A Shift to Social-Ethical Issues in the Classical Period: Socrates and His Followers (Socratics)

Cyrenaics

Aristippus began teaching in Cyrene around 365 BCE, thus founding the philosophical school of the Cyrenaics. This school is known for its ethical doctrine, which represents a Greek variant of the hedonistic philosophy practiced by the Charvakas (Lokayatikas) in ancient Indian thought. This philosophy is based on the psychological fact that our sensory interaction with external objects—i.e., sensation—is accompanied by pleasant or unpleasant experiences and emotional states. As Cicero notes, the Cyrenaics perceived only what is felt through internal sensation, such as pain and pleasure.

The "internal stirrings" of the soul were, for the Cyrenaics, not only the criterion for the truth of sensations but also the measure of moral actions, which they assessed in terms of good and evil: pleasant experiences were considered good, while unpleasant ones were deemed evil. Consequently, Cicero critically remarks that Aristippus, the foremost and oldest disciple of Socrates, did not hesitate to acknowledge pain as the greatest evil. The greatest good, according to him, was pleasure, particularly the pleasure of eating and the enjoyment associated with procreation. Thus, Cyrenaic ethics can be classified as hedonistic. However, Aristippus's hedonism could be described as rational, as he, like Socrates, believed that a sage should master their pleasures. He is attributed with the saying: "He who controls himself is not one who abstains from pleasure, but one who, while desiring it, is not swayed by it, much like one who does not use a ship or a horse but follows wherever he wishes." His student, Theodorus of Cyrene, spoke not only of physical but also spiritual pleasure, suggesting that bliss consists in a joyful disposition of the spirit, governed by reason.

The sage is capable of moderating pleasures and restraining sorrow caused by evil. The Cyrenaics believed that sorrow arises from unexpected and sudden evils. Hence, it could be mitigated by prolonged contemplation of potential misfortunes and life’s uncertainties.

The theme of alleviating sorrow caused by life's hardships was expressed in an extreme form by the Cyrenaic Hegesias (320-280 BCE), who argued that death protects us from the evils and sufferings of life, and thus from sorrow. He is attributed with a work titled "The Self-Starver," in which a starving man lists the adversities of human life. Hegesias depicted life's miseries and death as a release from them so vividly that his listeners were driven to suicide. As a result, he earned the nickname "The Advocate of Death," and King Ptolemy, at whose court he resided, banned the teaching of his doctrine.

The Eleatic and Eretrian Schools

Little is known about the views of Phaedo and other philosophers of the Eleatic school. The scholar Menedemus of Eretria expressed a rationalistic perspective on the good, akin to Socratic thought, asserting that "the essence of good lies in reason and the sharpness of intellect, through which truth is perceived." Menedemus also rejected the multiplicity and diversity of virtues, claiming that virtue is singular but is known by many names—such as prudence, courage, and justice—analogous to how a living being is referred to both as mortal and human.