A humanist, Montaigne defends a number of theses on which he always picks up in his Essay. Having a life divided between a legal and administrative career (he was mayor of Bordeaux, France), he took advantage of retreats in his castle to isolate and write. The theme: wisdom.
Essay it is his masterpiece, which blossomed after 20 years of reflection. It consists of a way of thinking critical to the society of the 16th century, although it addresses varied themes. Some of his theses are:
1 – Every new idea is dangerous;
2 – All men must be respected (humanism); and
3 – In the field of education, the child's personality must be respected.
This last thesis draws attention, since for Montaigne, an honest man must be formed, capable of reflecting for himself. This man should seek dialogue with others, having a sense of relativity about all things. Thus, he will be able to adapt to society where he will have to live in harmony with other men and with the world. He will be a free spirit and free from beliefs and superstitions.
According to Montaigne, man's thoughts and attitudes are subject to time, which can transform them. To reach this conclusion, it is customary to see Montaigne's thought divided into three evolutionary stages:
The first phase is the stoicism, in which the philosopher adopts, under the influence of his friend La Boétie, the stoic pretension of reaching absolute truth. But his spirit coexists more with doubt, and the stoic experience certainly marked, forever, Montaigne's break with any idea of absolute truth.
The second phase, as a consequence of the first and also because of the environment in which he lived, in a France divided by the intellectual conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, with a lot of violence and wars, Montaigne is seduced by the philosophers of skepticism, of doubt. According to these, if man knows nothing about himself, how can he know so much about the world and about God and his will? Doubt is for Montaigne a weapon against religious fanaticism.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
In the third and final stage, already mature and at the end of his life, Montaigne is more interested in himself than in other philosophers. His last writings, the “Essay”, are very personal. He was persuaded that the only knowledge worthy of value is that which one acquires for oneself. His active skepticism is an attempt to radically criticize the customs, knowledge and institutions of the time. With this, Montaigne's contribution is fundamental in the constitution of modern thought.
You "Essay” deal with a huge variety of themes: vanity, freedom of conscience, the lame, etc., and because they are essays they have no apparent unity. Freely, the philosopher lets his thought flow and take shape on paper, wandering from idea to idea, from association to association. He does not write to please his readers, nor does he write technically or for instruction. On the contrary, he intends to write for future generations, in order to leave a trace of what he was, what he thought at a given moment. Montaigne adopted the Greek principle “Know thyself”. Therefore, according to him, writing is a means of reaching this self-knowledge.
By João Francisco P. Cabral
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Uberlândia - UFU
Master's student in Philosophy at the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Philosophy - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
CABRAL, João Francisco Pereira. "The ideas of Michel de Montaigne"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/filosofia/as-ideias-michel-montaigne.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
