Inventor of the Essay
Michel de Montaigne
Your quest companion appears in the header, offers one of their ideas on your home page each day, and cheers you on in lessons. You can change companions at any time, and your progress stays the same.
A French magistrate who retired to the tower of his château and wrote the Essays, trying out his judgment on everything from cannibals to his own habits.
Key work: Essays (1580–1595)
“What do I know?”
Key ideas, in brief (in our words)
Study yourself; it is the subject you know best.
Custom makes the strange seem natural.
Doubt keeps judgment honest.
Read more: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
On the climb
What Do I Know?
Quest with Michel de Montaigne above to start the climb and open these lessons.
