Montaigne's personal experience as the basis of the book "Experiences." M. Montaigne, "Experiments": a summary

It was read by Pushkin, she constantly lay on the table of Leo Tolstoy. This book was the most popular in the XVI-XVII centuries. Its author, Michel Eyckem de Montaigne (d., February 28, 1533), belonged to a new wave of French noblemen, descended from the merchant class. The father of the future writer Pierre Eykem was in the royal service, his mother was from a rich Jewish family.

Dad was serious about learning his son. He himself was a very educated man, and the spirit of antiquity was in the family. The teacher of a small Michel was taken by a man who does not know French at all, but is versed in Latin.

Education and social status

Michel Montaigne had every opportunity to make a brilliant career as a government official. He studied at the best educational institutions in the country: after college in Bordeaux, he graduated brilliantly from the University of Toulouse. A newly baked 21-year-old lawyer joined the judicial office of the royal adviser at first in Périgueux, but soon transferred to his hometown of Bordeaux. His service was appreciated, he had friends there. An erudite official was twice elected as an adviser.

In 1565 Michel profitedly married the French noblewoman Françoise de Chance. And three years later, after his father's death, he came into possession of the family estate of Montaigne, giving up his career in court. Later, Michel Montaigne led the life of a local nobleman, devoting himself to literary work.

It was in the ancestral nest that Montaigne's experience was poured onto paper.

In fact, these were idle records of an educated progressive aristocrat. He created them at his leisure for fifteen years, especially not bothering himself with work. During this time, some views of the philosopher have changed, so the reader is thoughtful to find in the "Experience" several ideas diametrically opposed.

The French philosopher-humanist wrote on the table, not even thinking about publishing.

The formal structure of a work

As a free collection of his observations, reflections, essays created by Michel Montaigne "Experiences." The brief content of this work can be expressed in extremely condensed form with the phrase: the original view of the writer of the Renaissance on life and the prospects for the development of his society.

The collection itself consists of three volumes. The essays contained in each of them are collected in the chronological order of their writing.

The first volume of Michel Montaigne's "Experiments" tells in the form of an essay:

- about how one and the same thing is achieved in different ways;

- that our intentions are the judge of our actions;

- about idleness;

- about the tribulation;

- about liars and about many other things.

The second volume was written in the same form by M. Montaigne. "Experiments" were filled with the author's retelling of ancient and Christian authors about different spheres of human existence:

- about its inconstancy;

- about deferred business until tomorrow;

- about parental love,

- about conscience;

- about books, etc.

The third volume tells readers:

- Flattering and useful;

- about the art of talking;

- about communication;

- about the human will;

- about fuss and about dozens of other human activities.

Historical conditions for the emergence of the Montenegrin humanism

Free-thinking in the medieval France of the time of Charles IX was deadly dangerous. There was a bloody (essentially civil) war between Catholics and Protestants. The Catholic Church, motivated by the Council of Trent in 1545-1563, fought the Reformation in the homeland of Michel Montaigne, militarizing the order of the Franciscans and granting him extraordinary powers.

In the social and political life of France, the terrible times of the Inquisition returned. The Catholic Church resuscitated the methods of force to suppress the growing strength of Protestantism.

The orders of the Franciscans and the Jesuits controlled society, fighting the dissenters. Soldiers-monks were allowed by the Pope at the behest of the chief to perform even mortal sins against the gentiles. Do not lag behind the Jesuits in cruelty and punitive state actions. In his hometown of Bordeaux, a 15-year-old boy, a future philosopher, witnessed a collective execution, arranged by Marshal Montmorency, authorized to placate the townspeople who rebelled against raising the salt tax. 120 people were hanged, and the city parliament was liquidated.

In times of universal fear, an essay collection was written, which absorbed the experience of Montaigne, the writer-citizen and the humanist. At that time, blood was continually flowing in France ... The philosopher, like the whole of society, accepted with shudder the massacre provoked by Maria de 'Medici in Paris during the so-called Bartholomew night, when up to 30,000 French Protestants were slaughtered.

Monya himself did not fundamentally adhere to any of the opposing religious and political forces, wisely trying to achieve civil peace. Among his friends were both Catholics and Protestants. It is not surprising that the prevailing arbitrariness, dogmatism and reactionary ideology was opposed ideologically by the human and philosophical experience of Montaigne.

In the last period of his life, the philosopher supported the coming to power of the sovereign, Henry IV, capable of ending religious wars and ending feudal disunity.

Civil and human position

He contrasted the principle of "philosophizing - means doubting" dogmatic theology, scholasticism, abstracted from life, motivatedly criticized Catholics for religious wickedness, non-observance of Christian commandments.

At the same time, we note that, in its essence, the philosopher was not a tribune, a public leader. Although for his contemporaries, the revelations that Michel de Montaigne made seem to be a revelation.

"Experiments," written by the hand of a philosopher-citizen, contain regret that "the heavenly and divine teaching" is in the "hands of the wicked." This he realized, "letting a stream of reflection through himself." (One should understand the peculiarities of his personality.)

Montaigne, as a person, was characterized by irritability of the mind, so he preferred not to enter into debate and did exclusively in solitude. His work he read to a narrow circle of friends and this was quite satisfied. His critical mind did not accept ranks and authorities. Michel's favorite phrase was the following: "For the valet of heroes does not exist!" He related everything happening to his personality. "My metaphysics is the study of oneself," the philosopher said.

The writer's office was on the third floor of the tower of the castle of Montaigne, and his windows were lit up late ...

The doctrine of wisdom in everyday life

The most popular in Europe XVI-XVII centuries was the book "Experiences" of Montaigne. The sensitive mind of the scientist caught the new social realities of the formation of bourgeois society. The philosopher, in the conditions of totalitarianism, called to life the ancient ideas of individualism, tolerance, and ironic attitude to reality.

Montaigne states that for man the absolute evil is not some kind of eclectic devil invented by the Inquisition. Evil, from his point of view, is a belief without a smile, a fanatical belief in a single truth that is not doubted. It is this that serves as the basis for unfolding a spiral of violence in society.

The philosopher sought and found (as we will discuss below) the principles of building an ideal society. He treated individual freedom as a supreme value.

According to the philosopher, for the happy life of a person, the pleasure and care for one's own health should be balanced in it. After all, judging by the logic of the ancient wise men, most pleasures beckon and attract people in order to destroy it.

In his book de Montaigne ("Experiments") reproduces forgotten in medieval Europe the ancient doctrine of the traps of consciousness by which a person is exposed.

In particular, very few people are given the real natural beauty hidden behind the external simplicity. It is not natural for a person to strain his mind in order to catch the "quiet glow of beauty".

Own way of knowing

As an alternative book to the ideas of ideology, later condemned and by its author - the Catholic Church, Michel Montaigne wrote "Experiences."

The summary of this collection of essays can be expressed in the ideas of bourgeois individualism. The three-volume book is a brilliant idea of an educated aristocrat, not connected with the general plot, which precedes the Renaissance. It is the work of a deeply learned person. In total, the collection of essays contains more than 3000 citations of medieval and ancient authors. Most often the philosopher was quoted by Virgil, Plato, Horace, Epicurus, Seneca, Plutarch. Among Christian sources, they mention thoughts from the Gospel, the Old Testament, the statements of the apostle Paul.

At the junction of the ideas of stoicism, Epicureanism, critical skepticism created Michel Montaigne "Experiences."

The brief content of the main work of life of the great Frenchman has not been studied for two centuries in the European educational institutions of the Renaissance. After all, this work is in fact a philosophical view of a scientist, deeply understanding the prospects of social development.

His dictum that "the souls of shoemakers and emperors are tailored in a single pattern" became in two centuries, in 1792, the epigraph of the newspaper, the organ of the French Revolution.

Sources of ideas of the philosopher

It is obvious that at the time of the counter-reformation, Montaigne's philosophical experience challenging the position of the Catholic Church could only be secretly poured out on paper.

His views ran counter to official, dogmatic and pro-Catholic views. He had powerful theoretical sources, from which he drew ideas for his views on the future social order.

The scientist, perfectly knowing the Latin and Greek languages, read in the original and knew the works of the leading ancient philosophers in perfection. Also, the philosopher was known as one of the most knowledgeable interpreters of the Bible in France.

The study of the defects of civilization by the principle of antithesis

In the 16th century, in the other terrestrial hemisphere, Europeans underwent a final conquest by the New World. Just at the time when M. Montaigne wrote "Experiments." The summary of this aggressive and unfriendly action is reflected in the main book of the philosopher.

The scientist knew quite well about the progress of the campaigns in America. While in the service of the king, he attended the meetings of the monarch organized by the missionaries with notable Indian leaders. And he himself had a servant who devoted a decade of his life to serving in the New World.

The real appearance of the enriched nouveaux riches - the conquerors of America - turned out to be unsightly. He was civilly boldly shown M. Montaigne ("Experiments"). The essence of this first geopolitical interaction of the peoples of the two continents was reduced to banal enslavement. Instead of worthily bringing to the world the teachings of Christ, the Europeans followed the path of the sins of mortals.

The indigenous population of the New World was in the biblical role of the lamb on the slaughter. The scientist stressed that the people living without wealth and poverty, without inheritance and sharing property, without slavery, without wine, bread, metal, possessed spiritual qualities of a higher order than Europeans. In the vocabulary of the natives, there were not even words denoting lies, deception, forgiveness, betrayal, envy, pretense.

The philosopher emphasizes the harmony of interpersonal relations of the indigenous population of the New World. The social foundations of their communities are not spoiled by civilization. They call themselves equal by age, brothers, younger children - children, older - fathers. The elderly, dying, transfer their property to the community.

Humanist about the moral superiority of early civilizations

Pointing out that in the crafts and town planning the tribes of the New World were not inferior to the Europeans (the architecture of the Maya and the Aztecs), the scientist emphasized their moral superiority.

By the criteria of decency, honesty, generosity, straightforward savages were much higher than their conquerors. And it was this that ruined them: they betrayed themselves, sold. Millions of natives were killed, the entire structure of their civilization was "turned upside down."

The scientist asks the question: "Was there another, civilizational development option? Why should not the Europeans induce these virgin souls with Christian values to high ideals? If so, humanity would be the best. "

Faith and God in the understanding of the philosopher

Showing the inconsistency of the ideology of the counter-reformation, the scientist at the same time brings to the consciousness of the readers an unusually clear and clear understanding of the phenomenon of God and faith.

He sees God as an abstract, timeless, omnipresent being, not connected either with human logic or with the course of ordinary life. Thus, the category of God is linked with the existing nature, with the original cause of everything existing, Michel Montaigne ("Experiments").

The content of this concept, according to the scientist, is given to man only through the transcendental path, through faith.

Such a perception of God is associated with such profound changes in the personality that, in fact, a person walking along the path of faith goes through a whole evolution. And at the end of this path, gifts are, in fact, already another being.

To know God with the help of deep faith means to enter into direct communication with him directly. And this, in turn, serves as a sincere believer for protection against shaking by "human accidents" (violence of power, the will of political parties, addiction to change, sudden change of views).

However, Montaigne is skeptical about the idea of the immortality of the soul.

Development of the provisions of Stoicism and Epicureanism

Religious dogmatism Michel Montaigne opposed the cultural ancient traditions of Epicureanism and Stoicism. Like Epicurus, the French philosopher called ethics (the science of morality and morality) the most important for the harmonization of society and the "medicine for the soul" of every person. It is ethics, in his opinion, that can become a deterrent to the pernicious passions of man. Pay tribute to the stoic views on the superiority of pure reason over the changeable feelings of man, the book "Experiences."

Michel Montaigne, comprehending the main ethical values, puts virtue above any human qualities, including passive kindness. After all, virtue is a consequence of intelligent purposeful volitional efforts and leads a person to overcome their passions. It is thanks to virtue, according to Montaigne, a person can change his destiny, avoid the fatalities that threaten him.

The scientist formulated many postulates of modern European culture. And his thinking is extremely imaginative. For example, showing the viciousness of the artificial inequality of people in feudal society, the philosopher speaks of "the senselessness of becoming stilts, because you still have to walk with your feet. In addition, a person even on the highest throne will sit on his own seat. "

Conclusion

Modern readers, surprisingly, organically perceive the author's style, in which he wrote Montaigne "Experiences." Their comments emphasize the proximity of the style of the medieval author with modern bloggers: the author wrote at leisure to fill this occupation with his spare time. He did not go into details of the design, structuring his work.

Montaigne simply wrote one essay after another for the anger of the day, as well as under the influence of events, books, personalities.

It is noteworthy that this book is imbued with the personality of the author. As you know, he originally addressed it to his friends in memory of himself. And it succeeded! The composition turned out to be friendly. In it the reader often finds for himself practical advice. Such, what would his older brother give him.