Why a Hedonist should choose death? The Cyrenics and Socrates’ attitude towards the indictment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14422/pen.v77.i293.y2021.001Keywords:
Socrates, Aristippus, Cyrenaics, pleasure, deathAbstract
The phenomenon of the Socratic dialogue describes how many members of the circle attribute their own ideas to Socrates. This procedure provokes profiles distant from Plato or Xenophon’s variants. In this case, we are interested in the Hedonist Socrates built by Aristippus of Cyrene and his followers. We examine the Cyrenaic obstacles to justify Socrates’ strategy during the trial that was understood at the moment as a choice for death, which results incompatible with hedonistic principles. With this purpose, we will analyse the information from Papyrus Köln 205 that presents a Hedonist Socrates trying to explain his behaviour, and then we will study the elements in the Cyrenaic thought that make it compatible with Aristippus’ ideas. Thus, we will be able to elucidate relevant points of the link between pleasure, happiness and death in the Cyrenaic philosophy.
Downloads
References
Annas, J. (1993). The Morality of Happiness. Oxford: OUP.
Barnes, J. (1987). «Editor's Notes», en: Phronesis, 32(3), 360-366. https://doi.org/10.1163/156852887X00208
Caujolle-Zaslavsky, F. (1985). «La scholie de Stéphanos. Quelques remarques sur la théorie des temps du verbe attribuée aux Stoïciens», en: Histoire Epistémologie Langage, 7(1), 19-46. https://doi.org/10.3406/hel.1985.1300
Davies, R. (2017). «The Measure of Pleasure: A Note on the Protagoras», en: Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 3(3), 301-315. https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2017.31
Döring, K. (1998). Der Sokratesschüler Aristipp und die Kyrenaiker, Abh. d. Akad. d. Wiss, Mainz.
Giannantoni, G. (1958). I Cirenaici. Firenze: Sansoni.
Giannantoni, G. (1990). Socrates et Socraticorum Reliquiae (SSR). Napoli: Bibliopolis.
Giannantoni, G. (1997). «Il conceptto di aisthesis nella filosofia cirenaica», en: G. Giannatoni - M. Narcy (Eds.), Lezioni socratiche. Napoli: Bibliopolis.
Goulet-Cazé et al. (1999). Diogène Laërce: Vies et Doctrines des Philosophes Illustres. Paris.
Gronewald, M. (1985). «205. Sokratischer Dialog», en: M. Grunewald, K. Maresch, W. Schäfer, Kölner Papyri (PKöln), 5. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 33-53. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-663-14386-4_3
Irwin, T. (1991). «Aristippus Against Happiness», en: Monist, 74(1). https://doi.org/10.5840/monist19917412
Laks, A. (1993). «Anniceris et les plaisirs psychiques», en: J. Brunschwig & M. Nussbaum (eds.), Passions and Perceptions. Cambridge: CUP.
Mannebach, E. (1961). Aristippi et Cyrenaicorum Fragmenta. Leiden: Brill.
Mársico, C. (2013). Filósofos socráticos, Testimonios y fragmentos I. Megáricos y cirenaicos. Buenos Aires-Madrid: Losada.
Mársico, C. (2015). «Platón ama a Dion». Filosofía del lenguaje en el estoicismo. Buenos Aires: Rhesis.
Mársico, C. (2020a). «Beyond Burning Pleasure: Eudaimonia, telos and the others in the Cyrenaic Philosophy», forthcoming.
Mársico, C. (2020b). Platón, Apología de Sócrates. Estudio preliminar, traducción y notas. Buenos Aires: Rhesis.
O'Keefe, T. (2002). «The Cyrenaiques on Pleasure, Happiness, and Future-Concern», en: Phronesis 47. https://doi.org/10.1163/156852802321016550
Redfield, J. (2017). «The Origins of the Socratic Dialogue: Plato, Xenophon, and the Others», en A. Stavru and C. Moore (eds.), Socrates and the Socratic Dialogue. Leiden: Brill.
Rossetti, L. (1975). «Alla ricerca dei logoi Socratikoi perduti (ii): l'apologia Sokratous di Lisia», en: Rivista di Studi Classici 23, 87-99.
Sedley, D. (2013). «Epicurean versus Cyrenaic Happiness». Cambridge: ms.
Spinelli, E. (1992). «P. Köln 205: Il "Socrate" di Egesia?», Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 91, 10-14.
Tsouna, V. (2002). «Is There an Exception to Greek Eudemonism?», en: M. Canto- Sperber and P. Pellegrin, Le style de la pensé: Recueil de textes en hommage à Jacques Brunschwig. Paris.
Warren, J. (2001). «Epicurus and the Pleasures of the Future», Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, 21.
Williams, G. (1995). «Cleombrotus of Ambracia: Interpretations of a Suicide from Callimachus to Agathias», Classical Quarterly, 45(1). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838800041768
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The publishing Universidad Pontificia Comillas retain the copyright of articles published in Pensamiento. Reuse of content is allowed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivates 3.0 Unported. Authors are encouraged to publish their work on the Internet (for example, on institutional or personal pages, repositories, etc.) respecting the conditions of this license and quoting appropriately the original source.
