The Possible Influence of Montaigne's Essais on Descartes' Treatise on the Passions

The Possible Influence of Montaigne's Essais on Descartes' Treatise on the Passions Synopsis

This present study takes a new look at the essayist Michel de Montaigne and the philosopher Rene Descartes and attempts to show a new interrelationship between the two. Previous studies have linked the latter's Discours de la mÈthode to the Essais and have noted general similarities, but no major study to date has examined the pair from the standpoint of Descartes' TraitÈ des passions and Montaigne's Essais. This study will examine the previous research and show: the established "borrowings" noted to date; the possibility of common sources (St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas); and related "similarities". Includes a textual examination of Descartes' biography to show the possibility that he had indeed contacted the essayist's works, and was indeed familiar with his ideas and forms of expression.