Montaigne and Bayle

It is traditional in the literature on Pierre Bayle to make some refer ene e to iVlontaigne as one of the masters of skepticism in whose tracks he follows, albeit hardly so eloselyas Charron had. Time and again critics feel the need to mention Montaigne and Bayle in the same context, sometimes to contrast their brands of Pyrrhonism, more often to explain similarities in their ideas and methods, which have frequent ly been regarded as important steps in the gradual evolution of un Christian, even anti-Christian, thought. Their names were already associated during Bayle's life, for example, in the mediocre work by Dom Alexis Gaudin, La Distinction et la Nature du Bien et du MaI, Traite ou l'on combat l'erreur des Manicheens, les sentimens de Jvfontaigne & de Charron, & ceux de J. Vfonsieur Bayle. In the nineteen th century, the author of the Dictionnaire historique et critique wa~ generally elassified as a skeptic; and his name was inevi tably linked with the essayist's. In his Port-Royal, Sainte-Beuve pictured Bayle as one of the avowed skeptics in Montaigne's funeral cortege and spoke of both men as "d'autant pIus fourbes qu'ils ne le sont pas toujours. " His later works show that he revised his opinion on each somewhat,l but in this he was unusual for his century.

Texte du rabat

It is traditional in the literature on Pierre Bayle to make some refer­ ene e to iVlontaigne as one of the masters of skepticism in whose tracks he follows, albeit hardly so eloselyas Charron had. Time and again critics feel the need to mention Montaigne and Bayle in the same context, sometimes to contrast their brands of Pyrrhonism, more often to explain similarities in their ideas and methods, which have frequent­ ly been regarded as important steps in the gradual evolution of un­ Christian, even anti-Christian, thought. Their names were already associated during Bayle's life, for example, in the mediocre work by Dom Alexis Gaudin, La Distinction et la Nature du Bien et du MaI, Traite ou l'on combat l'erreur des Manicheens, les sentimens de Jvfontaigne & de Charron, & ceux de J. Vfonsieur Bayle. In the nineteen th century, the author of the Dictionnaire historique et critique wa~ generally elassified as a skeptic; and his name was inevi tably linked with the essayist's. In his Port-Royal, Sainte-Beuve pictured Bayle as one of the avowed skeptics in Montaigne's funeral cortege and spoke of both men as "d'autant pIus fourbes qu'ils ne le sont pas toujours. " His later works show that he revised his opinion on each somewhat,l but in this he was unusual for his century.

Contenu
I. Greek Skepticism.- II. Skepticism Prior To Montaigne.- III. Montaigne's Early Essays.- IV. The Apologie de Raimond Sebond.- V. The New Knowledge The Essays of 157880.- VI. The Final Essays.- VII. Interim Seventeenth-century Skepticism.- VIII. The Gentleman and the Scholar.- IX. Bayle's Youth.- X. The Works of the 1680's.- XI. The Dictionnaire historique et critique.- XII. Controversies.- Afterword.- Appendix I. The Sentences Inscribed on the Rafters of Montaigne's Library.- Appendix II. References to Montaigne in Bayle's Works.