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Single Idea 6259

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 2. Wise People ]

Full Idea

Why cannot a wise man dare to doubt anything and everything?

Gist of Idea

Why can't a wise man doubt everything?

Source

Michel de Montaigne (Apology for Raymond Sebond [1580], p.0562)

Book Ref

Montaigne,Michel de: 'The Complete Essays', ed/tr. Screech,M.A. [Penguin 1987], p.562


A Reaction

This question seems to be the start of the Enlightenment Project, of attempting to prove everything. MacIntyre warns of the dangers of this in ethical theory. The story of modern philosophy is the discovery of its impossibility. E.g. Davidson on truth.


The 14 ideas from Michel de Montaigne

Rules and duties are based on the will, as that is all we control [Montaigne]
Montaigne was the founding father of liberalism [Montaigne, by Gopnik]
People at home care far more than soldiers risking death about the outcome of wars [Montaigne]
There is not much point in only becoming good near the end of your life [Montaigne]
Nothing we say can be worse than unsaying it in the face of authority [Montaigne]
Virtue inspires Stoics, but I want a good temperament [Montaigne]
Apart from the fear, dying is an easy duty [Montaigne]
Virtue is the distinctive mark of truth, and its greatest product [Montaigne]
Why can't a wise man doubt everything? [Montaigne]
Sceptics say there is truth, but no means of making or testing lasting judgements [Montaigne]
The soul is in the brain, as shown by head injuries [Montaigne]
We lack some sense or other, and hence objects may have hidden features [Montaigne]
No wisdom could make us comfortably walk a wide beam if it was high in the air [Montaigne]
We must fight fiercely to hang on to the few pleasures which survive into old age [Montaigne]