The Problem of Aristippus at Cicero, De officiis 1.148

What is it about?

At De officiis 1.148 Cicero says that the philosophers Socrates and Aristippus had exceptional licence to flout social custom and convention owing to their “great and divine good qualities”. There are no worries about Socrates, but the example of the hedonist Aristippus seems preposterous given Cicero's own philosophical commitments. This paper argues that Aristippus should not be named in the text but rather the philosopher Antisthenes, who is credited as the link between Socrates and the Cynics and Stoics.

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