The Cyrenaics were a school of philosophy founded by Aristippus of Cyrene in the first quarter of the fourth century BCE. Although he had two sons, Aristippus designated his daughter Arete as his intellectual heiress. She in turn bestowed the succession on her son Aristippus, called "the Mother-taught." Apparently it was mainly he, a contemporary of Aristotle, who developed the more technical aspects of Cyrenaic doctrines. Cyrenaics were always included in lists of philosophical schools drawn up by the historians even though they had no fixed headquarters (unlike the Academy, the Lyceum, the Garden, etc.). There were several subschools referred to by the names of individuals, as Hegesiacs, Annicerians, and so on. They seem to have carried on the tradition of the Sophists of Socrates' time, being loosely associated itinerant teachers offering, for fees, instruction in general culture and on particular philosophical doctrines. Their pupils were supposed to...