Anniceris (; fl. 300 BC) was a

Cyrenaic The Cyrenaics or Kyrenaics (), were a sensual hedonist Greek school of philosophy founded in the 4th century Common Era, BCE, supposedly by Aristippus of Cyrene, although many of the principles of the school are believed to have been formalized b ...

philosopher. He argued that pleasure is achieved through individual acts of gratification which are sought for the pleasure that they produce, but he also laid great emphasis on the love of family, country, friendship and gratitude, which provide pleasure even when they demand sacrifice.

Life

Anniceris was a disciple of Paraebates, and a fellow student of Hegesias. The

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

says he lived at the time of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

(ruled 336–323 BC).

Diogenes Laertius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek phi ...

tells a story that Anniceris ransomed

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

from Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, for twenty minas. This may possibly refer to an earlier Anniceris, possibly the celebrated charioteer mentioned by Aelian.

Philosophy

Anniceris denied that pleasure was merely the absence of pain, for if so death would be a pleasure; and furthermore he denied that pleasure is the ''general'' goal of human life. To each separate action, there is a ''particular'' end, namely the pleasure which actually results from it. He differed from Aristippus because he allowed that friendship, patriotism, and similar virtues, were good in themselves; saying that the wise person will derive pleasure from such qualities, even though they cause occasional trouble, and that a friend should be chosen not only for our own need, but for kindness and natural affection. He also denied that reason () alone can secure us from error; the wise person is the person who has acquired a habit of wise action; human wisdom is liable to lapses at any moment. The Annicerean (Ἀννικέρειος) sect originated from him.Suda, alpha, 2466
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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anniceris 4th-century BC births 3rd-century BC deaths 4th-century BC Greek philosophers Ancient Greek ethicists Cyrenaic philosophers Hellenistic-era philosophers