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Montaigne: education under intellectual skepticism and mor al stoicism into renaissance
Authors: Gustavo Araújo Batista
Number of views: 552
The philosophy of Michel Eyquem of Montaigne (1533-1592) offers the possibility of a pedagogy based on intellectual skepticism and moral stoicism, because,according to the French essayist, on being impossible the acquisition of the definitive or unquestionable knowledge, it would only rest the incessant search for something that would be, at least, a little more reliable or probable, in the same way that it would be imperative to breed the individual in order to a virtuous and unstoppable conduct on accomplishing the duty. With this argument, the objective of this article, which justifies itself on the necessity of nearing philosophy and education, is to demonstrate the applicability of Montaigne’s philosophical thought to educational ref lection, offering a panoramically view of the historical context which he belongs to, that is, the Renaissance, as well as of his life and of his greatest work (Essays), from that extracting elements to the comprehension of his philosophy in general and, particularly, of the contribution of his ref lections in order to a philosophical foundation of the education, under a skeptic and stoic perspective. As a result, it is shown that Montaigne’s intellectual skepticism and moral stoicism stay like alerts against possible mistakes, errors, illusions or misconceptions caused by conceptions that do not question the extent to which knowledge is reliable, as well as they make to ignore the importance of human conduct breeding. These considerations about Montaigne’s philosophical and educational ideas, linked to his historical context, may raise ref lections concerning the problematic of the theoretical foundation of the education, in favor of a pedagogical practice that may make use of the theoretical contributions offered by philosophy.