Personal reflections can render essays colourful and lively, but cannot guarantee correct judgement. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) made dozens of personal reflections in his essays, but more often than not, he drew trivial or wrong conclusions. Nonetheless, his essays remain worth reading because they prompt us to think. They confront us with numerous arguments favouring or opposing a thesis, or numerous answers in reply to a question. Montaigne’s faulty logic challenges the readers’ philosophical skills. Which messages is Montaigne conveying in those personal reflections? Self-justification is the only recognisable pattern. I mean that Montaigne is just looking for arguments that justify choices he has already made. For example, his essay “On solitude” recommends the daily practice of retiring from the world, a practice that aims at protecting one’s sanity and serenity. Montaigne followed such practice for the last two decades of his life, and attributed great benefits to it. I must however ask for proof of Montaigne’s assertions: two decades of daily solitude periods constitute a long experiment, but Montaigne’s biography does not show the benefits. If daily periods of solitude are supposed to be beneficial, I would expect to see improvements in Montaigne’s lifestyle in those twenty years. I would expect to see tangible changes that arise from his daily reflection periods. Yet, I see none. The fact is that Montaigne kept doing pretty much the same every day. Montaigne’s essay “On practice” serves the same purpose of self-justification, this time, for Montaigne’s approach to coping with illness. Since he was suffering from kidney stones, Montaigne tried out various treatments, but they proved to no avail. Eventually, he gave up his attempts at finding a remedy, and concluded that “humans must learn to suffer pains that are unavoidable.” Really? When confronted with burning issues, I never relent in my efforts to solve them. I think about them incessantly and keep looking for solutions. The idea of giving up does not even cross my mind. Instead, Montaigne gave up after failing to find a solution. I acknowledge his effort in travelling abroad for a thermal water cure, but when the cure failed, he returned home and left the problem unsolved. Despite the difficulties in dealing with kidney stones in the sixteenth century, Montaigne’s conclusion is wrong. He advises readers to accept pain and stop complaining. He is telling us to give up our attempts to improve our lives. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/michel-de-montaignes-personal-reflections/

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