2024/11/02

Essays (Montaigne) - Wikipedia

Essays (Montaigne) - Wikipedia

Essays (Montaigne)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Essays
Cover, circa 1588.
AuthorMichel de Montaigne
Original titleEssais
LanguageMiddle French
GenreEssay
PublisherSimon Millanges, Jean Richer
Publication date
March 1580
Publication placeKingdom of France
TextEssays at Wikisource

The Essays (French: Essais, pronounced [esɛ]) of Michel de Montaigne are contained in three books and 107 chapters of varying length. They were originally written in Middle French and published in the Kingdom of France. Montaigne's stated design in writing, publishing and revising the Essays over the period from approximately 1570 to 1592 was to record "some traits of my character and of my humours." The Essays were first published in 1580 and cover a wide range of topics.[1]

The Essais exercised an important influence on both French and English literature, in thought and style.[2]

Style

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Montaigne wrote in a seemingly conversational or informal style that combines a highly literate vocabulary with popular sayings and local slang. The earlier essays are more formal and structured and sometimes quite short ("Of prognostications"), but later essays, and revisions to the essays in later editions, are longer and more complex. In his later style he freely associates one topic with another in the manner of a searching inquiry into an issue from different points of view. His thoughts are often supported with quotations from Ancient Greek, Latin, and Italian texts such as De rerum natura by Lucretius[3] and the works of Plutarch. Furthermore, his Essays were seen as an important contribution to both writing form and skepticism. The name itself comes from the French word essais, meaning "attempts" or "tests", which shows how this new form of writing did not aim to educate or prove. Rather, his essays examine an enormous range of topics to reflect on the diversity of received opinions, the fallibility of human knowledge and the folly of certitude.[4]

Content

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Part of a series on
Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonists
Concepts
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Montaigne's stated goal in his book is to describe himself with utter frankness and honesty ("bonne foi"). The insight into human nature provided by his essays, for which they are so widely read, is merely a by-product of his introspection. Though the implications of his essays were profound and far-reaching, he did not intend or suspect that his work would garner much attention outside of his inner circle,[5] prefacing his essays with, "I am myself the matter of this book; you would be unreasonable to suspend your leisure on so frivolous and vain a subject."[6]

Montaigne's essay topics spanned the entire spectrum of the profound to the trivial, with titles ranging from "Of Sadness and Sorrow" and "Of Conscience" to "Of Smells" and "Of Posting" (referring to posting letters). Montaigne wrote at the height of the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598) between Catholics and protestant Huguenots. Christianity in the 15th and 16th centuries saw Protestant authors consistently attempting to subvert Church doctrine with reason and scholarship. Consequently, some Catholic scholars embraced skepticism as a means to discredit all reason and scholarship and accept Church doctrine through faith alone.[7]

Montaigne never found certainty in any of his inquiries into the nature of man and things, despite his best efforts and many attempts.[7] He mistrusted the certainty of both human reason and experience. He reasoned that while man is finite, truth is infinite; thus, human capacity is naturally inhibited in grasping reality in its fullness or with certainty.[7] Though he did believe in the existence of absolute truth, he believed that such truth could only be arrived at by man through divine revelation, leaving us in the dark on most matters.[7] He finds the great variety and volatility of human nature to be its most basic features, which resonates with Renaissance thought about the fragility of humans. According to the scholar Paul Oskar Kristeller, "the writers of the period were keenly aware of the miseries and ills of our earthly existence". A representative quote of Montaigne is: "I have never seen a greater monster or miracle than myself."

Citing the case of Martin Guerre as an example, Montaigne believes that humans cannot attain certainty. His philosophical skepticism is best expressed in the long essay "An Apology for Raymond Sebond" (Book 2, Chapter 12) in which he embraced the philosophy of Pyrrhonism. Montaigne posits that we cannot trust our reasoning because thoughts just occur to us: we do not truly control them. Further, he says we do not have good reasons to consider ourselves superior to the animals.[8] In the middle of the section normally entitled "Man's Knowledge Cannot Make Him Good", he wrote that his motto was "What do I know?" The essay on Sebond defended Catholicism. As in all of his essays, Montaigne eloquently employed many references and quotes from classical Greek and Roman authors, especially Lucretius.

Montaigne considered marriage necessary for the raising of children, but disliked the strong feelings of romantic love as being detrimental to freedom. One of his quotations is: "Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside desperate to get out."

In education, he favored concrete examples and experience over the teaching of abstract knowledge that is expected to be accepted uncritically. Montaigne's essay "On the Education of Children" is dedicated to Diana of Foix.

He opposed European colonization of the Americas, deploring the suffering it brought upon the natives.

Chronology

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Montaigne heavily edited the Essays at various points in his life. Sometimes he would insert just one word, while at other times he would insert whole passages. Many editions mark this with letters as follows:

  • A: passages written 1571–1580, published 1580
  • B: passages written 1580–1588, published 1588
  • C: passages written 1588–1592, published 1595 (posthumously)[9][10]

A copy of the fifth edition of the Essais with Montaigne's own "C" additions in his own hand exists, preserved at the Municipal Library of Bordeaux (known to editors as the Bordeaux Copy).[11] This edition gives modern editors a text dramatically indicative of Montaigne's final intentions (as opposed to the multitude of Renaissance works for which no autograph exists). Analyzing the differences and additions between editions show how Montaigne's thoughts evolved over time. Remarkably, he does not seem to remove previous writings, even when they conflict with his newer views.

Influence

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The remarkable modernity of thought apparent in Montaigne's essays, coupled with their sustained popularity, made them arguably the most prominent work in French philosophy until the Enlightenment. Their influence over French education and culture is still strong. The official portrait of former French president François Mitterrand pictured him facing the camera, holding an open copy of the Essays in his hands.[12]

English journalist and politician J. M. Robertson argued that Montaigne's essays had a profound influence on the plays of William Shakespeare, citing their similarities in language, themes and structures.[13]

The Essays

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Book 1

  1. "That Men by Various Ways Arrive at the Same End"
  2. "Of Sadness or Sorrow"
  3. "That Our Affections Carry Themselves Beyond Us"
  4. "That the Soul Expends Its Passions Upon False Objects"
  5. "Whether the Governor Himself Go Out to Parley"
  6. "That the Hour of Parley Is Dangerous"
  7. "That the Intention is Judge of Our Actions"
  8. "Of Idleness"
  9. "Of Liars"
  10. "Of Quick or Slow Speech"
  11. "Of Prognostications"
  12. "Of Constancy"
  13. "The Ceremony of the Interview of Princes"
  14. "That Men are Justly Punished for Being Obstinate"
  15. "Of the Punishment of Cowardice"
  16. "A Proceeding of Some Ambassadors"
  17. "Of Fear"
  18. "Not To Judge of Our Happiness Till After Death"
  19. "That To Study Philosophy is to Learn to Die"
  20. "Of Imagination"
  21. "That the Profit of One Man is the Damage of Another"
  22. "Of Custom; We Should Not Easily Change a Law Received"
  23. "Various Events from the Same Counsel"
  24. "Of Pedantry"
  25. "Of the Education of Children"
  26. "Folly to Measure Truth and Error by Our Own Capacity"
  27. "Of Friendship"
  28. "Nine and Twenty Sonnets of Estienne De La Boitie"
  29. "Of Moderation"
  30. "Of Cannibals"
  31. "That a Man is Soberly to Judge of the Divine Ordinances"
  32. "We are to Avoid Pleasures, Even at the Expense of Life"
  33. "Fortune is Often Observed to Act by the Rule of Reason"
  34. "Of One Defect In Our Government"
  35. "Of the Custom of Wearing Clothes"
  36. "Of Cato the Younger"
  37. "That We Laugh And Cry for the Same Thing"
  38. "Of Solitude"
  39. "A Consideration Upon Cicero"
  40. "Relish for Good and Evil Depends Upon Our Opinion"
  41. "Not to Communicate a Man's Honour"
  42. "Of the Inequality Amongst Us"
  43. "Of Sumptuary Laws"
  44. "Of Sleep"
  45. "Of the Battle of Dreux"
  46. "Of Names"
  47. "Of the Uncertainty of Our Judgment"
  48. "Of War Horses, or Destrier"
  49. "Of Ancient Customs"
  50. "Of Democritus and Heraclitus"
  51. "Of the Vanity of Words"
  52. "Of the Parsimony of the Ancients"
  53. "Of a Saying of Caesar"
  54. "Of Vain Subtleties"
  55. "Of Smells"
  56. "Of Prayers"
  57. "Of Age"

Book 2

  1. "Of the Inconstancy of Our Actions"
  2. "Of Drunkenness"
  3. "A Custom of the Isle of Cea"
  4. "To-Morrow's a New Day"
  5. "Of Conscience"
  6. "Use Makes Perfect"
  7. "Of Recompenses of Honour"
  8. "Of the Affection of Fathers to Their Children"
  9. "Of the Arms of the Parthians"
  10. "Of Books"
  11. "Of Cruelty"
  12. "Apology for Raimond Sebond"
  13. "Of Judging of the Death of Another"
  14. "That Our Mind Hinders Itself"
  15. "That Our Desires are Augmented by Difficulty"
  16. "Of Glory"
  17. "Of Presumption"
  18. "Of Giving the Lie"
  19. "Of Liberty of Conscience"
  20. "That We Taste Nothing Pure"
  21. "Against Idleness"
  22. "Of Posting"
  23. "Of Ill Means Employed to a Good End"
  24. "Of the Roman Grandeur"
  25. "Not to Counterfeit Being Sick"
  26. "Of Thumbs"
  27. "Cowardice the Mother of Cruelty"
  28. "All Things Have Their Season"
  29. "Of Virtue"
  30. "Of a Monstrous Child"
  31. "Of Anger"
  32. "Defence of Seneca and Plutarch"
  33. "The Story of Spurina"
  34. "Observation on a War According to Julius Caesar"
  35. "Of Three Good Women"
  36. "Of the Most Excellent Men"
  37. "Of the Resemblance of Children to Their Fathers"

Book 3

  1. "Of Profit and Honesty"
  2. "Of Repentance"
  3. "Of Three Commerces"
  4. "Of Diversion"
  5. "Upon Some Verses of Virgil"
  6. "Of Coaches"
  7. "Of the Inconvenience of Greatness"
  8. "Of the Art of Conference"
  9. "Of Vanity"
  10. "Of Managing the Will"
  11. "Of Cripples"
  12. "Of Physiognomy"
  13. "Of Experience"

English translations

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Montaigne, Michel de (1580). Essais de messire Michel de Montaigne,... livre premier et second (I ed.). impr. de S. Millanges (Bourdeaus). Retrieved 1 June 2017 – via Gallica.
  2. ^ Bloom, Harold (1995). The Western Canon. Riverhead Books. ISBN 978-1573225144.
  3. ^ "Titi Lucretii Cari De rerum natura libri sex (Montaigne.1.4.4)". Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Michel de Montaigne | French writer and philosopher". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
  5. ^ "Guide to the Classics: Michel de Montaigne's Essay". Observer. 2016-11-15. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
  6. ^ Kritzman, Lawrence. The Fabulous Imagination: On Montaigne's Essays. Columbia University Press.
  7. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Screech, Michael (1983). Montaigne & Melancholy: The Wisdom of the Essays. Penguin Books. pp. 1–5.
  8. ^ Collins, Rory W. (2018). "What Does It Mean to be Human, and Not Animal? Examining Montaigne's Literary Persuasiveness in 'Man is No Better Than the Animals'". Sloth: A Journal of Emerging Voices in Human-Animal Studies. 4 (1).
  9. ^ Montaigne, Michel de. The Complete Essays. Trans. M. A. Screech. London: Penguin, 2003 (1987), p. 1284
  10. ^ Les Essais (1595 text), Jean Céard, Denis Bjaï, Bénédicte Boudou, Isabelle Pantin, Hachette, Pochothèque, 2001, Livre de Poche, 2002.
  11. ^ Montaigne, Michel de (1588). Essais de Michel seigneur de Montaigne. Cinquiesme edition, augmentée d'un troisiesme livre et de six cens additions aux deux premiers (5 ed.). A Paris, Chez Abel L'Angelier, au premier pillier de la grand Salle du Palais. Avec privilege du Roy. Retrieved 1 June 2017 – via Gallica.
  12. ^ "Archived copy". www.mitterrand.org. Archived from the original on 16 November 2006. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  13. ^ Robertson, John (1909). Montaigne and Shakespeare: And Other Essays on Cognate Questions. University of California. pp. 65–79.
  14. ^ Essays of Montaigne - Volume 2, worldcat.org. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  15. ^ The essays of Montaigne / translated by E. J. Trechmann ; with an introduction by the Rt. Hon. J. M. Robertson, nla.gov.au. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  16. ^ Prof. Jacob Zeitlin, Educator 30 Years, Head of English, The New York Times, 9 December 1937. Retrieved 30 June 2021. Jacob Zeitlin, born 1883, died 1937, Professor of English at University of Illinois.
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Wikisource has original text related to this article:
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에세이- [일어한역]

출처 : 무료 백과 사전 "Wikipedia (Wikipedia)"
모호함 회피「수상록」은 이 항목에 전송 되고 있습니다. 그 외의 용법에 대해서는 「수상록(모호함 회피)」을 봐 주세요.
에세(수상록)
Les Essais
『수상록』 표지
『수상록』 표지
저자미셸 드 몬테뉴 (1533-1592)
발행일1580 년 초판
장르수필
국가프랑스 국기 프랑스
언어프랑스어
형태문학 작품
 위키 포털 문학
[ 위키 데이터 항목 편집 ]
템플릿 보기

' 에세이 '( 불 : Les Essais ) 혹은 ' 수상록' (즈이소로쿠)은 프랑스 의 모랄 리스트 , 미셸 드 몬테뉴 가 107의 수필을 모아 1580년 에 간행한 책이다. 몬테뉴는 수필 (에세이, 에세이)라고 하는, 특정한 화제에 관한 주관적인 짧은 문장의 형식을 발명한 것이며, 이 책은 그 에세이를 담고 있다. 인간의 모든 영위를 간헐적인 문장으로 성찰함으로써 몬테뉴는 인간 그 자체를 솔직하게 기술하려고 하고 모랄리스트 문학의 전통을 열었다. 프랑스어 의 essai 는 「시도」나 「기획」이라고 하는 의미이다.

2023년, 에세이 저자 가필 정정 책의 보르도 책 ( 프랑스어판 ) 은 세계의 기억 에 등록되었다 [ 1 ] .

문체

[ 편집 ]

몬테뉴는 독자의 흥미를 돋우고 끌어들이도록 의도된 교묘한 레트릭 을 사용하여 쓰고 있어, 어떤 때에는 화제에서 화제로 의식의 흐름을 따라 움직이는 것처럼 보이고 또 어떤 때에는 작품의 보다 교육적 한 성질을 강조하는 구조적인 문체를 사용하고 있다. 고대 그리스 , 라틴 문학 , 이탈리아 문학 의 인용이 종종 보강으로 사용됩니다.

내용

[ 편집 ]

몬테뉴의 목적은 인간, 특히 그 자신을 완전히 솔직하게 기술하는 것이라고 '수상록'에서 말하고 있다. 몬테뉴는 인간성 의 큰 다양성과 변화하기 쉬움이 그 최대의 특징이라고 인식하고 있었다. “나 자신이라고 하는 것보다 큰 괴물이나 경이는 본 적이 없다.” [ 2 ] 라는 것이 전형적인 인용구이다.

몬테뉴는 자신의 빈약한 기억력이나, 정말 감정적으로는 안 되고 문제를 해결하고 싸움을 중재 하는 능력이나, 후세에까지 남는 명성을 갖고 싶은 인간에 대한 혐오감이나, 죽음에 대비 세속으로부터 떠나자 하는 시도 등을 쓰고 있다.

당시의 가톨릭 과 개신교 사이의 폭력적(몬테뉴의 의견에 의하면) 야만적인 분쟁을 몬테뉴는 혐오하고 있어, 그 글에는 르네상스인 것 같지 않은 비관주의 와 회의주의가 들여다 보고 있다.

전반적으로 몬테뉴는 유마니즘의 강력한 지지자였다. 몬테뉴는 하나님을 믿고 가톨릭 교회 를 받아들였지만, 하나님의 섭리가 어떤 의미에서 개별 역사적 사건에 영향을 미쳤는지 말하는 것은 거부했다.

신세계의 정복 에 반대하고 있어 그것이 원주민 에게 가져온 고통을 한탄하고 있었다.

미셸 드 몬테뉴

마르탄 게일 사건을 예로 들으면서, 몬테뉴는 인간이 확실성을 획득할 수 없다고 생각하고 있다. 그 회의주의는 섹스트스 등의 영향을 받아 ' 레이몬 바지 ( 영어판 ) 의 변호' [ 3 ] 라는 긴 에세이에 가장 잘 나타났으며, 이 장은 종종 단독으로도 출판되어 왔다. 우리는 자신의 추론을 믿을 수 없어, 왜냐하면 생각은 우리에게 일어나기 때문입니다. 우리는 진정한 의미에서 그들을 통제 할 수 없습니다. 우리가 동물보다 낫다고 생각할 이유는 없다. 몬테뉴는 고문에 의해 얻은 자백에는 매우 회의적이며, 그러한 자백은 고문에서 벗어나기 위해 용의자가 쫓아 올린 것일지도 모른다고 지적하고 있다 [ 요출전 ] . 보통 "지식은 사람을 선량하게는 할 수 없다"라는 제목의 절에서 몬테뉴는 자신의 좌우명이 "나는 무엇을 알고 있는가?"( Que sçay-je? )라고 쓰고 있다. 바지 변호의 에세는 표면적으로 기독교 를 변호하고 있다. 그러나 몬테뉴는 기독교인이 아닌 고대 그리스 로마의 저술가들을 언급하고 인용하고 있으며, 특히 원자론자 루크레티우스 를 많이 언급하고 있다.

몬테뉴는 결혼을 아이를 키우기 위해서는 필요하다고 생각했지만, 연애 에 의한 격렬한 감정은 자유 에 해로운 것으로 싫어했다. “결혼은 새장과 같은 것이다. 그 밖에 있는 새는 필사적으로 들어가려고 하지만, 안에 있는 새는 필사적으로 나오려고 한다.”라는 말이 있다.

교육에 관해서는 추상 지식을 비비판으로 받아들이는 것보다 구체적인 예나 경험을 선호하고 있었다. "아이의 교육에 대해" [ 4 ] 라는 에세이는 디아누 드 포바 ( 프랑스어판 ) 에 바쳐지고 있다.

이미지 외부 링크
 「수상록」을 손에 넣은 미테란

몬테뉴의 에세에 명백하게 나타나는 사고의 현대성은 오늘날에도 인기를 유지하고 계몽 시대 까지 프랑스 철학에서 가장 뛰어난 작품이 되고 있다. 프랑스의 교육과 문화에 미치는 영향은 여전히 ​​크다. 프랑스 전 대통령 프랑소바 미테랑의 공식 초상화 사진에서는 '수상록'을 손에 들고 열고 있다.

텍스트의 변천

[ 편집 ]
몬테뉴에 의한 「수상록」에의 기입

몬테뉴는 1572년부터 에세의 집필을 시작해, 1580년의 초판 간행 후에도 평생을 통해 편집을 계속했다. 한 단어만 삽입하는 것도 있고, 복수의 절을 통째로 삽입하는 일도 있었다. 후세의 많은 판에서는 이것을 이하의 기호로 나타내고 있다.

  • A: 1571-1580에 쓴 절. 1580년 간
  • B: 1580-1588에 쓴 절. 1588년 간
  • C: 1588-1592에 쓴 절. 1595년간(사후의 간행) [ 5 ] [ 6 ]

판간의 차이나 추가분을 분석하는 것으로, 몬테뉴의 사고가 시간과 함께 어떻게 변천해 갔는지를 알 수 있다. 현재의 생각과 모순될 때라도, 몬테뉴는 이전의 설명을 없애지 않았던 것 같다.

서지

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세키네역(전6권), 아라키역(전3권 [ 9 ] ), 미야시타역(전7권)은 각· 전자서적 으로 재간

각주・출처

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  1. ↑ “ UNESCO Memory of the World Register ”. UNESCO. 2023년 5월 27일에 확인함.
  2. ↑ 제3권 11 장 . 위키 소스 원문
  3. ↑ 2권 12장. 위키 소스 원문
  4. ↑ 1권 26장. 위키 소스 원문
  5. ↑ Montaigne, Michel de. The Complete Essays . Trans. MA Screech. London: Penguin, 2003 (1987), p. 1284
  6. ↑ Les Essais (1595 text), Jean Céard, Denis Bjaï, Bénédicte Boudou, Isabelle Pantin, Hachette, Pochothèque, 2001, Livre de Poche, 2002.
  7. ^ 원역의 별판은 , 각·쓰쿠마 서방에서 “ 세계 고전 문학 전집 37·38 몬테뉴”, “쓰쿠마 세계 문학 대계 13·14 몬테뉴 ”
  8. ↑ 전집(신판)은 전 9권. 그 외는 「여행 일기」 「서간집」
  9. ^ 아라키역(편역)은 구텐베르크 21 로, 세키네역은 국서 간행회로, 각·2024년에 전자 서적화.

참고문헌

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관련 항목

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외부 링크

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프랑스어판 위키소스에는 이 기사와 관련된 원문이 있습니다.

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Michel de Montaigne - Wikipedia

Michel de Montaigne - Wikipedia



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Essais

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Main article: Essays (Montaigne)

His humanism finds expression in his Essais, a collection of a large number of short subjective essays on various topics published in 1580 that were inspired by his studies in the classics, especially by the works of Plutarch and Lucretius.[40] Montaigne's stated goal was to describe humans, and especially himself, with utter frankness.

Inspired by his consideration of the lives and ideals of the leading figures of his age, he finds the great variety and volatility of human nature to be its most basic features. He describes his own poor memory, his ability to solve problems and mediate conflicts without truly getting emotionally involved, his disdain for the human pursuit of lasting fame, and his attempts to detach himself from worldly things to prepare for his timely death. He writes about his disgust with the religious conflicts of his time. He believed that humans are not able to attain true certainty. The longest of his essays, Apology for Raymond Sebond, marking his adoption of Pyrrhonism,[41] contains his famous motto, "What do I know?"

Montaigne considered marriage necessary for the raising of children but disliked strong feelings of passionate love because he saw them as detrimental to freedom. In education, he favored concrete examples and experience over the teaching of abstract knowledge intended to be accepted uncritically. His essay "On the Education of Children" is dedicated to Diana of Foix.

The Essais exercised an important influence on both French and English literature, in thought and style.[42] Francis Bacon's Essays, published over a decade later, first in 1597, usually are presumed to be directly influenced by Montaigne's collection, and Montaigne is cited by Bacon alongside other classical sources in later essays.[43]

Montaigne's influence on psychology

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Although not a scientist, Montaigne made observations on topics in psychology.[44] In his essays, he developed and explained his observations of these themes. His thoughts and ideas covered subjects such as thought, motivation, fear, happiness, child education, experience, and human action. Montaigne's ideas have influenced psychology and are a part of its rich history.

Child education

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Child education was among the psychological topics that he wrote about.[44] His essays On the Education of Children, On Pedantry, and On Experience explain the views he had on child education.[45]: 61 : 62 : 70  Some of his views on child education are still relevant today.[46]

Montaigne's views on the education of children were opposed to the common educational practices of his day.[45]: 63 : 67  He found fault both with what was taught and how it was taught.[45]: 62  Much of education during Montaigne's time focused on reading the classics and learning through books.[45]: 67  Montaigne disagreed with learning strictly through books. He believed it was necessary to educate children in a variety of ways. He also disagreed with the way information was being presented to students. It was being presented in a way that encouraged students to take the information that was taught to them as absolute truth. Students were denied the chance to question the information; but Montaigne, in general, took the position that to learn truly, a student had to take the information and make it their own:

Let the tutor make his charge pass everything through a sieve and lodge nothing in his head on mere authority and trust: let not Aristotle's principles be principles to him any more than those of the Stoics or Epicureans. Let this variety of ideas be set before him; he will choose if he can; if not, he will remain in doubt. Only the fools are certain and assured. "For doubting pleases me no less than knowing." [Dante]. For if he embraces Xenophon's and Plato's opinions by his own reasoning, they will no longer be theirs, they will be his. He who follows another follows nothing. He finds nothing; indeed he seeks nothing. "We are not under a king; let each one claim his own freedom." [Seneca]. . . . He must imbibe their way of thinking, not learn their precepts. And let him boldly forget, if he wants, where he got them, but let him know how to make them his own. Truth and reason are common to everyone, and no more belong to the man who first spoke them than to the man who says them later. It is no more according to Plato than according to me, since he and I see it in the same way. The bees plunder the flowers here and there, but afterward they make of them honey, which is all and purely their own, and no longer thyme and marjoram.[47][48]

At the foundation, Montaigne believed that the selection of a good tutor was important for the student to become well educated.[45]: 66  Education by a tutor was to be conducted at the pace of the student.[45]: 67  He believed that a tutor should be in dialogue with the student, letting the student speak first. The tutor also should allow for discussions and debates to be had. Such a dialogue was intended to create an environment in which students would teach themselves. They would be able to realize their mistakes and make corrections to them as necessary.[citation needed]

Individualized learning was integral to his theory of child education. He argued that the student combines information already known with what is learned and forms a unique perspective on the newly learned information.[49]: 356  Montaigne also thought that tutors should encourage the natural curiosity of students and allow them to question things.[45]: 68  He postulated that successful students were those who were encouraged to question new information and study it for themselves, rather than simply accepting what they had heard from the authorities on any given topic. Montaigne believed that a child's curiosity could serve as an important teaching tool when the child is allowed to explore the things that the child is curious about.[citation needed]

Experience also was a key element to learning for Montaigne. Tutors needed to teach students through experience rather than through the mere memorization of information often practised in book learning.[45]: 62 : 67  He argued that students would become passive adults, blindly obeying and lacking the ability to think on their own.[49]: 354  Nothing of importance would be retained and no abilities would be learned.[45]: 62  He believed that learning through experience was superior to learning through the use of books.[46] For this reason he encouraged tutors to educate their students through practice, travel, and human interaction. In doing so, he argued that students would become active learners, who could claim knowledge for themselves.[citation needed]

Montaigne's views on child education continue to have an influence in the present. Variations of Montaigne's ideas on education are incorporated into modern learning in some ways. He argued against the popular way of teaching in his day, encouraging individualized learning. He believed in the importance of experience, over book learning and memorization. Ultimately, Montaigne postulated that the point of education was to teach a student how to have a successful life by practising an active and socially interactive lifestyle.[49]: 355 

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Thinkers exploring ideas similar to Montaigne include Erasmus, Thomas More, John Fisher, and Guillaume Budé, who all worked about fifty years before Montaigne.[50] Many of Montaigne's Latin quotations are from Erasmus' Adagia, and most critically, all of his quotations from Socrates. Plutarch remains perhaps Montaigne's strongest influence, in terms of substance and style.[51] Montaigne's quotations from Plutarch in the Essays number more than 500.[52]

Ever since Edward Capell first made the suggestion in 1780, scholars have suggested Montaigne to be an influence on Shakespeare.[53] The latter would have had access to John Florio's translation of Montaigne's Essais, published in English in 1603, and a scene in The Tempest "follows the wording of Florio [translating Of Cannibals] so closely that his indebtedness is unmistakable".[54] Most parallels between the two may be explained, however, as commonplaces:[53] as similarities with writers in other nations to the works of Cervantes and Shakespeare could be due simply to their own study of Latin moral and philosophical writers such as Seneca the Younger, Horace, Ovid, and Virgil.

Much of Blaise Pascal's skepticism in his Pensées has been attributed traditionally to his reading Montaigne.[55]

The English essayist William Hazlitt expressed boundless admiration for Montaigne, exclaiming that "he was the first who had the courage to say as an author what he felt as a man. ... He was neither a pedant nor a bigot. ... In treating of men and manners, he spoke of them as he found them, not according to preconceived notions and abstract dogmas".[56] Beginning most overtly with the essays in the "familiar" style in his own Table-Talk, Hazlitt tried to follow Montaigne's example.[57]

Ralph Waldo Emerson chose "Montaigne; or, the Skeptic" as a subject of one of his series of lectures entitled, Representative Men, alongside other subjects such as Shakespeare and Plato. In "The Skeptic" Emerson writes of his experience reading Montaigne, "It seemed to me as if I had myself written the book, in some former life, so sincerely it spoke to my thought and experience." Friedrich Nietzsche judged of Montaigne: "That such a man wrote has truly augmented the joy of living on this Earth".[58] Sainte-Beuve advises us that "to restore lucidity and proportion to our judgments, let us read every evening a page of Montaigne."[59] Stefan Zweig drew inspiration from one of Montaigne's quotes to give the title to one of his autobiographical novels, "A Conscience Against Violence."[60]

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The American philosopher Eric Hoffer employed Montaigne both stylistically and in thought. In Hoffer's memoir, Truth Imagined, he said of Montaigne, "He was writing about me. He knew my innermost thoughts." The British novelist John Cowper Powys expressed his admiration for Montaigne's philosophy in his books, Suspended Judgements (1916)[61] and The Pleasures of Literature (1938). Judith N. Shklar introduces her book Ordinary Vices (1984), "It is only if we step outside the divinely ruled moral universe that we can really put our minds to the common ills we inflict upon one another each day. That is what Montaigne did and that is why he is the hero of this book. In spirit he is on every one of its pages..."

Twentieth-century literary critic Erich Auerbach called Montaigne the first modern man. "Among all his contemporaries", writes Auerbach (Mimesis, Chapter 12), "he had the clearest conception of the problem of man's self-orientation; that is, the task of making oneself at home in existence without fixed points of support".[62]

Discovery of remains

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The Musée d'Aquitaine announced on 20 November 2019 that the human remains, which had been found in the basement of the museum a year earlier, might belong to Montaigne.[63] Investigation of the remains, postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, resumed in September 2020.[64]


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The Complete Essays of Montaigne

The Complete Essays of Montaigne





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Table of Contents 
 
Michel de Montaigne: The Complete Essays 
PREFACE 
THE LIFE OF MONTAIGNE 
I.——To Monsieur de MONTAIGNE 
II.——To Monseigneur, Monseigneur de MONTAIGNE. 
III.——To Monsieur, Monsieur de LANSAC, 
IV.——To Monsieur, Monsieur de MESMES, Lord of Roissy and Malassize, Privy 
V.——To Monsieur, Monsieur de L’HOSPITAL, Chancellor of France 
VI.——To Monsieur, Monsieur de Folx, Privy Councillor, and Ambassador of His 
Majesty to the Signory of Venice. 
VII.——To Mademoiselle de MONTAIGNE, my Wife. 
VIII.——To Monsieur DUPUY, 
IX.——To the Jurats of Bordeaux. 
X.——To the same. 
XI.——To the same. 
XII. 
XIII.——To Mademoiselle PAULMIER. 
XIV.——To the KING, HENRY IV. 
XV.——To the same. 
XVI.——To the Governor of Guienne. 
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