Montaigne and the Virtue of Humility
Subject Areas : Philosophy
Keywords: humility, essays, Skepticism, Stoics, Reformation, Renaissance,
Abstract :
Humility, in this paper, is described as the central concept in understanding Montaigne's philosophy. It is the common ground that relates all the themes and concerns in his thought. When speaking about theology, epistemology and politics, he just wants to revive the spirit of humility in these areas. This paper shows Montaigne not as a skeptic but as a humble philosopher and humility as the key to his philosophy in four areas of knowledge, virtue, theology and politics. His humility led to a reasonable skepticism in knowledge and a natural and spontaneous virtue in ethics and battling humanism of his age in theology and resisting against both dictatorship and revolution in politics. Finally, Montaigne is recognized as a philosopher who wants to dwell humanity in its right position and brings the importance of body, nature and emotions to attention. He reminds us again and again that we as humans are natural, bodily and emotional beings and our virtue and happiness is dependent on accepting these human conditions.
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