I view Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) as the first thinker who realized that scepticism can save one’s life. His insight is still true today, and will remain true for as long as people keep using deceit and misrepresentation to further their interests. Unfortunately, Montaigne’s defence of scepticism is rather messy. In some essays, he rightly refuses to believe other people’s statements when they contradict his own experience. I would call that prudence rather than scepticism, and I consider it a perfectly valid attitude. However, in some other essays, Montaigne doubts his own perceptions because they might be wrong. Since he also doubts other people’s perceptions, what is the result? His universal doubts lead him to scepticism and intellectual paralysis. Montaigne’s essay titled “That it is folly to measure truth and error by our own capacity” shows precisely this deficiency. It raises questions on the validity of one’s perceptions, logic, and conclusions, and speaks in favour of universal scepticism. I categorise Montaigne’s arguments as messy because they are shooting in all directions. Instead of questioning ideas that are unproven, Montaigne goes overboard and starts to question all ideas, all perceptions, and all conclusions. Why was Montaigne reluctant to trust his own perceptions and his own logic? Because of egoism, he explains. He was afraid that his own self-interest would distort his perception of the facts, and lead him to wrong conclusions. I consider Montaigne’s argument extremely weak because one can easily correct emotional distortions. The only thing we need to do is to compare our conclusions with reality. Do they hold water, or do they contradict the facts? Even worse, Montaigne found scepticism great because he regarded it as a form of humility. Why am I to make definite statements about anything, he thought. How can I be totally certain of anything if there are people wiser than me? Montaigne’s humility comes from his Catholic background, and pollutes his whole philosophy. Humility makes him doubt his own shadow because, who knows, the sun might go away tomorrow, let the earth go dark, and efface all shadows. To prove the point that “it is folly to measure truth and error by our own capacity,” Montaigne uses far-fetched illustrations drawn from ancient history and literature. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/michel-de-montaignes-scepticism/

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