A Tentative Research On The Political Philosophy Implications Of The Essays Of Montaigne

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne is the most important humanist of the later European Renaissance in French. He was famous of his erudition. His main work, the Essays, is praised as"the confluence of the varies thoughts and knowledge in the sixteenth century that analysed, and named as the philosophy of life".The Essays had so many implications. Scholars have made thorough researches on its educational philosophy, skepticism, and moral philosophy, etc. But the implication of political philosophy in the Essays had been seldom concentrated. Actually, the Essays, almost Montaigne's mediation and conclusion about his political life, was the first work since the Christian age that extensively criticized the authority, firmly demonstrated the values of modern liberalism such as self-determined, freedom of belief, and toleration of religion etc. What's more, it is unique on its style, method and opinion. Therefore, it's necessary to make some researches on the Essays from the point of political philosophy.Basing on the detailed reading of the Essays, the dissertation tries to make some tentative researches on its political philosophy implication. Furth more, I investigate Montaigne's political philosophy under the background of Renaissance and Reformation, so that I can make an objective and overall valuation of his thought in political philosophy. The dissertation is divided into three parts.In the introduction, I study the impression of Renaissance and Reformation war on Montaigne's thought. I conclude that his flea from public sphere do not stand for his inactive, but for observing human nature, and then looking for the tactic to face the new condition in the western civilization.In the main body of the dissertation, I research Montaigne's political philosophy thoughts from three ways, i.e. aspects of mind and its political significance, human activities and the producing of public sphere and the safe-guarding of public sphere. In Montaigne's exposition of aspects of mind and its political significance , the spirit of skeptics dominated his political philosophy. It marked by a spirit of toleration. Montaigne didn't look for the certainty of truth. In his opinion, religions was established to cure the evils of the world, thus the real belief had nothing to do with secular affairs, which means that the belief belong to citizen's liberty and right, and the government can only demand the obeying of laws, but not its citizen's belief and opinion. He thought that political activities origin from human's emotion, and one of the Essays'goals was to influence and reconstruct its readers'emotion, so that to foster modern citizen with more tolerate and moderate spirit. Lastly, Montaigne pointed out, when man suffered repeated setbacks in the public world, when his communication with others was interrupted, he would usually return to his innermost being so that he could search for the meaning of his life.In his exposition about human activities and the producing of public sphere, Montaigne held that politics was closely linked with human speeches and actions. He was sincerely aware of the important of speeches to maintain the community. He pointed that speeches was the foundation of communication between citizens, and was ties of human community. What's more, he thought that speeches and actions interlude with each other, they construct the public sphere together, at the same time, they themselves express through the public sphere. He insisted on the possibility of virtue, and he thought that in spite of utility and safe, politics had more important goal, i.e. virtue.In his exposition of the safe-guarding of public sphere, Montaigne emphasized the dependence of law to custom, and the important of law and custom to maintain the stabilization of public sphere. On the one hand, Montaigne thought that since the laws were the products of the customs, and then the products of prejudices, they lacked their intrinsic value. While on the other hand, he made efforts to defend the authority and dignity of law. Although there were lots of shortcomings in the law, Montaigne put it at the core of human communicative experience. Although regime without trust can also survive, the widespread absence of trust is an unusual condition for citizen. However a man acts, he can't determine the result of his actions; therefore it's better for him to act justly and honorably. The trust between citizens just originates from here. And the trust between equal people comes to its utmost in the friendship which transcends the political distinction between private and public sphere.In brief, although the Essays has rich implications, the implication of political philosophy is clearly discernible. It instructs us that there were full of contingency in the political life, and fortune and chance were important for political actions.