Michel de Montaigne

From Philosopedia

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem (Seigneur de) (28 February 1533 - 13 September 1592)

Montaigne was born near Bordeaux. His mother's Spanish-Portuguese family had converted from Judaism to Protestantism and immigrated to France during the Spanish Inquisition. His Roman Catholic father, a well-to-do merchant, came from a titled family. Tutored by his father, Montaigne read and wrote Latin fluently by the age of six. He completed his studies at the College de Guyenne at 13, then studied law, replacing his father as councilor of the Bordeaux court in 1555.

After serving for 15 years, he resigned to commence writing essays, a term he coined himself from the French word "essai" (attempt), and which he defined as "the dialog of the mind with itself."

Montaigne's quips and observations include:

• When I play with my cat, who knows whether she isn't amusing herself with me more than I am with her?

• Men of simple understanding, little inquisitive and little instructed, make good Christians.

• Man is quite insane. He wouldn't know how to make a maggot, and he makes Gods by the dozen.

Essays (1580)

Montaigne, at his father's request, had translated Spanish theologian Raimond Sebond's 1,000-page book on natural theology, which averred religious claims could be proved by scientific logic. When the first two volumes of his Essays were published in 1580, Montaigne's longest essay was "Apology for Raimond Sebond," which countered Sebond's claim, arguing religion could only be believed by faith.

A stoic, skeptic, and Epicurean, Montaigne once wrote, “O senseless man, who cannot possibly make a worm and yet will make gods by the dozens!” Of the witty essayist, Saint-Beuve reportedly observed that Montaigne was a good Catholic, only he was not a Christian. Corliss Lamont and others have pointed out that Montaigne never rejected Christian supernaturalism. During the French Revolution, Maréchal cited him as being only a “possible” atheist. Thweatt notes that Montaigne’s skepticism in his own time was viewed “not as a covert attack on faith but as a legitimate defense of Christian doctrine.” Joseph McCabe labels him “clearly a deist with a great disdain of the churches and their quarrels, but his expressions are necessarily so guarded that his Essays have only a literary interest today.”

Les Essais (2008), a 1,975 page-tome edited by Jean Balsamo, Michel Magnien,and Catherine Magnin Simon, differs from the 1588 edition that was annotated in Montaigne's own hand. It eliminates the paragraphing added by almost all modern editors for readability. Also, it does not indicate on the page of text what came from the first version of 1580, or the 1588 version, or was added in the margins or between the lines of the Bordeaux copy - such variants are found in the back of the book.

Freethinkers respect Montaigne because he expressed natural thoughts in common language, recognizing that all religious opinions are the result of custom. Also, his Essays opened the era of freethinking in France. At the end, no one was sure whether Montaigne was a secret atheist or whether he was a Christian. Emerson had said, “Montaigne is the frankest and honestest of all writers,” admiring his motto, “Que sais je?” (What know I?).

{BDF; CE; CL; ER; EU, Aram Vartarian and Vivien Thweatt; FFRF; HNS2; JM; PA; RAT; RE; TYD}