Essaying Oneself: Montaigne and Philosophy as a Way of Life Pubblico

Edelman, Christopher John (2010)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/f7623d11b?locale=it
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Abstract

This dissertation seeks to give an account of Montaigne's understanding of the nature of philosophy. Doing so involves articulating the presuppositions, means, and ends of Montaigne's philosophical practice as well as his understanding of that practice in relation to politics and the good life. Chapter One sets the stage for this account of philosophy by contrasting Montaigne's practices with traditional conceptions of the nature of philosophy and introducing the features of the Essais that seem to require some explanation in order for Montaigne's work to be intelligible as a philosophical project. Chapter Two argues that Montaigne is not the Pyrrhonian skeptic that he is often taken to be. While sympathetic to certain Pyrrhonian conclusions, he does not universally suspend judgment. Rather, through self-examination he discovers that he has some beliefs immune to skeptical attack. Chapter Three argues that Montaigne's beliefs include a commitment to the notion of an objective moral order, and that his skepticism allows him to show how this belief is defensible against the arguments of the relativist. Chapter Four interprets Montaigne's habit of essaying himself as a form of contemplative askesis undertaken for the sake of self-knowledge. This askesis shapes one's intellectual character, and therefore constitutes Montaigne's contribution to contemporary discussions concerning the sense in which philosophy can be understood to involve a way of life. In Chapters Five and Six Montaigne's philosophical project is discussed in relation to politics and the pursuit of the good life. Essaying oneself is revealed to be an apolitical activity that neither underwrites nor begins from political principles. While it may be a necessary condition for the happy life for those who share Montaigne's passion for self-understanding, it is not a necessary condition for living the good life, for just as essaying is apolitical, it is also amoral.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1. The Essais and the Tradition 15

2. Montaigne's Skepticism 38

3. Skepticism and Moral Judgment 73

4. Essaying as Contemplative Askesis 107

5. Philosophy, Politics, and the Self 136

6. Philosophy and the Good Life 168

Bibliography 201

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