Abstract
Montaigne’s use of the term jugement does not lend itself to easy analysis. The modern temperament does not find the word unusual, striking, or complex and is apt to dismiss too readily the intricacies which it includes for Montaigne. Furthermore, there is no simple way of presenting exactly what Montaigne means by judgment. Frequently, the context itself is not sufficient to elucidate the meaning. One must rely on one’s familiarity with the other uses of the term throughout Montaigne’s work. Moreover, the concept of judgment is so woven into the fabric of the Essais that a discussion of judgment often entails a fairly detailed setting.
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References
Fragment d’une lettre,“ OEuvres complètes,ed. Albert Thibaudet and Maurice Rat (Paris, 1962), p. 2347. Although this letter was not published until 1570, it is likely that it was written shortly after the death of La Boétie.
Lettre à M. de Pelgé,“ Les OEuvres (Amsterdam, 1723), II, 518.
Neal Dow, The Concept and Term “Nature” in Montaigne’s Essays (Philadelphia, 1940), has shown the complexities and pitfalls involved in the study of this concept. Although many critics have dealt with nature,sixteenth-century studies still lack an appreciation of the term art
Dow, p. 63, remarks that “by attaching the word `natural’ to a sensation, a phenomenon, an institution, Montaigne affixes his approval to it.”
In Montaigne’s “Advertissement au lecteur” written in 1570 for the publication of La Boétie’s translation of La Mesnagerie de Xénophon The entire “Advertissement au lecteur” is reproduced in the Thibaudet-Rat edition, p. 1719.
Indeed, it is difficult at times to distinguish the act from the faculty: “Voylà des traits bien hazardeux, selon mon jugement” (II, 33, 7,0).
The following quotation is a significant exception to Bowman’s thesis (Montaigne: Essays p. 28) that ébranler,as opposed to branler,in matters of movement and change, connotes for Montaigne unruly, unwarranted, and therefore nefarious motion: “Je voudrois que le Paluel ou Pompée, ces beaux danseurs de mon temps, apprinsent des caprioles â les voir seulement faire, sans nous bouger de nos places, comme ceux-cy veulent instruire notre entendement, sans l’esbranler” (I, 26, 151).
Gustave Lanson, Les Essais de Montaigne (Paris, 193o), p. 167.
Albert Thibaudet, “Le Quadricentenaire d’un philosophe,” La Revue de Paris, 40 (1933), 762
Sylvestre De Sacy, “Montaigne essaie ses facultés naturelles,” Mercure de France, 325 (1952), 304.
Comme faisoient aux chiens les Espaignols à la nouvele conqueste des Indes, ausquels ils payoient solde et faisoient partage au butin; et montroient ces animaux autant d’adresse et de jugement à poursuivre et arrester leur victoire, à charger ou à reculer selon les occasions, à distinguer les amis des ennemis, comme ils faisaient d’ardeur et d’aspreté“ (II, 12, 445).
Frame, “What Next in Montaigne Studies?,” French Review, XXXVI (2963), 583
Et disoit Archesilas les soustenemens et l’estat droit et inflexible du jugement estre les biens, mais les consentements et applications estre les vices et les maux…. Les Pyrrhoniens, quand ils disent que le souverain bien c’est l’Ataraxie, qui est l’immobilité du jugement, ils ne l’entendent pas dire d’une façon affirmative“ (II, 12, 562).
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© 1968 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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La Charité, R.C. (1968). Ignorance, Formation, and Operation. In: The Concept of Judgment in Montaigne. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-0919-0_2
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