The Wisdom of Fallibilism in Augustine's Contra Academicos and Cicero's Academica Compared

Abstract

On the Received Interpretation of Augustine’s CA, Augustine's primary aim is to refute the basic principles of Cicero's dogmatic Academic scepticism. In the Letter 1, however, Augustine says he tried to imitate rather than overcome Cicero's Academic position in the CA. In order to reconcile the CA to the Letter 1, I argue in this thesis that Augustine interpreted Cicero as a fallibilist rather than as a dogmatic sceptic. What I think Augustine then does in the CA is imitate Cicero’s fallibilism from the Acad. in the very act of dismantling his interlocutors’ dogmatic interpretations of Cicero’s philosophy. To the extent that this argument holds, I believe it should be safe to conclude that Augustine refutes dogmatic scepticism, but specifically his interlocutors' scepticism and in a way that imitates rather than overcomes Cicero’s project in the Acad..