 Later ancient writers sometimes speak of Carneades founding the third or New Academy (giving ‘New Academy’ which elsewhere covers the whole of the Academy from Arcesilaus’ time a narrower meaning) which followed the second or Middle Academy of Arcesilaus and the first or Old Academy of Plato and his earliest successors. (The distinction between Academies was meant to signal changes in philosophical doctrine or approach, not changes in the school as an institution.) The New Academy in this narrower sense seemed, to both ancient philosophers and modern historians, to differ from the Middle chiefly in two respects. Carneades appeared to favor a mitigated form of skepticism, which admitted the possibility of well-founded opinions if not of certain knowledge. And he tackled issues in, and sometimes defended positions about, logic, ethics, natural philosophy and theology as well as epistemology, which had been the focus of Arcesilaus’ attention. 