Image - painting of Michel de Montaigne
Image - painting of Michel de Montaigne

Montaigne and the Art of Conversation

Monday Night Philosophy returns to Michel de Montaigne, the inventor of the essay and the greatest philosopher of the Renaissance, who is often imagined to be a solitary figure, lost in his library, writing to himself. However, his understanding of the practice of philosophy and the cultivation of the self were deeply social and tied to the give and take of debate and disputation among friends. Hampton's talk—his "conversation"—will focus on one of Montaigne's greatest essays, "On the Art of Conversation." It will place the essay in Montaigne's thought, and in the tradition of "philosophical conversation" that underpins the humanist tradition in the European West. Conversation with and about the essay will be welcome.

MLF ORGANIZER NAME

George Hammond

NOTES

MLF: Humanities

Speakers
Image - Timothy Hampton

Timothy Hampton

Aldo Scaglione and Marie M. Burns Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and French, and Director, Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, UC Berkeley