In his essays, Montaigne offers practical solutions for overcoming these three sources of feelings of inadequacy.
Instead, Montaigne thought we should accept that we are human and limited, and allow ourselves to be imperfect.Ī few days ago, I came across an interesting video by British Philosopher Alain De Botton–one of the founders of The School of Life–in which he discusses Montaigne’s solution for self-esteem problems. That is, we reason our way to unhappiness, low confidence, and misery. We often misuse our big brains and end up making our lives a lot more difficult and complicated than they need to be. In fact, Montaigne believed that a lot of our problems stem from the fact that our brains are large and complex. When I play with my cat, am I playing with her, or is she playing with me?Ĭontrary to the other philosophers of the French Renaissance who-like the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers they so admired-thought that we could reason our way to happiness, Montaigne put little trust in reason.How can people cope with fear of death?.How does a person make wise and honorable choices?.These essays contain the answers he came up with to questions such as the following: Today, these are known as The Essays of Michel de Montaigne, and they are widely read all over the world. The result of his writing was thousands of pages of something he referred to as “essais”, from the French verb essayer: “to try or attempt”.
In addition, his intent was to write about himself in order to create a mirror in which other people could recognize their own humanity.
He believed that if we can’t understand ourselves, then we won’t be able to understand anything else. The subject he chose to write about was himself. “Worn out with the slavery of the court and of public service, Michel de Montaigne … retires to the bosom of the learned Muses … to pass what may be left of a life already more than half spent, consecrating this ancestral dwelling and sweet retreat to his liberty, tranquility and repose.” Montaigne marked the occasion by having the following written on the wall of a study opening onto his new library: He moved a chair, a table, and his library of a thousand books to the tower of his family castle near Bordeaux and proceeded to dedicate himself to reading, reflecting, and writing. On February 28, 1571, Michel de Montaigne-a highly educated nobleman-marked his 38 th birthday by retiring from public duty.
In his essays, Michel de Montaigne-the famous 16 th century French philosopher-shares three strategies for increasing self-esteem.
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