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Arcesilaus

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Also known as Arcesilaus of Pitane

Arcesilaus (; ; 316/5–241/0 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic philosopher. He was the founder of Academic Skepticism and what is variously called the Second or Middle or New Academy – the phase of the Platonic Academy in which it embraced philosophical skepticism.

Key facts

Philosopher.region
Western philosophy
Philosopher.era
Hellenistic philosophy
Philosopher.image
Arcesilaus and Carneades.jpg
Philosopher.caption
Arcesilaus and Carneades
Philosopher.name
Arcesilaus
Philosopher.birth_date
316/5 BC
Philosopher.birth_place
Pitane, Aeolis(modern-day Çandarlı, Izmir, Turkey)
Philosopher.death_date
241/0 BC
Philosopher.death_place
Athens(modern-day Greece)
Philosopher.school_tradition
Academic Skepticism
Philosopher.main_interests
Epistemology
Philosopher.notable_ideas
Founder of Academic Skepticism

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Gender
male
Citizenship
Classical Athens
Place of birth
Pitane
Place of death
Athens
Occupation
philosopher
Languages spoken
Ancient Greek
Field of work
philosophy
Movement
Platonism
Image
Arcesilaus and Carneades.jpg
Show 9 more facts
Commons category
Arcesilaus
date of birth
0315-01-01
date of death
0240-01-01
described by source
Pauly–Wissowa
writing language
Ancient Greek
significant place
Pitane
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~7 min read

Encyclopedic overview

7 sections
Contents
  • Life
  • Philosophy
  • Commentary on Arcesilaus
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • Attribution
  • External links

Arcesilaus (; ; 316/5–241/0 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic philosopher. He was the founder of Academic Skepticism and what is variously called the Second or Middle or New Academy – the phase of the Platonic Academy in which it embraced philosophical skepticism.

Arcesilaus succeeded Crates of Athens as the sixth scholarch of the academy around 264 BC. He did not preserve his thoughts in writing, so his opinions can only be gleaned second-hand from what is preserved by later writers.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Arcesilaus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.