Aristippus was remembered as a Socratic who emphasized present pleasure, flexible adaptation to circumstance, and command over enjoyments rather than anxious dependence on them.
Intellectual setting
The Cyrenaic school developed after Socrates, but its exact early doctrines and Aristippus's own views remain difficult to disentangle.
Key ideas
Present pleasure
Cyrenaic testimony makes immediate bodily feeling a primary guide while denying that possession guarantees happiness.
Self-command
Anecdotes distinguish using pleasures from being ruled by them, turning luxury into an ethical test of independence.
Legacy
Aristippus supplies a major Socratic counterpoint to ascetic ethics and to later Epicurean accounts of pleasure.