesarea (on epistemological views).

In general, it is not always easy to separate reports about Aristippus from those about his grandson of the same name. What is more serious, however, is the fact that many testimonies speak of the Cyrenaics, not specifically Aristippus or other philosophers. Whether the views of the Cyrenaists can already be ascribed to Aristippus or only emerged later in the form preserved today is an extremely controversial question in research that is difficult to clarify. Until the 20th century, it was believed that the former was true. In 1916 Evangelos Antoniadis contradicted this and traced the teachings of the Cyrenaics back to Aristippus the Younger and other followers of Aristippus. Aristippus himself was more of a practice-oriented life artist than a philosopher. Both views are held to this day.

Life

The dates of Aristippus' life are only roughly known. From information provided by Diogenes' Laertio it has been deduced that he was at the latest by 430 BC. Was born in BC. According to Diodorus he has 366 BC. Still lived. Plutarch reports of a meeting with Plato when he was in Syracuse for the third time (361/360 BC). Whether the claim that he died during the reign of Dionysius II (i.e. before 356 BC) is an invention is controversial. It is believed that Aristippus dates back to the 350s BC. Lived.

The father of Aristippus, born in North African Cyrene, was called Aretades, his mother Mika. On the occasion of a visit to the Olympic Games, he is said to have met Ischomachus, a student of Socrates, whose reports prompted him to go to Athens to get to know Socrates himself. There he belonged to Socrates' disciples for a time and probably also had contact with Plato. In the rest of his life he left Athens to move around on his own account. His travels probably brought him to Syracuse several times; in Corinth he is said to have had a relationship with the well-known hetaera Lais of Corinth . He is said to have been shipwrecked once, in addition, he was taken prisoner by Persians and is said to have been banished from Cyrene once. When he returned to Cyrene and founded his school there is unknown.

Aristippus was the first of the Socratic students to demand payment for his lessons. His relationship with Plato, Antisthenes, and Xenophon must have been bad, while that with Aeschines von Sphettos was good. His students included his own daughter, the philosopher Arete of Cyrene and Antipater of Cyrene . After Aristippus' death, his daughter Arete took over the management of his school. His grandson of the same name and son of his daughter Arete, Aristippus the Younger , later became a well-known exponent of the Cyrenean philosophy.

As for the character of Aristippus, the sources tell of his cheerful nature, his self-control and his ability to maintain a detached calm in all situations, in joy and in need. He is said not to have been averse to luxury and entertainment without making himself dependent on it or on others. Aristippus' saying about his relationship with Lais is well known: "I have her, but she doesn't have me." This is often associated with an assumed, independent, basic attitude of Aristippus towards people, things and feelings. With regard to Aristippus, Horace speaks of an art of submitting oneself to things rather than to things.

Fonts

In the 3rd century Diogenes Laertios collected contradicting information about the writings of Aristippus, which were already lost at that time. A first list of publications listed with him lists 23 titles, a second only 12 (whereby 6 titles can be found in both lists). Dialogues as well as tracts are among the writings mentioned . A letter to his daughter Arete, a history of Libya and so-called diatribs are also mentioned. However, some authors, such as Diogenes Laertios, report that Aristippus never wrote any writings; this is now viewed as misinformation. The letters preserved in the corpus of the Socratic letters - including one to his daughter - and the writing About the opulence of the old days are forgeries from later times. He was wrongly ascribed to the work On the Natural Philosophers and two other writings in Ibn al-Qifti . According to Diogenes Laertios, both Speusippos and Stilpon named a dialogue after Aristippus.

Teaching

Since Aristippus' teaching in the ancient reports is often not differentiated from that of other Cyrenaists, see: Doctrine of the Cyrenaics

The Cyrenaists were primarily concerned with ethical questions. For them, the good and the goal of human life were pleasurable sensations, the bad the painful sensations. In doing so, they put physical pleasure above mental pleasure. "I own the hetaera Lais, but I am not obsessed with her ... Because it is best to control desires and not succumb to them, not to have complete possession of them."

reception

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In modern times, some of Rousseau's utterances could be inspired by Aristippus. Proximity to current hedonistic currents , however, will have to be seen as external.

The reason that the name Aristippus still evokes some memories in Germany, albeit mostly infrequently specific, is likely to be that Christoph Martin Wieland made him the hero of his important epistolary novel Aristippus and some of his contemporaries , who were largely political Enlightenment gave its voice to the 18th century. In one way or another, the monument placed by Wieland on the Aristippian lifestyle continues to have an impact on the reception of antiquity and in parts of German literature. Even if the Wieland reception decreased after his death, connoisseurs were happy to take advice from him later. Arno Schmidt , whom Wieland claims to be enthusiastic about, has paid him respect by naming his Fouqué biography unmistakably in direct reference to Wieland's Aristippus .

Theodor Gomperz has pointed out that many centuries later, perhaps in a more affected form, the Aristippian way of life found a certain equivalent in the world of the French salons of the 18th century. He quotes a sentence from Montesquieu , which summarizes what could also have been Aristipp's character disposition: “My machine is so happily put together that I am seized by all objects vigorously enough to enjoy them, not vivaciously enough to be underneath to suffer."

Portraits

Drawing of the head of a statue in Palazzo Spada, possibly representing Aristippus

Two ancient herms , on each of which a man and a woman are depicted, were regarded by some researchers as Aristippus and his daughter Arete; however, there are also other presumptions of identification. One of the herms is in Berlin ( interpreted as Aristippos by Karl Schefold ), the other in the Musée Antoine Vivenel in Compiègne (interpreted as Aristippos by JF Crome).

In the Palazzo Spada in Rome there is a seated statue with a mutilated inscription. It starts with ARIST, then becomes illegible and leaves room for about four letters. The last letter is legible again and an S. It could therefore be Aristippus, but also Aristotle, Aristeides or Ariston of Chios.

Source collection

literature

Overview representations

Investigations

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Xenophon, Memorabilia 2.1 and 3.6.
  2. ^ Klaus Döring: Aristipp d. Ä. and his grandson of the same name . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity . Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 246-257, here: p. 246.
  3. ↑ Evangelos Antoniadis: Aristipp und die Kyrenaïker , dissertation, Göttingen 1916.
  4. ↑ Klaus Döring: Aristipp the Elder. and his grandson of the same name . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity . Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 246-257, here: pp. 250-251.
  5. ↑ Diogenes Laertios, On the Life and Teachings of the Philosophers 2.82-2.83.
  6. ↑ Diodor, Bibliotheca historica 15,76,4.
  7. ↑ Plutarch, Dio 19.3 and 19.7.
  8. ^ Socratic Letters 27: 1.
  9. ↑ The section on the life of Aristippos follows Klaus Döring: Aristipp d.Ä. and his grandson of the same name . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity . Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 246–257, here: pp. 247–249.
  10. ↑ Suda , Article Aristippus .
  11. ^ Socratic Letters 27.4.
  12. ↑ Plutarch, De curios. 516c; Diogenes Laertios, On the Life and Teachings of the Philosophers 2.65.
  13. ^ Diogenes Laertios, On the life and teachings of the philosophers, 2.65; Suda, article Aristippus .
  14. ↑ Diogenes Laertios, On the Life and Teachings of the Philosophers 2.60; 2.61; 2.76; 3.36; Suda, article Aristippus .
  15. ↑ Diogenes Laertios, On the Life and Teachings of the Philosophers 2.86.
  16. ↑ Strabo , Geography 17,3,22.
  17. ↑ Diogenes Laertios, On the Life and Teachings of the Philosophers, 2.75; Cicero, Epistulae ad familiares 9.26.2.
  18. ↑ See for example Klaus Döring: Aristipp d.Ä. and his grandson of the same name . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity . Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 246–257, here: p. 256.
  19. ↑ Horace, Epistulae 1, 1, 19.
  20. ^ Socratic Letters 9; 11; 13; 16; 27.
  21. ↑ Diogenes Laertios, On the Life and Teachings of the Philosophers 2,120; 4.4.
  22. ↑ Klaus Döring: Aristipp the Elder. and his grandson of the same name . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity . Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 246-257, here: pp. 249-250.
  23. ^ Diogenes Laertios, 2nd book; after Rainer Nickel: "Epikur, ways to happiness", Verlag Artemis and Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zurich, 2005, page 151
  24. ↑ Christoph Martin Wieland: Aristippus and some of his contemporaries. Letter novel, 4 volumes, Leipzig 1800–1802.
  25. ↑ Montesquieu: Portrait de Montesquieu par lui-même .
  26. ↑ Theodor Gomperz: Greek Thinkers , Book IV, Chapter 9.
  27. ↑ Karl Schefold: The portraits of ancient poets, speakers and thinkers , Schwabe, Basel 1943, p. 78 and Karl Schefold: The portraits of ancient poets, speakers and thinkers , 2nd edition, Schwabe, Basel 1997, p. 158.
  28. ↑ JF Crome: Aristippus and Arete . In: Archäologischer Anzeiger. Supplement to the yearbook of the Archaeological Institute , 1935, pp. 1–11.
  29. ↑ Klaus Döring: Aristipp the Elder. and his grandson of the same name . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity . Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 246–257, here: pp. 246–247.
  30. ↑ See Ralf von den Hoff : Philosophers' Portraits of Early and High Hellenism , Biering and Brinkmann, Munich 1994, p. 162, note 20.
personal data
SURNAME Aristippus of Cyrene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aristippus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH around 435 BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Cyrene
DATE OF DEATH around 355 BC Chr.