The Socratic Schools: Antisthenes, Aristippus and Euclides

Plato was not Socrates' only heir. Several companions founded schools that took Socrates' example in very different directions, showing how open his legacy was. Antisthenes admired Socrates' toughness and indifference to luxury, and he taught that virtue is enough for happiness and requires discipline; later Greeks saw him as a forerunner of the Cynics. Aristippus of Cyrene drew the opposite lesson, emphasizing pleasure in the present moment, managed with self-control, and his followers became the Cyrenaic school.

Euclides of Megara blended Socratic ethics with the logic of Parmenides, and the Megarian school became famous for logical puzzles such as the 'liar' paradox, usually credited to Eubulides. The variety of these schools suggests that Socrates offered a method and a way of life more than a fixed doctrine, so followers could build quite different philosophies on his foundation.