Liberty, self-possession and carelessness in Montaigne's Essais
This thesis explores the relationship between self-examination, self-regulation and human freedom in Montaigneâs <i>Essais</i> (c. 1571-1592). Montaigneâs text has overwhelmingly been characterized as the expression of a distinctively modern subjectivity, positing an authentic, individual self incommensurable with the artifices of language and social performance. To this interpretation I oppose a new reading centred on one of Montaigneâs deepest and most pressing preoccupations: the need to secure for himself a sphere of liberty and independence he can properly call his own, or himself. Chapter 1 focuses on the language Montaigne uses to articulate what we would now call âthe selfâ: a rhetoric of inwardness urging us to look or withdraw <i>into </i>ourselves, and a rhetoric of self-possession calling for us to <i>own </i>or <i>belong</i> to ourselves. These expressions are shown to reflect patterns of discourse inherited from ancient texts, in particular Plutarch and Seneca. To belong to oneself, in Montaigneâs view, is not to be true to oneself, but to be oneâs own man and master. Chapter 2 examines the role of these notions of freedom and self-ownership in Montaigneâs account of public engagement.
Green, F. M.
Liberty, self-possession and carelessness in Montaigne's Essais. This thesis explores the relationship between self-examination, self-regulation and human freedom in Montaigneâs <i>Essais</i> (c. 1571-1592). Montaigneâs text has overwhelmingly been characterized as the expression of a distinctively modern subjectivity, positing an authentic, individual self incommensurable with the artifices of language and social performance. To this interpretation I oppose a new reading centred on one of Montaigneâs deepest and most pressing preoccupations: the need to secure for himself a sphere of liberty and independence he can properly call his own, or himself. Chapter 1 focuses on the language Montaigne uses to articulate what we would now call âthe selfâ: a rhetoric of inwardness urging us to look or withdraw <i>into </i>ourselves, and a rhetoric of self-possession calling for us to <i>own </i>or <i>belong</i> to ourselves. These expressions are shown to reflect patterns of discourse inherited from ancient texts, in particular Plutarch and Seneca. To belong to oneself, in Montaigneâs view, is not to be true to oneself, but to be oneâs own man and master. Chapter 2 examines the role of these notions of freedom and self-ownership in Montaigneâs account of public engagement.
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