Arete of Cyrene c. 370 BC – c. 340 BC
Arete of Cyrene was a Greek philosopher of the Cyrenaic school and one of the earliest women in the Western philosophical tradition. The daughter of Aristippus the Elder, the founder of the Cyrenaic school and the most prominent of Socrates's hedonist students, she succeeded her father at the head of the school and trained her own son, Aristippus the Younger, who was for that reason called Metrodidactus, the mother-taught. Ancient sources credit her with a wide command of natural philosophy and ethics, and her continuity of teaching from Aristippus to her son secured the survival of the Cyrenaic doctrine that the rational pursuit of pleasure is the human good.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Greek
- Era
- Ancient
- Movements
- Hellenistic, Ancient Greek
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Arete of Cyrene:
“Pleasure rightly chosen and rationally pursued is the good of life.”
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Attributed to Arete of Cyrene:
“Wisdom guides the choice of pleasures, that none be regretted.”
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Attributed to Arete of Cyrene:
“I owe my philosophy to my father, and my life to philosophy.”
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Attributed to Arete of Cyrene:
“Mastery of self, not denial of pleasure, is the task of virtue.”
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Attributed to Arete of Cyrene:
“She who teaches her own children well honors philosophy twice.”