Synopses & Reviews
Michel de Montaigne, the inventor of the essay, has always been acknowledged as a great literary figure but has never been thought of as a philosophical original. This book is the first to treat Montaigne as a serious thinker in his own right, taking as its point of departure Montaigne's description of himself as 'an unpremeditated and accidental philosopher'. Whereas previous commentators have treated Montaigne's Essays as embodying a skepticism harking back to classical sources, Ann Hartle offers a fresh account that reveals Montaigne's thought to be dialectical, transforming skeptical doubt into wonder at the most familiar aspects of life. This major reassessment of a much admired but also much underestimated thinker will interest a wide range of historians of philosophy as well as scholars in comparative literature, French studies and the history of ideas.
Review
"Hartle [is] an accomplished scholar..." David Lewis Schaefer, The Review of Politics"There is much in Hartle's book which is suggestive, and much which is extremely perceptive...she captures the flavour and explains the shapes of Montaigne's thinking really well." The London Review of Books
Synopsis
This book treats Montaigne as a serious thinker in his own right.
Synopsis
Montaigne is acknowledged as a great literary figure but has never been thought of as a philosophical original. This book treats Montaigne as a serious thinker in his own right, taking as its point of departure Montaigneâs description of himself as âan unpremeditated and accidental philosopherâ.
Synopsis
This is the first to treat Montaigne as a serious thinker in his own right.
Synopsis
Michel de Montaigne has always been acknowledged as a great literary figure but never thought of as a philosophical original. This book is the first to treat him as a serious thinker in his own right, taking as its point of departure Montaigne's description of himself as "an unpremeditated and accidental philosopher". This major reassessment of a much admired but also greatly underestimated thinker is for historians of philosophy and scholars in comparative literature, French studies and the history of ideas.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; Note on the texts; Introduction; Part I. A New Figure: 1. âThat is where he got it!â: Montaigne's caprices and the humors of ancient philosophy; 2. Bending and stretching the categories of traditional metaphysics; 3. The essay as philosophical form; Part II. Accidental Philosophy: 4. The circular dialectic of self-knowledge; 5. âWhat it means to believeâ; 6. The latent metaphysics of accidental philosophy; Part III. The Character of the Accidental Philosopher: 7. Montaigneâs character: the great-souled man without pride; 8. What he learned in the nursery: accidental moral philosophy and Montaigneâs reformation; 9. Christianity and the limits of politics; Notes; Works cited; Index.