
Place
Cyrene
A prosperous Greek colony on the North African coast that produced two philosophers with opposite temperaments: Aristippus, who founded a school built on frank pleasure-seeking, and Carneades, who a century later founded his fame on refusing to settle any question at all.
Cyrene stood on a plateau above the Libyan coast, founded by settlers from Thera and rich on grain and on silphium, a plant it exported until the plant went extinct. It produced doctors, mathematicians, and two philosophers who could hardly have agreed on less: Aristippus, who held that the good is the pleasure available now, and Carneades, who a century and a half later made his name arguing both sides of any question until nothing was left standing.
Thinkers Connected to Cyrene
Carneades
Sent to Rome as an ambassador, he gave a public lecture arguing for justice one day and a devastating lecture against it the next, and was expelled from the city for making truth look too easy to argue either way.
Aristippus of Cyrene
A student of Socrates who broke from him completely on one point: he charged for his teaching, enjoyed comfort openly, and founded a school built on the frank pursuit of pleasure in the present moment.