De Montaigne

Montaigne’s essays covered a broad number of issues His goal was to describe man purely and holistically. He believes that the diversity, unpredictability, and instability to be some of human natures most basic components. Some of the things he describes himself as to back this up is his poor memory, his ability to solve problems and mediate conflicts without getting emotionally involved. He also expresses hate for mans pursuit of selfish fame and his attempts to remove himself from worldly things and for different religious conflicts of his time. Montaigne believes that man cannot reach any degree of certainty.

Montaigne’s view of humanity is not really new to any degree. Even as Christians we believe in the depravity of man, the holistic sinfulness and impossibility of reaching perfection. He describes many of the aspects of mankind that the Bible itself alludes to or points out directly. He obviously expresses some of these through his life and different experiences however the underlying principles are the same.

There are some thing that makes Montaigne different than writers of his time however many of his views can be seen in writers such as Erasmus and Thomas More who were authors and wrote on these same things some fifty years before Montaigne.