Michel de Montaigne
Michel Eyquem, Seigneur de Montaigne ( mon-TAYN; French: [miʃɛl ekɛm də mɔ̃tɛɲ]; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), commonly known as Michel de Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. His work is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with intellectual insight. Montaigne had a direct influence on numerous Western writers; his massive volume Essais contains some of the most influential essays ever written.
During his lifetime, Montaigne was admired more as a statesman than as an author. The tendency in his essays to digress into anecdotes and personal ruminations was seen as detrimental to proper style rather than as an innovation, and his declaration that “I am myself the matter of my book” was viewed by his contemporaries as self-indulgent. In time, however, Montaigne came to be recognized as embodying, perhaps better than any other author of his time, the spirit of freely entertaining doubt that began to emerge at that time. He is most famously known for his skeptical remark, ”Que sçay-je?” (“What do I know?”, in Middle French; now rendered as “Que sais-je?” in modern French).
Once You Stop Caring, the Results Come - The Philosophy of Michel de Montaigne - YouTube
Early Life and Education of Michel De Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne, born in 1533 to a wealthy merchant family in France, was heavily influenced by his father’s emphasis on education. By the age of thirteen, Montaigne had mastered Latin and the curriculum of the College of Guienne in Bordeaux. His early education laid the foundation for his profound impact on literature and philosophy.
Montaigne’s Career and Initial Encounters with Mortality
In his twenties, Montaigne worked as a magistrate for the Court of Périgueux, serving the kings of France. The deaths of his best friend, father, and younger brother in his thirties profoundly affected him, marking the beginning of his contemplation on life’s transience and the absurdity of human existence.
Retreat from Public Life and Near-Death Experience
At thirty-eight, after a series of personal tragedies including near-fatal accidents and the death of his first child, Montaigne retired to his family estate. He inscribed his dedication to a life of freedom, tranquility, and leisure in his study, symbolizing his withdrawal from public life to focus on personal reflection and writing.
The Creation of Essays and Its Philosophical Impact
After nearly a decade of solitude, Montaigne published Essays in 1580. This collection of short essays touched on various topics and reflected Montaigne’s engagement with Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Skepticism. His intimate and candid writing style transformed the literary format, making Essays a pioneering work in philosophy and non-fiction.
Montaigne’s Philosophical Views on Reason and the Human Condition
Contrary to contemporary philosophers who prioritized reason, Montaigne viewed human beings as a blend of wisdom and folly. He criticized the intellectual arrogance of his time, advocating for a more humble and introspective approach to understanding life, emphasizing the study of oneself and the acceptance of life's inherent contradictions and uncertainties.
Death and Legacy
Montaigne continued to revise Essays until his death in 1592 at age fifty-nine from quinsy, which robbed him of his speech. His work profoundly influenced subsequent thinkers and writers, including Descartes, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, and established the essay as a fundamental literary form in education and non-fiction.
Conclusion: Montaigne’s Philosophy of Self-Expression and Mortality
Montaigne’s philosophy centered around the art of living through self-examination and expressing one's truth. He believed that to philosophize was to learn how to die, a theme that pervades his essays. His legacy endures in his contributions to modern skepticism and the literary essay, advocating for a life lived in awareness of one's mortality and in pursuit of personal authenticity.
Quotes
- “I study myself more than any other subject. That is my metaphysics, that is my physics.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.” ― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays
- “I quote others only in order the better to express myself.” ― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays
- “He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.” ― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays
- “At the age of thirty-eight, on the last day of February, his birthday, Michael de Montaigne, long weary of the servitude of the court and of public employments, while still entire, retired to the bosom of the learned virgins, where in calm and freedom from all cares he will spend what little remains of his life, now more than half run out. If the fates permit, he will complete this abode, this sweet ancestral retreat; and he has consecrated it to his freedom, tranquility, and leisure.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “I study myself more than any other subject. That is my metaphysics, that is my physics.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “I want you to see me as I am, in a plain, natural, and ordinary way, free of pretense and artifice. I am the one depicted here. My faults and my very self are exposed for all to see, at least as much as public conventions will let me.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “In practice, thousands of little women in their villages have lived more gentle, more equable and more constant lives than Cicero.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “Our life is part folly, part wisdom. Whoever writes about it only reverently and according to the rules leaves out more than half of it.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “If you sit on the highest throne in the world, you’re still sitting on your ass.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and apply myself to them, if they will not apply themselves to me.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “I may presently change, not only by chance, but also by intention. It is a record of diverse and changeable events, or undecided, and, when the occasion arises, contradictory ideas; whether it be that I am another self, or that I grasp a subject in different circumstances and see it from a different point of view. So it may be that I contradict myself, but, as Demades said, the truth I never contradict.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “To philosophize is to learn how to die.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “There were many terrible things in my life and most of them never happened.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “I find I am much prouder of the victory I obtain over myself, when, in the very ardor of dispute, I make myself submit to my adversary’s force of reason, than I am pleased with the victory I obtain over him through his weakness.” ― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays
- “To forbid us anything is to make us have a mind for it.” ― Michel de Montaigne, Essays
- How many things served us yesterday for articles of faith, which today are fables for us?” ― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays
- “To begin depriving death of its greatest advantage over us, let us adopt a way clean contrary to that common one; let us deprive death of its strangeness, let us frequent it, let us get used to it; let us have nothing more often in mind than death… We do not know where death awaits us: so let us wait for it everywhere.” … “To practice death is to practice freedom. A man who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave.” ― Michel de Montaigne
- “I speak the truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little more as I grow older.” ― Montaigne
- “To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately. All other things, ruling, hoarding, building, are only little appendages and props, at most.” ― Michel de Montaigne