Post your comments on ch 5-8.
1. What hope did La Boetie express in his sonnet?
2. What in La Boetie's writing particularly resonated with Montaigne?
3. What two things did Stoics and Epicureans consider most important to get right?
4. What doe epekho mean?
5. When brooding on death, Montaigne apparently forgot what?
6. What image of Descartes provides a neat contrast to that of Montaigne?
7. How does Bakewell imagine Blaise Pascal, in contrast to Montaigne and the libertines?
8. What was Montaigne's "real liberty"?
Discussion Questions:
- Have you ever had a friendship like Montaigne's and La Boetie's? Do you hope to?
- Have you personally discovered the power of habit? 96
- Do you think you'll be able to meet death with La Boetie's equanimity and gratitude?103
- Is there any admirable person in your life you think of as your "ever-present audience"? 108
- What do you think of Plutarch's "ploy"?111
- Did you know the Stoics "visualized time circling on itself" in a kind of pre-Nietzschean eternal recurrence? 112 Does the thought bring you comfort?
- What do you think of amor fati? 113 Should we "accept everything just as it is"?
- What do you think of Seneca's trick for practicing amor fati? 114
- What do you think of Fideism? 121
- Is it really true that "human reason cannot be relied on"? 122
- Do you agree that "nothing in life need be taken seriously"? 124
- Do you think seated "meditation" is a better method than motile reflection?
- Should our happiness depend on spouses, children, goods, and/or health? 162
- Do you aspire to independence and self-sufficiency in old-age? 168
PDF with comments and text of "On Voluntary Servitude" by Boetie:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thing.net/~rdom/ucsd/biopolitics/Boetie.pdf
Thanks, Gary. What a "call"!-
ReplyDelete"This call to freedom ringing down the corridors of four centuries is sounded again here for the sake of
peoples in all totalitarian countries today who dare not freely declare their thought.
It will also ring dear and beautiful in the ears of those who still live freely and who by faith and power
will contribute to the liberation of the rest of mankind from the horrors of political serfdom."
1. What hope did La Boetie express in his sonnet?
ReplyDeleteLa Boetie hoped that his name and Montaigne’s would be remembered as a pair forever, as famous and intimate friends. “Montaigne describes their friendship as a transcendent mystery, or as a great surge of love that swept them both away.” (Bakewell, p. 93)
2. What in La Boetie's writing particularly resonated with Montaigne?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading “On Voluntary Servitude” Montaigne longed to meet the author of this work which he found astounding. The thinking in the work which resonated with Montaigne included “It’s reflections on the power of habit…and its idea that freedom could come from reading historians and biographers…” (Bakewell, p. 96)
3. What two things did Stoics and Epicureans consider most important to get right?
ReplyDeleteThe art of living well and knowing how to achieve happiness (eudaimonia) when facing the pain which seems to touch each life by practicing indifference to suffering.
4. What doe epekho mean?
ReplyDeleteEpekho means “I suspend judgment” or je soutiens “I hold back”. (Bakewell, p. 124) Suspension of judgment frees one from having to establish certainty about any subject.
5. When brooding on death, Montaigne apparently forgot what?
ReplyDeleteHe forgot that being intimately attached to another person could mean losing that person would lead to a great deal of grief and pain. He also seemed to think death was quickly over with when in fact with La Boetie death was a long and tedious process. Finally, he forgot to wear his mask while in the presence of The Plague!
7. What image of Descartes provides a neat contrast to that of Montaigne?
ReplyDeleteDescarte did his thinking while focusing on the flames in a stove, perhaps hunched over like Roden’s "Thinker", while Montaigne would think while walking, moving about his library pulling down various books, allowing himself to be distracted by everything around him. He might get an idea at any moment or location. He needed activity around him when he thought and preferred to have his library, objects that reminded him of life events, pets, and people nearby. “Montaigne did his thinking in a richly populated environment…Descartes needed motionless withdrawal.” (Bakewell, p. 138)
8. How does Bakewell imagine Blaise Pascal, in contrast to Montaigne and the libertines?
ReplyDeletePascal stayed focused on the ultimate and greatest things, like the vastness of the universe, God, and death. He was infuriated by what he saw Montaigne and the rest of the world spending their time and thoughts on, “playing the lute, singing, writing verse, tilting at the ring…” (Bakewell, p. 146) Montaigne focused on what it was like being human and like the Libertines valued being in good spirits “gay, lively, full of fire…” (Bakewell, p. 150), living an honest and moral life, and enjoying good conversation and company. Like Montaigne the Libertines preferred above all to observe humanity, especially their own inner life.
9. What was Montaigne's "real liberty"?
ReplyDeleteMontaigne’s tower and library, what I would call his “man cave”, was a place he felt most free and at “real liberty” to express himself. This was his retreat from the world where he enjoyed solitude and was able to let his thoughts ramble here and there. He went to what he called his “back shop” not so much to avoid family as to shield himself from the suffering he knew could come from being too close to others you might lose some day. By retreating is this way “he also discovered that having such a retreat helped him establish his “real liberty,” the space he needed to think and look inward.” (Bakewell, p. 162)
I'm so envious of that tower "cave"... my Little House is no match for it.
DeleteThe comments space seems to have become the Gary show...
For all who plan to post later, that's fine--but I won't have an opportunity to see your late posts before class, if you wait 'til after my bedtime Monday. And that's regrettable.
Maybe you were all busy watching the Red Sox blow out the Astros again, or the Titans squeak past the Bills.
It is the Gary and Sam show now. That could be the name of a sitcom.
DeleteI wish for my house to one day have a place that resembles the tower. Books are the most important thing humanity has to offer in my opinion. I would love to be surrounded by them.
DeleteHave you personally discovered the power of habit? 96
ReplyDeleteI could write a paragraph about habit. Habit is the most powerful force in my entire life, I would say I live more out of habit than anything else. Making decisions is so difficult and painful because of how many I have to make that habit is like a freeing force in my life.
I get that, creating habbits is one of the hardest things I have to do in life and getting rid of them as well. Personally I do try to create and distory them as often as possible to keep life interesting.
DeleteHave you ever had a friendship like Montaigne's and La Boetie's? Do you hope to?
ReplyDeleteMy relationship with my best friend started when I was 14. We started out by having dicussions at the lunchroom table about anything and everything. Usually about History and the limited knowledge we had we should debate about. Eventually we started debating over the phone and everywhere. We never called eachother friends though because I was extremely stand-off-ish. We talked a lot about life and our ideas for the future. We hung about all the time and overtime we eventually started calling eachother friends. He helped me through a lot as a kid and we both grew as people together. almost 7 years later we still talk on the phone every two weeks not including text messages. Through our friendship my love of philosophy grew and that is what I am pursuing today.