Michel de Montaigne and intellectual independence

An independent spirit and strong nerves are the prerequisites of intellectual independence. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) possessed those qualities, but had not inherited them. It would take him three decades of trial and error to acquire them. Nowadays, intellectual independence is as rare as it was in Montaigne’s lifetime, that is, in sixteenth-century France. Few people dare to oppose in public the dominant views, even if the penalty for doing so seldom goes beyond enduring criticism. Montaigne dared to adopt minority views in important and trivial matters, employing the latter as practice for developing strong nerves. Every Olympic athlete had once been a beginner and learned that daily practice is the basis of high performance. Religion was the most dangerous of all subjects at the time of Montaigne. During peaceful years, deviant opinions carried the risk of ostracism in all areas of life; and in wartime, they could lead to property confiscation, exile or death. Montaigne learned to formulate his views carefully, starting with anodyne subjects where contrarianism just sounded weird and entertaining. In those cases, reprisals were highly unlikely. If they took place at all, they carried no consequences. However, even when addressing anodyne subjects, he opted for quoting ancient Greek and Roman authors. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) and Plutarch (46-120 AD) presented lower risks than making references to contemporary personalities. Montaigne’s essay “Apology for Raymond Sebond” defends minority opinions within the Catholic Church, but does it very carefully. It summarises Sebond’s treatise “Natural Theology” (1497), contests Thomas Aquinas’ logic, expresses scepticism about dogmas, and calls for an intuitive grasp of divinity. A fierce intellectual independence comes forth more clearly in Montaigne’s essays that state a commonly accepted idea, but then reinterpret it, dilute it in doubt, or tear it apart mercilessly. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/michel-de-montaigne-and-intellectual-independence/