Michel de Montaigne
Paint not being, but passage.
Michel de Montaigne was a magistrate, mayor of Bordeaux and country gentleman who, after retiring to his library in 1571, invented a new form of writing: the essay. Testing his judgment on books, customs, friendship, illness and death, he made himself the subject of his book and drew from ancient scepticism and moral philosophy a sustained inquiry into the limits of human knowledge.
What do I know, and how should I live with what I do not know?
Biography
Michel de Montaigne was a magistrate, mayor of Bordeaux and country gentleman who, after retiring to his library in 1571, invented a new form of writing: the essay. Testing his judgment on books, customs, friendship, illness and death, he made himself the subject of his book and drew from ancient scepticism and moral philosophy a sustained inquiry into the limits of human knowledge.
02 /Philosophy
An essay is a trial: judgment is exercised on any subject, great or small, to discover its own strength and limits rather than to deliver a doctrine.
03 /Reading guides
Original introductions to enter the works, discover their central questions and take the reflection further.
04 /Bibliography
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
A first reading.
Testing one’s judgment
Follow how the Essays turn borrowed examples into a trial of judgment and a portrait of the writer in motion.
The EssaysDoubt against presumption
Examine how the Apology uses animals, the quarrels of philosophers and the weakness of the senses to humble reason.
Apology for Raymond SebondTravelling to compare customs
Read the Travel Journal as a field record of customs, religion and illness that feeds the later Essays.
Travel Journal