A brief introduction to Cyrenaic philosophy
Cyrenaicism, or the Cyrenaic school of philosophy, is named after the North African city of Cyrene, where most of the movement’s philosophers came from. The school existed for about two centuries, during the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. The Cyrenaics taught that the telos, chief good, or goal of life is pleasure, and that all one’s choices and avoidance should be directed at maximising pleasure and minimising pain — though that involves sometimes enduring pain or deferring gratification if doing so contributes more to pleasant living. The Cyrenaics are often compared to the other major school of hedonism, Epicureanism, as reckless hedonists — but the truth is that the Cyrenaics espoused a philosophy just as sophisticated as the Epicureans, but arguably a more attractive one since it didn’t limit itself to the mere absence of pain.
Where the Epicurean school was most influenced by atomist philosophy, the Cyrenaic school was most influenced by Socratic philosophy. In its ethics, the Cyrenaics agree with Socrates that the goal of life is to seek the chief good; however, as we’ve seen, they taught that the chief good is pleasure, not virtue — but this does not mean that the Cyrenaics disregarded virtue. On the contrary, they saw it as an essential element in living pleasantly. Anniceris in particular emphasised that the Cyrenaic Sage will value virtue, friendship, family, patriotism, and gratitude for their own sake. And in their epistemology, the Cyrenaic school adhered to a form of scepticism whereby you can only be certain of your inward experiences, but never their outward causes. This is how they justified their hedonism, for how do know you which experiences are choice-worthy or avoidance-worthy? By whether they feel pleasant or painful!
Unlike the Epicureans with their intellectualised conception of pleasure as “the absence of pain”, the Cyrenaics hold to the common-sense view that pleasure is either a physical sensation or a mental feeling, and that physical pleasures are more intense (and thus more choice-worthy) than mental pleasures. The Cyrenaics are often accused of teaching that we should pursue only present pleasures and never defer present pleasures for the sake of achieving long-term/future pleasures. However, it is possible to interpret Cyrenaic ethics in a less radical manner; namely, even though we should care about pleasures and pains of the moment more than those of the future, we still have reason to care about securing future pleasures and avoiding future pains. Support for this interpretation is found in claims by Aristippus, such as “the things which are productive of certain pleasures are often of a painful nature, the very opposite of pleasure.” This shows that Aristippus was, after all, prepared to endure present pain for the sake of future pleasure. I will write more about the relationship between the Cyrenaic emphasis on present pleasure and long-term pleasure in a later post.
This post was intended as a brief introduction to Cyrenaic philosophy. Future posts will be more in-depth, especially the posts devoted to Aristippus the Elder and, my favourite Cyrenaic, Anniceris. If Cyrenaic philosophy appeals to you, search New Cyrenaicism on Facebook to find like-minded friends.