Essays (Montaigne)

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Essays
Montaigne Essais Manuscript.jpg
Author Michel de Montaigne
Original title Essais
Country Kingdom of France
Language Middle French
Genre Essay
Publisher Simon Millanges, Jean Richer
Publication date
March 1580
Text Essays at Wikisource
The Essays of Michel de Montaigne are contained in three books and 107 chapters
of variable length. Montaigne's stated design in writing, publishing and revisin
g the Essays over the period from approximately 1570 to 1592 was to record for t
he 'private benefit of friends and kinsmen ... some traits of my character and o
f my humours.' The Essays were first published in 1580 and cover a wide range of
topics. As Essai is French for "trial" or "attempt", so Montaigne attempted to
explore his thoughts, his life and learning in written form. His essays are wide
ly regarded as the predecessor of the modern essay: a focused treatment of issue
s, events and concerns past, present and future.
Contents [hide]
1 Style
2 Content
3 Chronology
4 The Essays
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links
Style[edit]
Montaigne wrote in a kind of crafted rhetoric designed to intrigue and involve t
he reader, sometimes appearing to move in a stream-of-thought from topic to topi
c and at other times employing a structured style which gives more emphasis to t
he didactic nature of his work. His arguments are often supported with quotation
s from Ancient Greek, Latin and Italian texts, which he quotes in the original s
ource.
Content[edit]
Montaigne's stated goal in his book is to describe man, and especially himself,
with utter frankness and honesty ("bonne foi"). He finds the great variety and v
olatility of human nature to be its most basic features, which resonates to the
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 is "I have never seen
a greater monster or miracle than myself."
He opposed the conquest of the New World, deploring the suffering it brought upo
n the natives.
Citing the case of Martin Guerre as an example, he believes that humans cannot a
ttain certainty. His skepticism is best expressed in the long essay "An Apology
for Raymond Sebond" (Book 2, Chapter 12) which has frequently been published sep
arately. We cannot trust our reasoning because thoughts just occur to us: we don
't truly control them. We do not have good reasons to consider ourselves superio
r to the animals. He is highly skeptical of confessions obtained under torture,
pointing out that such confessions can be made up by the suspect just to escape
the torture he is subjected to. In the middle of the section normally entitled "
Man's Knowledge Cannot Make Him Good," he wrote that his motto was "What do I kn
ow?". The essay on Sebond ostensibly defended Christianity. However, Montaigne e
loquently employed many references and quotes from classical Greek and Roman, i.
e. non-Christian authors, especially the atomist Lucretius.
Montaigne considered marriage necessary for the raising of children, but dislike
d the strong feelings of romantic love as being detrimental to freedom. One of h
is 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 a
bstract knowledge that is expected to be accepted uncritically. Montaigne's essa
y "On the Education of Children" is dedicated to Diana of Foix.
The remarkable modernity of thought apparent in Montaigne's essays, coupled with
their sustained popularity, made them arguably the most prominent work in Frenc
h philosophy until the Enlightenment. Their influence over French education and
culture is still strong. The official portrait of former French president Franois
Mitterrand pictured him facing the camera, holding an open copy of the Essays i
n his hands.[1]
Chronology[edit]
Montaigne heavily edited Essays at various points in his life. Sometimes he woul
d insert just one word, while at other times he would insert whole passages. Man
y editions mark this with letters as follows:
A: passages written 15711580, published 1580
B: passages written 15801588, published 1588
C: passages written 15881592, published 1595 (posthumously)[2][3]
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 ed
itors as the "Bordeaux Copy"). This edition gives modern editors a text dramatic
ally indicative of Montaigne's final intentions (as opposed to the multitude of
Renaissance works for which no autograph exists). Analysis of the differences an
d additions between editions shows how Montaigne's thoughts evolved over time. N
ot unremarkably, he does not seem to remove previous writings, even when they co
nflict with his newer views.
The Essays[edit]
That Men by Various Ways Arrive at the Same End
Of Sadness or Sorrow
That Our Affections Carry Themselves Beyond Us
That the Soul Expends Its Passions Upon False Objects
Whether the Governor Himself Go Out to Parley
That the Hour of Parley Dangerous
That the Intention is Judge of Our Actions
Of Idleness
Of Liars
Of Quick or Slow Speech
Of Prognostications
Of Constancy
The Ceremony of the Interview of Princes
That Men are Justly Punished for Being Obstinate
Of the Punishment of Cowardice
A Proceeding of Some Ambassadors
Of Fear
Not To Judge of Our Happiness Till After Death
That To Study Philosopy is to Learn to Die
Of Imagination
That the Profit of One Man is the Damage of Another
Of Custom; We Should Not Easily Change a Law Received
Various Events from the Same Counsel
Of Pedantry
Of the Education of Children
Folly to Measure Truth and Error by Our Own Capacity
Of Friendship
Nine and Twenty Sonnets of Estienne De La Boitie
Of Moderation
Of Cannibals
That a Man is Soberly to Judge of the Divine Ordinances
We are to Avoid Pleasures, Even at the Expense of Life
Fortune is Often Observed to Act by the Rule of Reason
Of One Defect In Our Government
Of the Custom of Wearing Clothes
Of Cato the Younger
That We Laugh And Cry for the Same Thing
Of Solitude
A Consideration Upon Cicero
Relish for Good and Evil Depends Upon Our Opinion
Not to Communicate a Man's Honour
Of the Inequality Amoungst Us
Of Sumptuary Laws
Of Sleep
Of the Battle of Dreux
Of Names
Of the Uncertainty of Our Judgment
Of War Horses, or Destrier
Of Ancient Customs
Of Democritus and Heraclitus
Of the Vanity of Words
Of the Parsimony of the Ancients
Of a Saying of Caesar
Of Vain Subtleties
Of Smells
Of Prayers
Of the Most Excellent Men
Of the Resemblance of Children to Their Fathers
Of Profit and Honesty
Of Repentance
Of Three Commerces
Of Diversion
Upon Some Verses of Virgil
Of Coaches
Of the Inconvenience of Greatness
Of the Art of Conference
Of Vanity
Of Managing the Will
Of Cripples
Of Physiognomy
Of Experience
Of Age
Of the Inconstancy of Our Actions
Of Drunkenness
A Custom of the Isle of Cea
To-Morrow's a New Day
Of Conscience
Use Makes Perfect
Of Recompenses of Honour
Of the Affection of Fathers to Their Children
Of the Arms of the Parthians
Of Books
Of Cruelty
Apology for Raimond Sebond
Of Judging of the Death of Another
That Our Mind Hinders Itself
That Our Desires are Augmented by Difficulty
Of Glory
Of Presumption
Of Giving the Lie
Of Liberty of Conscience
That We Taste Nothing Pure
Against Idleness
Of Posting
Of Ill Means Employed to a Good End
Of the Roman Grandeur
Not to Counterfeit Being Sick
Of Thumbs
Cowardice the Mother of Cruelty
All Things Have Their Season
Of Virtue
Of a Monstrous Child
Of Anger
Defence of Seneca and Plutarch
The Story of Spurina
Observation on a War According to Julius Caesar
Of Three Good Women
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ Mitterrand.org
Jump up ^ Montaigne, Michel de. The Complete Essays. Trans. M. A. Screech. Londo
n: Penguin, 2003 (1987), p. 1284
Jump up ^ Les Essais (1595 text), Jean Card, Denis Bja, Bndicte Boudou, Isabelle Pan
tin, Hachette, Pochothque, 2001, Livre de Poche, 2002.
References[edit]
Essays by Michel de Montaigne
External links[edit]
The Charles Cotton translation of some of Montaigne's essays:
plain text version by Project Gutenberg
HTML version at the University of Adelaide
searchable HTML version at Oregon State University
The complete, searchable text of the Villey-Saulnier edition from the ARFTL proj
ect at the University of Chicago (French)
Essays Books 1-3 read by Librivox volunteers
Categories: 1580 booksEssay collectionsFrench non-fiction booksPhilosophy booksP
hilosophy essays
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