Introduction to Montaigne (vs Populists)

Michel de Montaigne, author of the Essays, On Cannibals, and the Apology for Raymond Sebond, is one of the most important thinkers of the early modern period, the Renaissance, and the enlightenment birth of modernity. I look at his thought, particularly the scepticism he inherited from Prryhonism – Prryho of Ellis and Sextus Empiricus – and how it can be used rhetorically in defense of populists. I adopt Jan Werner-Muller’s definition of populism, especially his anti-pluralism, to argue that Montaigne would have been sceptical of people’s faith in powerful figures and a defender of pluralism that protects against the misuse of power.

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Sources:

Ullrich Langer (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne, Essays

Jan-Werner Muller, What is Populism?

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