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Single Idea 3018

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 3. Cyrenaic School ]

Full Idea

When blamed for buying expensive food he asked "Would you have bought it for just three obols?" When the person said yes, he said,"Then it is not that I am fond of pleasure, but that you are fond of money".

Gist of Idea

People who object to extravagant pleasures just love money

Source

report of Aristippus the elder (fragments/reports [c.395 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 02.7.4

Book Ref

Diogenes Laertius: 'Diogenes Laertius', ed/tr. Yonge,C.D. [Henry G. Bohn 1853], p.85


The 6 ideas from 'fragments/reports'

If all laws were abolished, philosophers would still live as they do now [Aristippus elder]
People who object to extravagant pleasures just love money [Aristippus elder, by Diog. Laertius]
Only the Cyrenaics reject the idea of a final moral end [Aristippus elder, by Annas]
The road of freedom is the surest route to happiness [Aristippus elder, by Xenophon]
Pleasure is the good, because we always seek it, it satisfies us, and its opposite is the most avoidable thing [Aristippus elder, by Diog. Laertius]
Errors result from external influence, and should be corrected, not hated [Aristippus elder, by Diog. Laertius]