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Michel de Montaigne begins his magisterial <em>Essais</em> by telling his readers that he, himself, is the matter of his book. He says that he has written himself so that after death he could remain in the world with those who knew and loved him. Montaigne's intimate project, meant to be read by friends, has emerged as one of the most surprising and compelling accounts of the human condition ever written. Although Montaigne famously retired from public life to write his <em>Essais</em>, neither his concerns nor the activities recounted in <em>Essais</em> is purely private. This volume of essays, based on papers presented at The A.V. Elliott Conference for Great Books and Ideas sponsored by Mercer University's McDonald Center for America's Founding Principles, focuses on the outward oriented political philosophy of Montaigne.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Note on the text
• Chronology
• 1. Introduction Ullrich Langer
• 2. Montaigne's political and religious context Ullrich Langer
• 3. Montaigne's legacy Warren Boutcher
• 4. Montaigne and antiquity: fancies and grotesques John O'Brien
• 5. The Essays and the New World Tom Conley
• 6. Justice and the law: on the reverse side of the Essays Andre Tournon
• 7. Montaigne and the notion of prudence Francis Goyet
• 8. Montaigne and the truth of the schools Ian Maclean
• 9. The investigation of nature George Hoffmann
• 10. Montaigne and scepticism Ann Hartle
• 11. Montaigne on moral philosophy and the good life J. B. Schneewind
• Bibliography
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), the great Renaissance skeptic and pioneer of the essay form, is known for his innovative method of philosophical inquiry which mixes the anecdotal and the personal with serious critiques of human knowledge, politics and the law. He is the first European writer to be intensely interested in the representations of his own intimate life, including not just his reflections and emotions but also the state of his body. His rejection of fanaticism and cruelty and his admiration for the civilizations of the New World mark him out as a predecessor of modern notions of tolerance and acceptance of otherness. In this volume an international team of contributors explores the range of his philosophy and also examines the social and intellectual contexts in which his thought was expressed.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

This volume focuses on six topics of research that are particularly relevant not only for Montaigne's writing but for the late-16th-century: the genre of the essay, its style, pedagogy, politics, religion and historiography. One historical reader and enthusiastic admirer of Montaigne's texts, Friedrich Nietzsche, influences the critical approach of this study of innovative elements in the "Essais". Nietzsche's attitude towards his literary precursors corresponds to the humanists' attitude toward their classical sources: it is the attitude of a double gesture - that of rejection, because it wants to separate itself from its immediate past in order to, then, search for ancient roots. Nietzsche was a great expert on the six topics discussed. With him as a mediator, Montaigne is portrayed as a modern in so far as he takes up thoughts that emerge with the Reformation.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)