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Why did Cicero call himself an Academic philosopher?

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Marble bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero, shown with short hair and draped clothing, displayed against a black background. — Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero, detail of a marble bust; in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Cicero identified as an Academic philosopher primarily due to his approach to epistemology, or the theory of knowledge.1

In this context, calling himself an Academic meant that he preferred to be guided by probability rather than claiming absolute certainty. This philosophical stance allowed him to maintain a flexible intellectual position, which he used to justify the presence of contradictions within his own works. By adopting this "Academic" skepticism—a tradition developed in the Academy by figures such as Arcesilaus and Carneades—Cicero defended the suspension of judgment regarding claims of objective truth.12

While he was attracted to Stoic dogmatism in the realm of ethics, his fundamental identification as an Academic remained tied to his commitment to probabilistic reasoning over dogmatic assertion.1