An Analysis of Montaigne’s Final Essay, Of Experience

Journal: Journal of Higher Education Research DOI: 10.32629/jher.v4i1.1137

Bailin Lu

Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S1A4, Canada

Abstract

In the final essay of Montaigne, named Of Experience, the author gave extensive criticism over the general misuse of judgement, while defining judgement quite peculiarly, which is that it is a faculty of the mind. How then, was this faculty that appears to be the rational part of the human mind but individuated from reasons defined by Montaigne? In what way do humans fail to properly utilize this faculty? What is the role of experience in the proper use of judgment? These questions shall be answered through a thorough analysis of this final work of the French thinker, through which we may find the form of the ideal that he looks to portray.

Keywords

Montaigne, philosophy, literature

References

[1] Montaigne, Michel de. The Complete Essays of Montaigne. Translated by Donald M. Frame. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1976.
[2] Montaigne, Michel Eyquem. That to Philosophize Is to Learn to Die (1572-74). In The Complete Essays of Montaigne, 56–68. Redwood City: Stanford University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804780773-023
[3] Montaigne, M. E. That the taste of good and evil depends in large part on the opinion we have of them (1572-74). In The Complete Essays of Montaigne, 33–47. Stanford University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804780773-017

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