Michel de Montaigne’s contribution to early modern philosophy

John Vespasian

John Vespasian explains that Montaigne is an extraordinary author in many aspects, great in erudition and wisdom, but not a philosophical innovator. If anything, he looked at the past more than he was looking at the future. He had drawn his more enlightened ideas from antiquity in the formulations given by Seneca (4 BC-65 AD), Plutarch (46-120 AD) or Aristotle (384-322 BC). Even his theological views draw more from medievalism than from modernity. Nevertheless, Montaigne surpassed all his predecessors in a singular area: his passion from balance and perspective; no one in prior centuries had devoted so vast efforts to looking at both side of every issue. Montaigne had written the “Apology for Raymond Sebond” years before he decided to abandon his legal career to relocate to the countryside and devote himself to research and writing. In the “Apology for Raymond Sebond,” we find though that Montaigne’s personal philosophy had already congealed. It was not a rectilinear, symmetrical intellectual construction, but did the job beautifully. Montaigne had defined philosophy’s objective as the pursuit of happiness, nothing less but also very little more. His interest in metaphysics, epistemology, politics or aesthetics was narrow and purpose-bound. The ideas of theologian Raymond Sebond (1385-1436) may have been forgotten if Montaigne, instigated by his father, had not bothered to write an extensive piece in their defence. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/michel-de-montaignes-contribution-to-early-modern-philosophy/