The Study On Montaigne's Educational Thoughts

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne is a French distinctive humanist, essayist, and educator in sixteenth century (Renaissance).Montaigne is the last humanist during the Renaissance. He is also a world-wide skeptic. His wisdom and ways of interacting with people, "as a modern person", teach us much. In 1571, he started to write essays, which cover and contain everything. Education is a major part of his essays, and his educational thoughts are all concluded in the "essays". His educational thoughts are not systematic, but they serve as a link between past and future. Montaigne is irreplaceable in the western educational history.Skepticism is the "bottom color" of Montaigne's thoughts. On the one hand, the skepticism make Montaigne different from the other humanism, on the other hand, his humanism, which born during the last Renaissance, is a review for the relational wars and the whole movement (Renaissance). His educational thoughts reflect his skepticism and place importance on the development of people. The most important is judgment, not memory; the aim of education is a new type of "gentle man", not scholastic.This article explores from three parts: The first part describes Montaigne's social context, the start of Essays, and his skepticism. The second part discusses Montaigne's educational thoughts concerning with children and female. This paper describes children's educational thoughts from three parts: educational aim, the qualities of teachers, educational contents and ways. On this basis, we can try to conclude the features of Montaigne's educational thoughts, and know his status and influence. At last, I hope that this study can enlighten our modern people.