Academica
Academica is Cicero's philosophical dialogue presenting the doctrines of the sceptical New Academy, the school to which he gave his own allegiance. Written in 45 BC, it survives only in fragments: part of a first edition (the Lucullus, or Academica Priora) and the opening of a recast second edition (the Academica Posteriora). Through speakers such as Lucullus, Catulus, Varro, and Cicero himself, the work debates the great question of epistemology — whether certain knowledge is attainable, or whether the wise man must suspend judgment and live by probability alone. The Stoic theory of the "graspable impression" is set against the Academic critique of the senses and reason.
The Academica matters as one of antiquity's fullest treatments of the theory of knowledge, weighing dogmatism against scepticism with characteristic balance. It preserves invaluable testimony on Hellenistic philosophy — Stoic, Epicurean, and Academic alike — much of which would otherwise be lost. Beyond its doctrine, it stands as a monument of philosophical Latin, Cicero's deliberate effort to give Rome a vocabulary for Greek thought.
How it begins
Since the work of Davies appeared in 1725, no English scholar has edited the Academica . In Germany the last edition with explanatory notes is that of Goerenz, published in 1810. To the poverty and untrustworthiness of Goerenz's learning Madvig's pages bear strong evidence; while the work of Davies, though in every way far superior to that of Goerenz, is very deficient when judged by the criticism of the present time. This edition has grown out of a course of Intercollegiate lectures given by me at Christ's College several years ago. I trust that the work in its present shape will be of use to undergraduate students of the Universities, and also to pupils and teachers alike in all schools where the philosophical works of Cicero are studied, but especially in those where an attempt is made to impart such instruction in the Ancient Philosophy as will prepare the way for the completer knowledge now required in the final Classical Examinations for Honours both at Oxford and Cambridge. My notes have been written throughout with a practical reference to the needs of junior students. During the last three or four years I have read the Academica with a large number of intelligent pupils, and there is scarcely a note of mine which has not been suggested by some difficulty or want of theirs.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain.