Michel de Montaigne, Essays - That Difficulty Increases Desire - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the Renaissance-era philosopher, critic, and essayist Michel De Montaigne's work Essays, specifically his essay "That Difficulty Increases Desire" (Que Nostre Desir S'accroit par la Malaisance), which begins by invoking a principle and practice from the Skeptic school, that every argument, position, or "reason" has its contrary. Montaigne considers one position briefly, that our pleasure or joy in a good depends on our feeling of security in its possession, and then examines a number of reasons and examples for the opposed position, that our desire and appreciation of a good we are attracted to is enhanced by the difficulty in attaining it and our lack of security of its possession. This principle applies to warfare and crime, to sexuality and marriage, to religious institutions and movements, among other examples. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 4,000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler You can find Montaigne's Essays here - https://amzn.to/4l3iKfH