Montaigne and Descartes: Two proposals of a modern way of life

Abstract

I will try to show that both Montaigne and Descartes are modern philosophers who conceive philosophy as a praxis-oriented discourse, which implies living in a certain way. Essay writing is the element of modernity in Montaigne’s proposal of a way of life, resulting from the fact that there is no knowledge without a subject having it, so that it is the subject’s task to put himself to a test by producing a self-transforming discourse on himself. In a similar vein, the cartesian image of the tree of philosophy is also supposed to guide human action. Both Montaigne and Descartes consider philosophy to be a theoretico-practical activity. Both write to judge better and to judge themselves better, although it is necessary to acknowledge there is an epistemological difference between montaignian man and cartesian man.

Key words: Montaigne. Descartes. Modern Philosophy. Philosophy as a way of life.