Carneades was a Greek philosopher who led Plato's Academy in the Hellenistic period, from about 214 to 129 BCE. Born in Cyrene in North Africa, he settled in Athens and succeeded Hegesinus as head of the New Academy. Like his predecessor Arcesilaus, he composed no writings; his teaching survives in reports preserved by Clitomachus, Cicero, and other later authors.
The site holds his Testimonies, a compilation of passages in which Greek and Roman writers record his arguments against Stoic and Epicurean doctrine. His debate with the Stoics turned on the cognitive impression: Carneades denied that any impression carried a mark of certainty that could guarantee truth. To meet the charge that scepticism leaves no basis for action, he appealed to the persuasive impression and to graded probability as a guide without false assent.
Carneades is remembered above all for the embassy to Rome in 155 BCE, when he argued for justice on one day and against it the next, and for renewing Academic scepticism by keeping judgement in suspension while allowing reasoned approval of what appears plausible.
Available Works
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