=The Cyrenaic School= was founded by Aristippus, who lived in Cyrene, a luxurious city of northern Africa. Aristippus was a man of the world. He was first a Sophist and later a disciple of Socrates. After Socrates’ death he returned to Cyrene. Here he founded his school, which included three generations of his own family. The prominent members of it were Arete, his daughter; Aristippus, his grandson; Theodorus, Hegesias, Anniceris, and Euhemerus, the author of so-called Euhemerism, which taught that the gods were originally only great men. In opposition to the brutal bareness of the Cynic school, the Cyrenaics saw the true end of life in the pleasures of sense. Following Protagoras, Aristippus said that the sensations are always true and can be defined in terms of motion. The school developed an elaborate psychology of sensation which summarizes its doctrine. It is as follows: (1) The intensity and not the duration of a sensation determines its value; (2) Bodily pleasures are of greater value than mental because they are more intense; (3) I can know only my own sensations, and therefore they are of greater value than another’s; (4) Man has a reasonable insight which determines him in the choice of his sensations. The practical problem of life for this, as it was for the Cynic school, was how to become individually independent of the world. But the Cyrenaic taught independence by enjoyment, in opposition to the Cynic’s independence by renunciation. The Cyrenaic Wise Man knows all the pleasures of life thoroughly, from animal satisfactions to spiritual ecstasies. He uses them all, but never forgets himself. He is lord of his appetites, never wishes the impossible, and has perfect and serene peace. It is an interesting fact that this pleasure-loving school drew pessimism as the consequence of its theory. If life fails to give enjoyment, it is a failure. That life alone is reprehensible that has more pain than pleasure. It is on this ground that man should submit to law and custom rather than give up his pleasures. Yet some members of the school maintained that man is bound to be unhappy. While he should have pleasure, he is so constituted that he cannot gain it. The body of man is an inevitable sufferer. The highest that we can hope is painlessness. The Cynic and Cyrenaic schools occupy an important position in the history of philosophy. The Cynic doctrine was the basis of the teaching of the Stoic school, and the Cyrenaic was the legitimate predecessor of the Epicurean school. These great schools were founded in Athens seventy-five years later, and will be discussed under the Hellenic-Roman Period. CHAPTER VI THE SYSTEMATIC PERIOD (399 B. C.–322 B. C.)