Michel de Montaigne
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Michel Eyquem, Seigneur de Montaigne, commonly known as just Michel de Montaigne, was one of the most significant writers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularising the essay as a literar
Portrait of Montaigne, 1570s
Portrait of Montaigne c. 1565, by an anonymous artist
Château de Montaigne, a house built on the land once owned by Montaigne's family. His original family home no longer exists, although the tower in which he wrote still stands.
The Tour de Montaigne (Montaigne's tower), where Montaigne's library was located, remains mostly unchanged since the sixteenth century.
Pyrrhonism
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Pyrrhonism is an Ancient Greek school of philosophical skepticism which rejects dogma and advocates the suspension of judgment over the truth of all beliefs. It was founded by Aenesidemus in the first
Michel de Montaigne
…of the time. He believed that humans are unable to attain true certainty. The longest of his essays, Apology for Raymond Sebond, marks his adoption of Pyrrhonism and contains the famous motto, "What do I know?" Montaigne considered marriage necessary for raising children, but he disliked feelings of passionate…
Skeptics in Raphael's School of Athens painting. Pyrrho is #4 and Timon #5.
Nagarjuna, a Madhyamaka Buddhist philosopher whose skeptical arguments are similar to those preserved in the work of Sextus Empiricus
Nietzsche: critic of Pyrrhonian ephectics