Montaigne - (Catholic Ideas for a Secular World) by Pierre Manent

About the Book

"2014 and now translated for the first time into English by Paul Seaton, Pierre Manent provides a careful reading of Montaigne's three-volume work, Essays. Although Montaigne's writing resists easy analysis-Montaigne includes seven essays before he even explicitly states the purpose of the Essays-Manent finds in it a subtle unity, and demonstrates both the philosophical depth of Montaigne's reflections and the distinctive and even radical character of his central ideas. To show Montaigne's unique contribution to political discourse, Manent compares his work to other influential modern philosophers, including Machiavelli, Hobbes, Pascal, and Rousseau. For example, whereas Hobbes proposed the modern state as necessary because of humanity's supposedly natural condition in a "war of all against all," Montaigne did not see the state as the remedy to civil-religious discord. But in fact, speculation on the state does not play a large role in the Essays. Rather, Montaigne's philosophical reflection focuses on the concept of what he calls la condition humaine, the human condition. In Montaigne: Life without Law, Manent tracks how Montaigne develops this concept. Above all, Manent encompasses Montaigne's analysis in three terms: virtue, pleasure, and death. As Manent shows, by deploying these and other categories, Montaigne's Essays present not a philosophical system, but rather a new form of thinking and living, which provides us with a way of engaging in a truly thoughtful life. What might human life look like without the imposing and even towering presence of the state? In raising this critical question, Montaigne's Essays makes an important inquiry that remains of great relevance for Europe and other areas of the world alike. In showing the unity of Montaigne's work, Manent's study will appeal especially to students and scholars of political theory and philosophical history"--

Book Synopsis

In Montaigne: Life without Law, originally published in French in 2014 and now translated for the first time into English by Paul Seaton, Pierre Manent provides a careful reading of Montaigne's three-volume work Essays. Although Montaigne's writings resist easy analysis, Manent finds in them a subtle unity, and demonstrates the philosophical depth of Montaigne's reflections and the distinctive, even radical, character of his central ideas. To show Montaigne's unique contribution to modern philosophy, Manent compares his work to other modern thinkers, including Machiavelli, Hobbes, Pascal, and Rousseau. What does human life look like without the imposing presence of the state? asks Manent. In raising this question about Montaigne's Essays, Manent poses a question of great relevance to our contemporary situation. He argues that Montaigne's philosophical reflections focused on what he famously called la condition humaine, the human condition. Manent tracks Montaigne's development of this fundamental concept, focusing especially on his reworking of pagan and Christian understandings of virtue and pleasure, disputation and death. Bringing new form and content together, a new form of thinking and living is presented by Montaigne's Essays, a new model of a thoughtful life from one of the unsung founders of modernity.

Throughout, Manent suggests alternatives and criticisms, some by way of contrasts with other thinkers, some in his own name. This is philosophical engagement at a very high level. In showing the unity of Montaigne's work, Manent's study will appeal especially to students and scholars of political theory, the history of modern philosophy, modern literature, and the origins of modernity.

Review Quotes

"Montaigne: Life Without Law may have been written primarily with professional philosophers in mind, but in spite of its at times demanding character, it is accessible to the informed layman. Manent is not writing in a vacuum; his Montaigne offers many lessons for our troubled present." --Review of Metaphysics

"Paul Seaton's fine translation captures the subtlety and elegance of Manent's argument, and his introduction locates this work within Manent's understanding of the origins of modernity. In bringing the subject to light, Pierre Manent has given us profound insight into the meaning of the Essays and the importance of Montaigne for our understanding of ourselves as we are in this moment of the Western dynamic." --The Review of Politics

"Pierre Manent shows repeatedly how Montaigne's views have come to inform much of what we take for granted in modern life. To know ourselves, we must know Montaigne. Manent proves an invigorating and sure guide." --Thomas Hibbs, author of Wagering on an Ironic God

"Pierre Manent's Montaigne is an extraordinary book. It stands out brilliantly among works in the history of ideas in form and in content." --Ralph C. Hancock, author of Calvin and the Foundations of Modern Politics

"Pierre Manent's monograph on Montaigne . . . is brimming with the considerable erudition for which Manent is justly famous as a philosopher and public intellectual in France. Manent performs a virtuoso close reading of the Essays, taking readers on a thrilling ride through many of the twisting thematic turns, cheerfully unexplained self-contradictions, and dramatic changes of subject that have drawn readers to Montaigne for centuries. Paul Seaton, the translator, has done a masterful job capturing Manent's gripping prose." --Perspectives on Politics

"Manent continues his impressive political and philosophical efforts to reconnect human liberty with natural law, practical reason, and the moral contents of life. This is moral and political philosophy of a very high order, and of great and enduring relevance." --The New Criterion

"In a long line of essential books, Manent has built his reputation as Europe's principal chronicler of Western political thought. His latest, Montaigne: Life without Law explores how Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) helped shape the Western belief that it is the law that obeys us, not the other way around." --Law and Liberty

About the Author

Pierre Manent is professor emeritus of political philosophy at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. He is the author of numerous books, including Natural Law and Human Rights: Toward a Recovery of Practical Reason (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020).

Paul Seaton is the Richard and Barbara Fisher Professor of Philosophy at St. Mary's Seminary & University. He has translated multiple works from French to English, including books by Rémi Brague, Chantal Delsol, and Pierre Manent.