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Aristippus of Cyrene, 435-356 BC.
Ancient Greek scholar, a student of Socrates and founder of the hedonistic "Cyrenaic School". Although his works do not survive, we have some knowledge of his doctrines from the account of Diogenes Laertius and, a little more fanciful, from Xenophon's Memorabilia.
Aristippus identified the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain as the ultimate Good in life. Although an "ethical" hedonist, he based his arguments on psychological observation (esp. of children). Thus, for Aristippus, the pleasure-pain calculus is the "voice of nature" and it is our moral duty to follow it. Unlike the later Epicureans, the Cyrenaics saw pleasure and pain in terms of bodily sensations, and thus as separate, distinct feelings.
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