Michel Montaigne

I knew the name Montaigne before I knew the person. There was a Montaigne school in Amsterdam, but I had no idea who Montaigne was. Michel Montaigne was a French writer from the 16th century who wrote philosophical essays about just anything that popped to his mind. Some of this I learned bit by bit, but a very fine summary I got from a recent issue of Philosophy Bites.


Sarah Blakewell was on the show to tell us about this writer and made me appreciate him a whole lot more. It turns out, Montaigne is more or less the inventor of the essay and with his essays he influences many thinkers of later age, from Descartes to Nietzsche. And it also seems he is very readable. It think I am off to the library to get a copy of his works. (feed)

More Philosophy Bites:
Justice according to Michael Sandel,
Three issues of Philosophy Bites,
Morality,
The genocide and the trial.
Dirty Hands,