Post your comments on ch 13-16.
1. What did the king tell Montaigne, and what was Montaigne's reply?
2. What made travel an "extreme sport" in Montaigne's day?
3. Why did Montaigne seek Roman citizenship?
4. What response did Montaigne share with Freud, when viewing antiquities and relics?
5. What was Montaigne's Pyrrhonian principle?
6. What rule did Montaigne follow, as mayor?
7. How did Montaigne come across in his letter to Henri IV in a way that resembled his essays?
8. What did English readers like about Montaigne's Essays?
Discussion Questions
- Do you like to take things from an "unaccustomed point of view"? 225
- Do you like to travel? Why or why not?
- Do you travel with a precise itinerary, or do you prefer to be spontaneous and without an agenda?
- What do you think of Emerson's views on travel? "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not...Traveling is a fool's paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places..."
- What's the happiest (or un-) travel experience you've had?
- Do you find it easier to see things "afresh and with full attention" when in an unfamiliar environment?231
- Is "inactivity" a good thing, for politicians? 250
- Do you think most philosophers are "alert to everyday life as it really is"? 283
My presentation on Travel and Happiness is scheduled for Oct. 26th. It does not look like we will be that far into the presentations by then and I expect to be out of town on Oct. 28th so it looks like I will be presenting sometime in November. So, I will give you a summary and some discussion questions now. Montaigne had some very specific purposes in setting out on a 17 month excursion with a large entourage after spending years in his tower library writing his Essays. He hoped that travel would prepare him for his next career in diplomacy and as always he was simply curious about the world. Specifically he traveled in order to:
ReplyDelete1. Satisfy his intellectual curiosity
2. Walk where his heroes once walked
3. Sharpen his thinking by interacting with new people
4. Seek a cure for his painful kidney stone attacks (bathing in hot springs seemed to help)
5. Avoid repeating a route, freely explore off the beaten path, and witness odd events
6. Enjoy the local cuisine and gather recipes
7. Shake off prejudices about other cultures
As you can see by his purposes for traveling, he just wanted to go with the flow, pursue pleasures and seek happiness, rest and recreate, and make note of his surroundings. Like Montaigne, I have developed a philosophy or travel which I will share in my presentation. Here are my discussion questions:
How did you spend your summer vacations?
Who is the most interesting person you met while traveling?
How much of who you are is because of where you have been?
And finally, a few quotes to stimulate your thinking about Travel and Happiness: “Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” ― Anita Desai “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin “Travel brings power and love back into your life.” ― Rumi Jalalud-Din “I read; I travel; I become” ― Derek Walcott “One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” ― Henry Miller
Looking forward to it, Gary, whenever it finally happens!
Delete1. What did the king tell Montaigne, and what was Montaigne's reply?
ReplyDeleteKing Henri III told Montaigne that he “liked” the Essays. Montaigne replied, “Sir, then Your Majesty must like me” because, as Montaigne often insisted, “he and his book were the same.” (Bakewell, p. 225) True to character, Montaigne spoke plainly and frankly to King and farm laborer alike.
2. What made travel an "extreme sport" in Montaigne's day?
Travel in Montaigne’s time was by nature what we would call an “extreme sport” today. It was a gamble to hit the road, as dangerous as dueling…at least a 50 50 proposition. Roads could be unkept and treacherous, the plague was rampant in the land, and robbers were common along the roadways. In addition, officials had to be bribed along the way, red tape had to be cut through to obtain “passports, travel and baggage permits” (Bakewell, p. 231), papers certifying that you had not been exposed to the plague recently, and riding a horse over long distances is no picnic especially for someone like Montaigne prone to kidney stones. In recent years, travel has taken on some of these characteristics with Covid-19 spreading worldwide. There has been uncertainty about what means of transportation are safe or even available, and the threat of pick pockets, robbers, and terrorists in the most popular tourist destination. I personally sign up for the State Department threat notices before I travel out of country.
I hope to one day poor myself into the work I produce like Montaigne. I think his personal undertones are extremely worth note in the contrabution to writing and philosophy in general.
Delete3. Why did Montaigne seek Roman citizenship?
ReplyDeleteRoman citizenship still had value when Montaigne lived, even as it saved the life of the Apostle Paul on many occasions. In the way that the U.S. dollar is coveted around the globe, Roman citizenship was a worldwide currency that opened doors and conferred status. Montaigne received his citizenship after being in Rome for four-and-a-half months. The citizenship papers were added to the Essays in a section about vanity and Montaigne announced, “I have received much pleasure in having obtained it” (Roman citizenship that is). (Bakewell, p. 239)
4. What response did Montaigne share with Freud, when viewing antiquities and relics?
From his reading of the classics Montaigne had formed an elaborate image of Rome in his mind, much like we today can take virtual tours of almost any tourist site in the world via the internet. People are even buying houses they have never seen in person because they can tour the house virtually. Still, Montaigne realized in spite of all he already could picture in his mind about Rome, there was something special about actually being there in person. Many professors and students would agree with this after having to engage in remote learning for a time and returning to in-person learning. Freud had a similar experience when he visited the Acropolis in Athens. He commented, “So all this really does exist, just as we learned in school!”…(and) almost immediately…(he) felt the conviction: “What I see here is not real.” (Bakewell, p. 243) For both Montaigne and Freud the encounter between the place they had imagined and the real physical experience of that place had a big impact.
I think Roman history is so fasinating! That is crazy to think about Roman Citizenship having that much respect around the world.
Delete5. What was Montaigne's Pyrrhonian principle?
ReplyDeleteMontaigne realized that it was important to find ways to appreciate and relate to each person he met, like any good diplomat should do. He often could accomplish this by simply being a good listener, thereby following his Pyrrhonian principle of lending an ear “to everyone and his mind to no one”, (Bakewell, p. 247) all the time knowing for himself what he thought, who he was, and what he stood for, and thereby maintaining his personal integrity.
6. What rule did Montaigne follow, as mayor?
When dealing with people with opposing views and possessed to be hostile toward one another, Montaigne chose “to behave with a temperate affection toward both” (Bakewell, p. 252) and allow neither party to think they are favored or dominating the argument. Montaigne’s approach involved doing his job well “but not too” well. “By following this rule, he kept himself out of trouble, and remained fully human.” (Bakewell, p. 252) He met his obligations and did his duty which was often much more than others were willing to do.
7. How did Montaigne come across in his letter to Henri IV in a way that resembled his essays?
After King Henri III was killed, Montaigne found himself once again expected to serve as an advisor to King Henri IV and he dutifully offered his services. He gladly gave advise by letter, but firmly resisted requests to travel, partly due to health issues. His written advice was characteristically tough and assertive. Some would have thought too much so. Still he did not waiver from his practice of speaking frankly and openly as he had done in the Essays where he was “blunt, unimpressed by power, and determined to preserve his freedom.” (Bakewell, p. 272)
Being unimpressed by power and status is such a wonderfully democratic attitude. Diogenes the cynic was often gross and disgusting, in making graphic his contempt for conformist convention. But he did himself proud by telling Alexander to step out of his sunlight. It's good to bring "Great" people down a notch.
DeleteWhat's the happiest (or un-) travel experience you've had?
ReplyDeleteThe most notible travel experience I have ever had was the summer before I went to College. It was in August of 2020 and my girlfriend and I went on a road trip to Colorado from Tennessee. We saved up money to bought camping supplies and everything. It took us about three days to get there, it was the first time she had every seen the rocky mountains. All was going well when my car stopped working on our way into Estes Park, the place we were staying at. Luckily for us we got a lift from the person we drove into the drive way of. He took us to our hotel while we paid someone to towe our car to somewhere it could be fixed. At that hotel I asked my girlfriend to marry me. She said yes and we spent the rest of that week camping in the Rocky Mountain National Park and making arrangment to go home. Long story short we had to fly back and leave the car. Amazing experience!!!