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Michel de Montaigne

Renaissance Humanist · Europe · 1533 to 1592

French writer who invented the essay, used it to test his own mind, and doubted that we can know much for sure.

What it is

Michel de Montaigne (1533 to 1592) was a French Renaissance writer who gave the essay its name and shape. He was born at his family's estate near Bordeaux, into a rich family that had recently risen to the nobility, and was raised speaking Latin at home. He served as a councillor in the parliament of Bordeaux before retiring to write.

His Essays, in three books, mix anecdote, reading and self-observation with sharp thought. They appeared in editions of 1580, 1588 and, after his death, 1595, edited by his adoptive daughter Marie de Gournay. Their aim, he said, was to exercise his own judgment, drawing on his own capacities and not on borrowed ones.

The main ideas

  • Trying out his judgment. The word "essay" means a trial. Montaigne wrote to test how well he could think about a subject, without claiming final answers.
  • What do I know? Around 1576 he had a medal struck with the Greek word for "I abstain" and the French question "Que sais-je?". He drew on ancient scepticism to doubt claims to certain knowledge.
  • Doubt about science. He distrusted a speculative, geometrical style of science, which seemed to him more a general belief in science than knowledge.
  • Human variety. He read travellers and historians for the endless variety of customs and beliefs, and refused to treat any one ideal, saint, sage or scholar, as a model beyond question.
  • Free from dogma. He kept his freedom by not committing himself exclusively to any idea, while exploring them all.
  • A critic of habit. His scepticism opens a critical look at the ideas people inherit, which is why he is seen as a precursor of social criticism.

What it looks like in practice

Think of a belief you hold because everyone around you holds it. Montaigne would write it down, ask what a traveller from another country would make of it, and see whether he could still say, honestly, "I know this". This is an illustration of his line of questioning, not a passage from his writing.

Books and moments

  • The Essays, in three books, first published in 1580 and revised in 1588; the 1595 edition was prepared after his death by Marie de Gournay.

Questions and criticism

  • Scepticism and belief. If he doubted so much, it is fair to ask how he could keep his faith and his judgments about daily life.
  • A friend's version. His friend Pierre Charron set out to organise his ideas in De la sagesse, leaving out the most disturbing, and that version is now generally dismissed as a dogmatic misrepresentation.
  • Banned. His Essays were put on the Roman Index in 1677.

Close neighbours

Sextus Empiricus, the ancient sceptic he read around 1576, was a decisive influence on his scepticism. The page on Thomas Aquinas shows the Scholastic way of philosophising that he rejected.

Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 29 October 2026. The sources are listed below.

Who they connect to

Influenced

  • Blaise Pascal · Pascal read the Essays closely, often arguing with them.

Influenced by

  • Sextus Empiricus · He read and took up the ancient sceptic arguments, and had a motto from them carved on his ceiling.

Other Renaissance Humanist thinkers

Sources we used

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