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==Continuity of the Academy==
[[File:Plato Academy MAN Napoli Inv124545.jpg|thumbnail|The Academy as depicted in a mosaic.]]
In around 266 BCE, Arcesilaus became the Scholarch or head of the Academy.<ref>For more on Arcesilaus, see: Algra, Keimpe, ed. 2005. The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. 1st pbk. ed. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, pg. 324. </ref> He developed what became known as the Skeptical school of Platonism. This period saw influences by the Skeptics and Stoics on many philosophical ideas, although both were criticized by the Platonist skeptics. Skepticism saw that the universe was unknowable and it was folly to pursue it. Arcesilaus, on the other hand, taught that skepticism should be measured with degrees of probability. While it might be true that certain things are unknowable, one can pursue knowledge such that a degree of probability could be ascribed. This, therefore, makes the pursuit of knowledge worthwhile since it allows us to know more and some degree of knowledge about any given topic, although we may not fully attained total knowledge about a topic. Having an agnostic attitude towards knowledge were central to the new philosophy.

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