Arcesila'us

Arcesila'us, a Greek philosopher, founder of the New Academy, was born at Pitane in Aolia, Asia Minor, 316 B.C. He studied philosophy, first under Theophrastus the Peripatetic, and afterwards under Crantor. He ultimately became the head of the Academic school, or those who held the doctrines of Plato; but he introduced so many innovations that its philosophic character was completely changed in the direction of scepticism. His great rivals were the Stoics. He denied the Stoical doctrine of knowledge, which he affirmed to be, from its very nature, unintelligible and contradictory. He also denied the existence of any sufficient criterion of truth, such as the 'irresistible conviction' of the Stoics, and recommended abstinence from all dogmatic judgments. In practice he maintained that we must act on grounds of probability. It is not easy to determine satisfactorily what his theory of morals was. A wit, a poet, and a man of frank and generous disposition, which seems to have captivated his disciples even more than his philosophy, he was yet accused of the grossest profligacy. He died in his 76th year (241 B.C.).