Philosopher

Michel de Montaigne

French Renaissance thinker — inventor of the essay and sceptic of the self

Parlement of Bordeaux; Mayor of Bordeaux (1581-1585) · France · d. 28 February 1533 (Château de Montaigne, Périgord) — 13 September 1592 (Château de Montaigne, Périgord)

Retired from the Bordeaux parlement in 1571 to his tower and began writing about himself, publishing the first two books of the Essais at Bordeaux in 1580 and a third, with additions, in 1588. His motto was a question, Que sais-je?, and his method was to test received wisdom against one particular case, his own. He served two terms as mayor of Bordeaux from 1581 to 1585.