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31. The Cannibals (and 100. The Coaches)
When I was in France in February, I went to several bookstores looking for a complete volume of Montaigne’s essays, and it was surprisingly difficult to find. What I discovered in every Parisian book shop, however, was the Etonnants Classiques edition of “Des cannibales suivi de Des coches.” I had never thought about the ways…
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30. On Moderation
The placement of this essay is interesting, coming directly after Montaigne’s deeply affecting description of his friendship with Etienne de La Boetie. After displaying his emotions most openly, he dives back into caution: Things which in themselves are good and beautiful are corrupted by our handling of them. We can seize hold even of Virtue…
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29. de La Boétie’s Treatise on Involuntary Servitude
At first I was puzzled why there was this empty space in Montaigne’s essays where the Etienne de La Boetie sonnets once occupied. The truth is a little complicated. On his deathbed, La Boetie asked Montaigne to become executor of his writings. He specifically asked him to have published his Treatise on Involuntary Servitude. Montaigne’s…
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28. On Affectionate Relationships
Si l’on me demande avec insistance de dire pourquoi je l’aimais, je sens que cela ne peut s’exprimer qu’en répondant — Parce que c’était lui, parce que c’était moi. I love the construction of this phrase. Montaigne is making clear that it isn’t easy for him to say these words. So he starts off saying,…
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27. That it is Madness to Judge the True and the False from Our Own Capacities
Even though this is an essay mostly about religion, it’s probably a good place to bring Pyrrhonism into the discussion of Montaigne. This ancient Greek philosophy is one type of skepticism, but with a very interesting twist. While most Western philosophies view conundrums of skeptical thought as something that leads to complexity and confusion, what…
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26. On the Education of Children
At the close of “On The Education of Children,” Montaigne reveals the most important value he took away from his lifetime of learning: the ability to take action and make something of his life. Montaigne wrote: The risk was not that I should do wrong but do nothing. Nobody forecast that I would turn out…