The indirect psychological speculation of Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne(1533-1592), was an French intellectual that has had an importance very relevant during his time, I must confess that the read of a his book, The title has adjective “indirect” because Montaigne has read what is written; hence the analysis of French intellectual is indirect.Travel in Italy is very boring, because he has described, very summarily, the cities both Italian, German and French; anyway for the firsts pages of The essays some interesting notes is, for example for description of human nature he has used two episodes of fight of Edward 1th prince of Galls and Scanderbeg 3th prince of Epirus, and he describes, trough the Aristotelian method, this speculative, the human nature: “The common method for to soften the heart of who we have offended, when they can revenge of us is move them to compassion and pity through the submission Edward 1th prince of Galls…was seriously offended by Limosini, and he have took their city, and he didn’t stop by cried of people of massacres, but the prayers of women, that asked the pity, but three men that very courageously gone face him. The respect to so valor mitigated the angry of prince. He begun by these three to given grace to all the resident. Scanderbeg third, this George Castriota(1403-1468), prince of Albany, pursued a soldier to kill him and when he seen him that has the sword, and he was ready to face him, but after that the soldier tried mitigated him uselessly the same took the sword; this courage broken the angry of Scanderbeg and he given the grace…” Montaigne brought other examples that here we can’t read, because the explication of these behaviors is important; the pity shown for these princes is typical behavior of human nature, or better, the weakness of human gender, because these reaction is truly the submission that the hostile want, Priam, king of Try, kissed the hand of Achilles for reached the corpse of Hector, the submission gives the illusion of victory, and of strong for whom has the homage. And the analysis of Montaigne that sometime can seems superficial instead reached the peak for description of an episode of Alexander the Great that ordered the torture of a prison, Betis took in Gaza, that he made to torture and to kill, but this choice of Alexander, as hinted by Montaigne, was determined by envy: “Or Alexander estimated Beti so much in so greatness that for his presence he didn’t endured that other has had so quality, without dislike of feel of envy”; it is the speculative method of Montaigne, that as the cities that he has visited, he describes now the human behavior and feel that are organic to human gender. This episode tells also a strategic and cruel choice of Alexander in the same city of Thebes, because Alexander killed sex thousand enemies soldiers; it is the useless cruel, we can judge so this episode, but we must also consider that Alexander was the conqueror of Thebes, and conceded the life to so bold soldiers was very danger, hence the massacre was necessary, above all the soldiers didn’t scared by the death, therefore they would have be enemies very danger. Interesting for the conjunction to Socrates is the words of Plato, that Montaigne translated: “Make the your cures and know yourself”, it is Socrates. Anyway Montagne among episodes of classical fights and modern history describes the human gender. The psychological argument is for description of psychological reaction of man, that Montaigne took from ancient literature, in fact he mentioned Plutarch: “Plutarch says by the way about who loves the monks or small dogs, that the lover side that is in us, when an these objects lack rather than to be inactive it creates something ephemeral and false”; it is natural reaction of human gender, that we can know as fetishism, it is alone an process of assimilation.      

 

 

Alessandro Lusana