Editing Arcesilaus

{{Short description|3rd-century BC Greek Hellenistic philosopher}}
{{about|Greek philosopher||Arcesilaus (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox philosopher
| region           = [[Western philosophy]]
| era              = [[Hellenistic philosophy]]
| image       = Arcesilaus and Carneades.jpg
| caption     = Arcesilaus and Carneades
| name             = Arcesilaus
| birth_date       = 316/5 BC
| birth_place      = [[Pitane (Aeolis)|Pitane]], [[Aeolis]]<br />(modern-day [[Çandarlı]], [[İzmir Province|Izmir]], [[Turkey]])
| death_date       = 241/0 BC
| death_place      = [[Athens]]<br />(modern-day [[Greece]])
| school_tradition = [[Academic Skepticism]]
| main_interests   = [[Epistemology]]
| notable_ideas    = Founder of [[Academic Skepticism]]
}}
'''Arcesilaus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɑːr|s|ɛ|s|ɪ|ˈ|l|eɪ|.|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀρκεσίλαος}}; 316/5–241/0 BC){{sfn|Dorandi|1999|p=48}} was a [[Greece|Greek]] [[Hellenistic philosophy|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/arcesil.htm |title=Arcesilaus &#124; Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Iep.utm.edu |access-date= 31 March 2016}}</ref> He did not preserve his thoughts in writing, so his opinions can only be gleaned second-hand from what is preserved by later writers.

In Athens Arcesilaus interacted with the [[Pyrrhonism|Pyrrhonist]] philosopher, [[Timon of Phlius]],<ref name=:0/> whose philosophy appears to have influenced Arcesilaus to become the first Academic to adopt a position of [[philosophical skepticism]], that is, he doubted the ability of the [[senses]] to discover [[truth]] about the world, although he may have continued to believe in the existence of truth itself. This brought in the [[Academic skepticism|skeptical phase of the academy]]. His chief opponent was his contemporary, [[Zeno of Citium]], the founder of [[Stoicism]], whose [[dogma]] of [[katalepsis]] (i.e., that reality could be comprehended with certainty) Arcesilaus [[acatalepsy|denied]].

==Life==
Arcesilaus was born in [[Pitane (Aeolis)|Pitane]] in [[Aeolis]]. His early education was provided by [[Autolycus of Pitane|Autolycus]] the [[mathematician]], with whom he migrated to [[Sardis]]. Afterwards, he studied [[rhetoric]] in [[Athens]]. He then studied philosophy, becoming a disciple first of [[Theophrastus]] and afterwards of [[Crantor]].<ref>[[Eusebius of Caesarea]]: ''[[Praeparatio Evangelica]]'' VI</ref> He also attended the school of [[Pyrrho]], whose [[Pyrrhonism|philosophy]] he maintained, except in name.<ref>[[Eusebius of Caesarea]], ''[[Praeparatio Evangelica]]'' Chapter VI</ref> He subsequently became intimate with [[Polemon (scholarch)|Polemo]] and [[Crates of Athens]], who made Arcesilaus his successor as [[scholarch]] (head) of the [[Platonic Academy]]. {{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

[[Diogenes Laërtius]] says that, like his successor [[Lacydes]], Arcesilaus died of excessive drinking, but the testimony of others (e.g. [[Cleanthes]], who said that he lived a dutiful life) and his own precepts discredit the story.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Holiday |first1=Ryan |author-link1=Ryan Holiday|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F3zZDwAAQBAJ |title=Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius |last2=Hanselman |first2=Stephen |publisher=Profile |year=2020 |isbn=978-1782835509 |page=21 |language=en}}</ref> He is known to have been much respected by the Athenians.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Philosophy==
{{main|Academic Skepticism}}
{{Pyrrhonism sidebar}}Arcesilaus committed nothing to writing. His opinions were imperfectly known to his contemporaries, and can now only be gathered from the statements of later writers. This makes his philosophy difficult to evaluate and partly inconsistent. This led scholars to see his skepticism in several ways. Some see his philosophy as completely negative or destructive of all philosophical views. Others regard him as taking the position that nothing can be known on the basis of his philosophical arguments. Others claimed he held no positive views on any philosophical topic, including the possibility of knowledge.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arcesilaus/ |title=Arcesilaus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) |publisher=Plato.stanford.edu |date=2005-01-14 |access-date=31 March 2016}}</ref>

Arcesilaus' contemporary, [[Aristo of Chios]], described Arcesilaus as being: "[[Plato]] the head of him, [[Pyrrho]] the tail, midway [[Diodorus Cronus|Diodorus]]"<ref>{{cite LotEP|chapter=Arcesilaus|§=35}}; and Sextus Empiricus, ''Outlines of Pyrrhonism''.</ref> meaning that Arcesilaus presented himself as a [[Platonism|Platonist]], the substance of what he taught was the dialectics of Diodorus, but his actual philosophy was that of [[Pyrrhonism]].<ref>"Arcesilaus ... does indeed seem to me to share the Pyrrhonean arguments, so that his Way is almost the same as ours.... he made use of the dialectic of Diodorus, but he was an outwardly Platonist." Sextus Empiricus, ''Outlines of Pyrrhonism'' Book I, Chapter 33.</ref> [[Eusebius]], probably quoting [[Aristocles of Messene]], reported that Arcesilaus studied in Pyrrho's school and adhered, except in name, to Pyrrhonism.<ref>[[Eusebius]], ''[[Praeparatio Evangelica]]'' Chapter VI</ref> [[Numenius of Apamea]] said "Arcesilaus accompanied [[Pyrrho]]. He remained Pyrrhonist in his rejection of everything, except in name. At least the Pyrrhonists Mnaseas,  Philomelos and [[Timon of Phlius|Timon]] call him a Pyrrhonist, just as they were themselves, because he too rejected the true, the false, and the persuasive."<ref>Numenius, fr. 25.64–71</ref>  [[Sextus Empiricus]] said that Arcesilaus' philosophy appeared essentially the same as Pyrrhonism, but granted that this might have been superficial.<ref>Sextus Empiricus, ''Outlines of Pyrrhonism'', Book 1, Chapter 33, Section 232</ref>

On the one hand, Arcesilaus professed to be no innovator, but a reviver of the [[dogma]]-free dialectic that had characterized the academy under Plato.<ref>David Sedley, in ''Doubt and Dogmatism'' Oxford University Press, 1980, p. 11</ref> Thus he is said to have restored the doctrines of [[Plato]] in an uncorrupted form. On the other hand, according to [[Cicero]],<ref>Cicero, ''Academica'', i. 12</ref> he summed up his opinions in the formula, "that he knew nothing, not even his own ignorance." There are two ways of reconciling the difficulty: either we may suppose him to have thrown out such aphorisms as an exercise for his pupils, as [[Sextus Empiricus]],<ref>Sextus Empiricus, ''Pyrrh. Hypotyp.'' i. 234</ref> who calls him a "skeptic", would have us believe; or he may have really doubted the esoteric meaning of Plato, and have supposed himself to have been stripping his works of the figments of the [[Dogmatists]], while he was in fact taking from them all certain principles.<ref>Cicero, ''De Oratore'', iii. 18.</ref>

Cicero attributes the following argument to Arcesilaus:

(i) it is rash and shameful to assent to something false or unknown, but since
(ii) nothing can be known (and obviously we shouldn't do what is rash and shameful),
(iii) we should suspend judgment about everything<ref>Cicero ''Academica'' ''Varro'', 44–45</ref>

[[Zeno of Citium]] and the other [[Stoics]] were the chief opponents of Arcesilaus. He attacked their [[dogma]] of [[Katalepsis|katalêptikê phantasia]] (i.e., a convincing conception) as understood to be a mean between ''[[episteme]]'' (knowledge) and ''[[doxa]]'' (opinion). He argued that this mean could not exist. It involved a contradiction in terms, as the very idea of ''[[phantasiai|phantasia]]'' implied the possibility of false as well as true conceptions of the same object. As such, it was merely the interpolation of a name.<ref>Cicero, ''Academica'', ii. 24.</ref>

==Commentary on Arcesilaus==
The [[Pyrrhonism|Pyrrhonist]] philosopher and contemporary of Arcesilaus, [[Timon of Phlius]] ridiculed Arcesilaus in his ''[[Silloi]]'', but also praised him in ''Funeral Banquet of Arcesilaus''.<ref name=:0>[[Diogenes Laërtius]] ''Lives of the Eminent Philosophers'' Book IX, Chapter 12, Section 114–115 [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D12]</ref> Fragments from Timon about Arcesilaus include:
* "Having the lead of [[Menedemus]] at his heart, he will run either to that mass of flesh, [[Pyrrho]], or to [[Diodorus Cronus|Diodorus]]."
* "I shall swim to [[Pyrrho]] and to crooked [[Diodorus Cronus|Diodorus]]."
* "And mixing sound sense with wily cavils."<ref>[[Diogenes Laërtius]] ''Lives of the Eminent Philosophers'' Book IV, Chapter 6, Section 33 [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D4%3Achapter%3D6#noteb]</ref>

[[Blaise Pascal]] wrote of Arcesilaus in his ''[[Pensées]]'' (1669, para. 375):
<blockquote>
I have seen changes in all nations and men, and thus after many changes of judgement regarding true justice, I have recognized that our nature was but in continual change, and I have not changed since; and if I changed, I would confirm my opinion. The skeptic Arcesilaus, who became a dogmatist.
</blockquote>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Dorandi  |first=Tiziano |chapter=Chapter 2: Chronology |editor-last=Algra |editor-first=Keimpe |display-editors=etal |year=1999 |title=The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory00algr  |url-access=limited  |page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory00algr/page/n67 48] |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521250283 }}
* Simone Vezzoli, ''Arcesilao di Pitane. L'origine del platonismo neoaccademico'' (''Philosophie hellénistique et romaine'', 1), Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2016, {{ISBN|978-2503550299}}

===Attribution===
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Arcesilaus|volume=2}}
* {{SmithDGRBM|title= Arcesilaus}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{cite SEP |url-id=arcesilaus |title=Arcesilaus |last=Brittain |first=Charles}}
* {{cite IEP|url-id=arcesil}}

{{Platonists}}
{{skepticism}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arcesilaus}}
[[Category:3rd-century BC Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek epistemologists]]
[[Category:310s BC births]]
[[Category:240s BC deaths]]
[[Category:Academic skeptics]]