Why Michel de Montaigne remains relevant today

John Vespasian

John Vespasian explains that Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) made it his life’s mission to compile the wisdom of the past. He devoted twenty years of his life to writing essays, condensing the wisdom of Aristotle (384-322 BC), Seneca (4 BC-65 AD), and other ancient Greek and Roman sources. It is fair to ask whether the lessons from ancient authors are still relevant today. In fact, people had asked the same question in the sixteenth century, when Montaigne was researching and writing his essays. Montaigne had not failed to ask himself this question, but he was very particular in the way he looked for answers. Since he had fallen prey to delusions all too often, he always wanted to consider both sides of any issue. Even if he felt pretty certain of the answer, he would still go through the arguments that contradicted his views. He enjoyed playing devil’s advocate against himself and wouldn’t proclaim victory until he had disarmed his intellectual opponents. “The aim of life is to live happily and serenely,” Montaigne wrote, but this is only possible if we are aware of what we are doing. Like Aristotle in his “Nicomachean Ethics,” Montaigne regarded happiness as the goal, and philosophy as the path. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/the-one-reason-why-michel-de-montaigne-remains-relevant-today/