Carneades 214 BC – 129 BC
Carneades of Cyrene was a Greek philosopher and the most important head of the New Academy, the skeptical phase of Plato's school. He was famous for his ability to argue with equal force on either side of any thesis, a virtuosity he displayed during his celebrated embassy to Rome in 155 BC, where he argued for justice on one day and against it on the next. Against the Stoic claim that certainty is available, he developed a probabilist account of how the wise person guides action without dogmatic assent. He left no writings; his views are known through the reports of his students and of Cicero.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Greek
- Era
- Ancient
- Movements
- Skepticism, Platonism, Hellenistic
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Carneades:
“Nothing can be known, not even this.”
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Attributed to Carneades:
“Where reason yields no certainty, the wise are guided by what is persuasive.”
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Attributed to Carneades:
“If justice were a virtue, men would honor those who chose to be defrauded over those who chose to defraud.”
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Attributed to Carneades:
“The wise man assents to nothing with full conviction.”