Claudia Mársico, “Dying for pleasure. The Cyrenaic Socrates in the face of the trial”

Aristippus’ Socrates was a hedonist, but he chose actions that led him to death, which seems at least at first sight contradictory. Could death be an option in the framework of a pleasure-oriented philosophy? Did the Cyrenaic Socrates have reasons to hasten his condemnation? To examine these points, we will study the text of Papyrus Köln 205 and its possible connection with Aristippus’ views. Then we will point out some aspects of Aristippus’ philosophy that could justify Socrates’ behaviour. On this basis, we will draw some conclusions about the Cyrenaic perspective about pleasure, pain and the overall human condition.