Michel de Montaigne

1533-1592 · French · Skepticism, Moral Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy of Self

Que sais-je? — What do I know?

Michel de Montaigne invented the essay — the "attempt," the assay, the trying-out of a thought — because no existing form could hold what he wanted to do: portray a single ordinary man, himself, in all his contradiction and change. "I am myself the matter of my book," he warns the reader. He is not confessing sins like Augustine or building a system like the Schoolmen; he is watching his own mind move, and reporting honestly what he finds, which is that it never stands still. "I do not portray being," he writes, "I portray passing."

Topics Michel de Montaigne addresses

• the essay as a form
• Que sais-je? (What do I know?)
• Pyrrhonian skepticism
• the suspension of judgment
• fideism
• the Apology for Raymond Sebond
• the presumption of reason
• the self as the matter of the book
• self-portraiture
• the inconstancy of the self
• I do not portray being, I portray passing
• custom and habit
• cultural relativism
• the judgment of barbarism
• Of Cannibals
• the critique of cruelty
• torture and the wars of religion
• to philosophize is to learn to die
• the natural acceptance of death
• the animals and human presumption
• anthropocentrism
• the body and honesty
• moderation and the middle way
• the limits of medicine and learning

Questions to put to Michel de Montaigne

Skepticism and the Limits of Reason

• What do you mean by Que sais-je? — What do I know?
• How do you argue that human reason cannot reach certainty?
• Why do the senses deceive us, and how does that undermine knowledge?
• Does your skepticism leave room for faith, or does the doubt consume everything?
• What's the difference between suspending judgment and simply giving up on truth?

The Self and the Essay Form

• Why did you make yourself the subject of your book?
• What do you mean when you say you portray passing, not being?
• How can studying one ordinary man teach us anything general about humanity?
• Is there a stable self underneath all the contradictions you describe?
• Why do you leave the contradictions between your earlier and later thoughts standing instead of revising them away?

Custom, Barbarism, and the New World

• What's the argument behind your claim that we call barbarism whatever is not our own practice?
• How are the cannibals you describe less barbarous than Europeans?
• Does your view mean all customs are equally valid, or is there still a standard to judge by?
• What's at stake for you in the critique of European cruelty and torture?
• How should we think about cultural difference without falling into either arrogance or total relativism?

Death, the Body, and How to Live

• Why did you move away from the Stoic counsel to constantly meditate on death?
• What do you mean that nature will teach us how to die in the nick of time?
• How should we think about the body and its pleasures without shame or excess?
• What does it mean to live appropriately, in your view?
• Why do you say the most beautiful lives conform to the common and human model?

Animals, Presumption, and Our Place in Nature

• How do you argue that humans have no clear warrant to place themselves above animals?
• When you play with your cat, what makes you wonder whether she's playing with you?
• Is human reason a mark of superiority or a source of misery?
• What abilities do animals have that challenge our claim to be uniquely rational?
• Does humility about our kinship with animals change how we should treat them?

Converse with Michel de Montaigne on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in Michel de Montaigne's own writing, cited to the page.