Why Michel de Montaigne had no impact on early modern philosophy

I am always puzzled when I see historians or philosophers put forward theories for which the evidence is rather thin. Even if they write a treatise about their theory, readers will ask to see the evidence, the facts, the clues. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) produced a compelling collection of essays, but historians have exaggerated his impact on early modern philosophy; their arguments are so far-fetched that I regard them as self-refuting. Why do I contest Montaigne’s philosophical impact? I do so because Montaigne did not consider himself a philosopher. He never undertook a serious study of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics and aesthetics. Nor did he never build a system of thought worthy of that name. Take for instance Montaigne’s essay titled “On the custom of wearing clothes.” When Montaigne wrote this piece, he was in his early forties, living quietly in the countryside. Day after day, he retired to the tower of his castle to read and write, and kept churning out one essay after another. Historians sustain that Montaigne wrote “On the Custom of Wearing Clothes” to present and endorse cultural relativism. In their eyes, Montaigne was asking us to refrain from judging our culture because, across history, people have been wearing different types of attire in different countries or occasions. According to this theory, Montaigne’s cultural relativism is the originator or contributor to the relativism deployed in the eighteenth century by the likes of Montesquieu (1689-1755) and Voltaire (1694-1778). Philosophically, Montaigne’s arguments are so anaemic that they should not even count as philosophy. When he criticises sixteenth-century women for wearing impractical clothes, I am convinced that he would have said the same if he had attended a fashion show in our century. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/why-montaigne-had-no-impact-on-early-modern-philosophy/