Cyrenaicism

Cyrenaicism is the name given to the Cyrenaic school of ancient Greek philosophy, founded in Cyrene (in present-day Libya) in the 4th century BCE by Aristippus of Cyrene. The school argued that the highest good is pleasure (hedone) and that the path to happiness lies in the pursuit of present sensory satisfactions and the avoidance of pain. Pleasure, for the Cyrenaics, is the immediate datum by which actions should be judged, and goods are valued for the pleasure they yield in the moment rather than for any lasting or intrinsic worth.

Ethics and psychology are closely linked in Cyrenaic thought. They held that bodily pleasures are often intense and vivid, though capable of producing later pain; mental pleasures are recognized but typically judged by their capacity to generate immediate sensation. Virtue, if it has value at all, is instrumental and serves the purpose of securing pleasant experiences. Sensory experience is central; knowledge is grounded in perception, and reasons for action are evaluated by their tendency to heighten current pleasure or reduce present pain.

Variations within Cyrenaicism emerged after Aristippus. Hegesias of Cyrene took a more pessimistic line, arguing that happiness is the absence of pain and that desires inevitably lead to disappointment. Anniceris emphasized social pleasures—friendship, honor, and communal bonds—as legitimate routes to happiness, advocating a measured indulgence and sensible respect for others. The school as a whole influenced later currents in ethical thought by foregrounding subjective experience and the calculation of pleasure in moral deliberation, while remaining distinct from the later Epicurean and Stoic traditions.