ARISTIPPUS (c. 435–356 B.c.)  , Greek philosopher, the founder of the Cyrenaic school, was the son of Aritadas, a merchant of Cyrene . At an early age he came to Athens, and was induced to remain by the fame of Socrates, whose pupil he became . Subsequently he travelled through a number of Grecian cities, and finally settled in Cyrene, where he founded his school . His philosophy was eminently practical (see CYRENAICS) . Starting from the two Socratic principles of virtue and happiness, he emphasized the second, and made pleasure the criterion of life . That he held to be good which gives the maximum of pleasure . In pursuance of this he indulged in all forms of external luxury . At the same time he remained thoroughly master of himself and had the self-control to refrain or to enjoy . Diogenes Laertius (ii . 65), quoting Phanias the peripatetic, says that he received money for his teaching, and Aristotle (Met. ii . 2) expressly calls him a sophist . Diogenes further states that he wrote several treatises, but none have survived .

The five letters attributed to him are undoubtedly

spurious . His daughter Arete, and her son Aristippus (µrlrpoSiSarcros, " pupil of his mother "), carried on the school after his death . A cosmopolitan on principle, and a convinced disbeliever in the ethics of his day, he comes very near to modern empiricism and especially to the modern Hedonist school .