Aristippus of Cyrene (; ; c. 435 – c. 356 BCE) was a hedonistic Greek philosopher and the founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy. He was a pupil of Socrates, but adopted a very different philosophical outlook, teaching that the goal of life was to seek pleasure by adapting circumstances to oneself and by maintaining proper control over both adversity and prosperity. His view that pleasure is the only good came to be called ethical hedonism. Despite having two sons, Aristippus identified his daughter Arete as the "intellectual heiress" of his work. There are indications that Aristippus was conflated with his grandson, Aristippus the Younger. Life Aristippus, the son of Aritades, was born in Cyrene, Ancient Libya, c. 435 BCE. He came to Greece to be present at the Olympic games, where he asked Ischomachus about Socrates, and by his description was filled with so ardent a desire to see Socrates, that he went to Athens for the purpose, and remained with him almost up to the time of his execution in 399. Diodorus dates him to 366, which agrees very well with the facts known about him, and with the statement that Lais, the courtesan with whom he was intimate, was born in 421. Though a disciple of Socrates, Aristippus wandered very far both in principle and practice from the teaching and example of his great master. He lived luxuriously, was happy to seek sensual gratification and the company of the notorious Lais. He also took money for his teaching, the first of Socrates' disciples to do so and even told Socrates that he resided in a foreign land in order to escape the trouble of involving himself in the politics of his native city. He passed part of his life at the court of Dionysius I of Syracuse or Dionysius the Younger, and is also said to have been taken prisoner by Artaphernes, the satrap who drove the Spartans from Rhodes in 396. He appears, however, at last to have returned to Cyrene, and there he spent his old age. In Book VI of De architectura, Vitruvius describes Aristippus: It is related of the Socratic philosopher Aristippus that, being shipwrecked and cast ashore on the coast of the Rhodians, he observed geometrical figures drawn thereon, and cried out to his companions: "Let us be of good cheer, for I see the traces of man." With that he