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Michel de Montaigne

1533–1592 · Renaissance (French)

The inventor of the essay and a skeptic of the examined, ordinary self.

Primary Source

Par ce que c'estoit luy; par ce que c'estoit moy

Original (French)

“Because it was he; because it was I.”

“Of Friendship,” Essais I.28 (motto: Que sais-je? — “What do I know?”)

Biography

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Major Works

• Essais (Essays)

Key Concepts

• The essay as a form
• Skepticism (Que sais-je?)
• The self in flux
• Tolerance and the human

Influence & Modern Scholarship

To be added: how this thinker was received, contested, and read today.

Connections

Thinkers in conversation with Michel de Montaigne:

Related Human Questions