Аристон Хиосский: Стоик, тяготевший к кинической этике.

3rd Century BCE Stoic philosopher

Aristo of Chios (Ἀρίστων ὁ Χῖος Ariston ho Chios; fl. c. 260 BC), also spelled Ariston, was a Greek Stoic philosopher and colleague of Zeno of Citium. He outlined a system of Stoic philosophy that was, in many ways, closer to earlier Cynic philosophy. He rejected the logical and physical sides of philosophy endorsed by Zeno and emphasized ethics. Although agreeing with Zeno that Virtue was the supreme good, he rejected the idea that morally indifferent things such as health and wealth could be ranked according to whether they are naturally preferred. An important philosopher in his day, his views were eventually marginalized by Zeno's successors.

Aristo, son of Miltiades, was born on the island of Chios sometime around 300 BC. He came to Athens where he attended the lectures of Zeno of Citium, and also, for a time, the lectures of Polemo, (the head of the Academy from 314 to 269). Although he was a member of Zeno's circle he soon departed from Zeno's teachings, largely rejecting the two non ethical parts of Stoic philosophy – physics and logic – endorsed by Zeno. A man of persuasive eloquence, Aristo was such a good speaker that he was called the Siren. He was also called Phalanthus, from his baldness. He set up his own school in the Cynosarges gymnasium (a place associated with Cynic philosophy) and attracted many pupils, so much so that when he was accused of exposing the dignity of philosophy by his freedom to all comers, he answered, that "he wished that Nature had given understanding to wild beasts, that they too might be capable of being his hearers." His followers called themselves Aristonians and included the scientist Eratosthenes and the Stoics: Apollophanes, Diphilus, and Miltiades. meaning that Arcesilaus presented himself as a Platonist, the substance of what he taught was the dialectics of Diodorus, but his actual philosophy was that of Pyrrhonism. In his old age, he reportedly lapsed from the Stoic ideal and indulged in pleasure. "Eratosthenes the Cyrenean in his treatise which is entitled Ariston, represents his master as subsequently being much addicted to luxury, speaking as follows: "And before now, I have at times discovered him breaking down, as it were, the partition wall between pleasure and virtue, and appearing on the side of pleasure." And Apollophanes (and he was an acquaintance of Ariston), in his Ariston (for he also wrote a book with that title), shows the way in which his master was addicted to pleasure." but he is supposed to have died from sunstroke on account of his baldness.

Zeno divided philosophy into three parts: Logic (which was a very wide subject including rhetoric, grammar, and the theories of perception and thought); Physics (including not just science, but the divine nature of the universe as well); and Ethics, the end goal of which was to achieve happiness through the right way of living according to Nature. It is impossible to describe in full Aristo's philosophical system because none of his writings survived intact, but from the fragments preserved by later writers, it is clear that Aristo was heavily influenced by earlier Cynic philosophy:

Aristo regarded Logic as unimportant, saying that it had nothing to do with us. and it is notable that Zeno, too, compared the skills of dialecticians "to right measures that do not measure wheat or anything else worthwhile but chaff and dung." According to Stephen Menn, Aristo was the first to add "somehow disposed in relation to something" to the Stoic Categories.

Aristo also rejected Physics, saying that it was beyond us.</blockquote>
This was in marked opposition to Zeno to whom "the universe was animate and possessed of reason." He did, however, agree with Zeno that Nature was comprehensible, arguing against the Academics. He once asked an Academic "Do you not even see the man who is sitting next to you? ", and when the Academic replied, "I do not," Aristo said: "Who then has blinded you; who has robbed you of your eyes?"

Aristo came to be regarded as a marginal figure in the history of Stoicism, but in his day, he was an important philosopher whose lectures drew large crowds. Eratosthenes, who lived in Athens as a young man, claimed that Aristo and Arcesilaus were the two most important philosophers of his age. But it was the more moderate Zeno, not the radical Aristo, whose views would win out. Chrysippus, (head of the Stoic school from c. 232 to c. 206 BC), systemized Stoicism along the lines set down by Zeno, and in doing so, was forced to repeatedly attack Aristo:
To maintain that the only Good is Moral Worth is to do away with the care of one's health, the management of one's estate, participation in politics, the conduct of affairs, the duties of life; nay, to abandon that Moral Worth itself, which according to you is the be all and the end all of existence; objections that were urged most earnestly against Aristo by Chrysippus. And yet, Aristo never quite went away, as can be seen by the repeated references to his views by later writers. By outlining a version of Stoicism rooted in Cynic philosophy, he provided fruitful food for thought for both the supporters and the opponents of Stoicism ever since.