Birthdate: 28th February 1533
Nationality: French
Bio:
Michel de Montaigne was a highly influential French scholar and writer born in 1533. He is considered one of the most significant philosophers of the Renaissance period and is best known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. Montaigne wrote freely on topics ranging from education and friendship to politics and war. However, his most famous work is the Essays, which consisted of over 100 chapters that he continuously revised and expanded throughout his life.
In the Essays, Montaigne introduced his groundbreaking concepts of skepticism, empiricism and personal experience as a basis for knowledge and reasoning. He pioneered the idea of writing about ordinary life experiences and subjects in a direct, anecdotal style. This was a radical departure from academic treatises of the time that focused on established authorities. Montaigne’s essays explored his own feelings, opinions and state of mind in a candid, introspective manner that has influenced literature, philosophy and everyday thought ever since.
Montaigne spent the latter years of his life in scholarly retirement on his family estate, where he continued refining and adding to his Essays. Upon his death in 1592, he left a legacy as one of the most original thinkers of the Renaissance period and a pioneer of the modern essay form. His writings remain widely read today for their insights into human nature
