TEXTUAL EVIDENCE: DIOGENES LAERTIUS

Diogenes Laertius gives us by far the most extended treatment of the Cyrenaic school and its genealogy, in terms of the persons involved in that school and of the doctrinal views endorsed by its members. Diogenes' life of Aristippus is contained in The Lives of Eminent Philosophers, book II, sections 65–104: rather a lengthy exposition. Before entering into the details on Aristippus' life and doctrine that Diogenes offers us, I shall give a brief outline of the whole section. Diogenes' account opens (DL II 65) with a brief biographical note on Aristippus; a long section on anecdotes about him follows, where many of his apothegms are reported (II 66–83). A short section (II 83) on the homonyms is then followed by the catalogue of Aristippus' writings (II 83–5). At the end of this section, there is a much-debated sentence reporting the attribution of an important doctrinal view to Aristippus. According to Diogenes, “he declared that the end [telos] is the smooth motion [leian kinēsin] resulting in perception [eis aisthēsin anadidomenēn]”. After this sentence, there is the proper doxological section (II 85–104), reporting, in a detailed way, the main philosophical views to be attributed to the Cyrenaics.