C'Y'REN.A.'IC SCHOOL. A school of phi losophy established by the followers of Socrates upon his death. Aristippus of Cyrene, its founder, taught that pleasure was the highest good, thus developing one side of the Socratic teaching to the exclusion of all others. Virtue for this school meant the course of life that se cured the greatest enjoyment. For this, wisdom is necessary, since the pursuit of pleasure, prompted by instincts and impulses as they arise, often defeats itself. The wise man is the man who knows how he can obtain the maximum of enjoyment and who acts upon this knowledge. This doctrine received various modifications ac cording to the view its adherents took as to the way in which the hedonistic end is attainable. Thus Theodorus insisted that in the form not of the pleasure of the moment, but of enduring joy or 'cheerful frame of mind,' can true satisfaction be obtained; Hegesias urged that an excess of pleasure over pain is unattainable, hence the true.
end of human endeavor is to minimize the dis comforts of life, and lie carried this doctrine to its logical outcome, that death is preferable to life: hence he was called the 'recommender of death.' Fhis is perhaps the earliest appear ance of pessimism (q.v.) in Occidental philoso phy. On the other hand, Annieeris maintained that in the search for pleasure the friendly, social, filial, patriotic man is most highly suc cessful, and thus went far toward carrying egoistic hedonism beyond its most obvious limita tions. The Cyrenaic school was the precursor of the Epicurean (q.v.) . Consult Watson, Hedonistic Theories from Aristippus to Spencer (Glasgow, 1895), and the authorities referred to in the article on ETHICS. See ETHICS; HEDONISM;