DB 12

ENG 325 Week 3 Unit B

Discussion board: (200 words)

I will post everything that my professor posted, because I don’t get her point. I just need 200 words for this DB

1. Discussion Board Questions:

"We, who live private lives, not exposed to any other view than our own, ought chiefly to have settled a pattern within ourselves by which to try our actions: and according to that, sometimes to encourage and sometimes to correct ourselves. I have my laws and my judicature to judge of myself, and apply myself more to these than to any other rules: I do, indeed, restrain my actions according to others; but extend them not by any other rule than my own. You yourself only know if you are cowardly and cruel, loyal and devout: others see you not, and only guess at you by uncertain conjectures, and do not so much see your nature as your art; rely not therefore upon their opinions, but stick to your own."

                                               (Montaigne, Repentence)

Or, as Shakespeare would put it:

"This above all--to thine own self be true/ and it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man."

(Hamlet, I, iii, 564-56).

Prompt:  Reflect on these: both the content, and the content of both.   

Reading 1:

Reading

Attached Files:

·  Montaigne Of Repentence.docx (30.384 KB)

Read the attached essay, "Of Repentence"

Reading 2:

Me, Myself and I: What Made Michel de Montaigne the First Modern Man?

Article from the New Yorker Magazine, 2009.  Wonderful, readable, gives context about the man, his place in history, his work.

Optional, but well worth the time.

Reading 3:

Michel the Philosopher

Michel de Montaigne's life-long project, the Essays, allows his readers to follow along as he begins to discover, in the act of writing, a philosophy of life.  I say "discover" and not state, because what he says often develops and changes in the course of the Essays.  

“If I speak of myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways.”

Montaigne's philosophy is most often compared to the school of Stoicism.  From the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://www.iep.utm.edu/stoicism/):

The Stoic doctrine is divided into three parts: logic, physics, and ethics. Stoicism is essentially a system of ethics which, however, is guided by a logic as theory of method, and rests upon physics as foundation. Briefly, their notion of morality is stern, involving a life in accordance with nature and controlled by virtue. It is an ascetic system, teaching perfect indifference (apathea) to everything external, for nothing external could be either good or evil. Hence to the Stoics both pain and pleasure, poverty and riches, sickness and health, were supposed to be equally unimportant.

He is more than an adherent to any particular "school" or theory; more complex, more difficult to put a label on or to fit into a prefab box.  As Anthony Long notes (http://arcade.stanford.edu/rofl/montaigne-eclectic-pragmatist):

Reason vs. experience, truth vs. uncertainty, similarity vs. difference, habit vs. adaptation, body vs. mind, spontaneity vs. deliberation, pleasure vs. pain, anti- and pro-philosophy—these are just some of the many polarities with which Montaigne juggles and disconcerts us. Just as we think we have grasped what he is after and where he is going, he reverses course. Skeptic, Socratic, Stoic, Epicurean—he seems to be all of these at once, and none of them securely or consistently.

One of the deepest appeals to reading The Essays is following a brilliant, open-minded and well-educated man on a journey of self-discovery.  Our class's readings have provided a tiny taste; read the rest if you have the courage!

2. Write two responses for other two students, 75 words for each response.

Extract a point which you agree from his post, and talk about it

First student: (75 words)

Friendship is one of the most important aspects in our lives. A friend is someone who you can rely on in good and bad situations and everything in between. Friends are like family, you visit them and vice versa, help each other out, give advice, have fun together, rely on each other and compete together in order to grow. A life without friendship is a life without fun and a life of solitude. Without friends you are just going through life as an unknown entity. Friends give you the color in your life which makes life worth living. Life without friendship would be difficult to imagine.

                I value friendship because friends make everything fun. You could go to the most boring place ever and still find it fun if you’re with a friend. Friendship is a something every human should have in their lifetime. Friendship gives us the bonds that make life exciting.

                I like to think I make a good friend. I look out for my friends, provide support for them, spend time with them whenever it’s possible for all people involved and do whatever I can for my friends. Friends and family are the most important aspect for me in my life and without them I would be lost.

Second student: (75 words)

I value friendship, though not to the same degree as Michel de Montaigne. Most of the sentiments that he expressed about friendship in his essay sound like they should be applied to a romantic relationship rather than a platonic friendship. He seems to rank this friendship above his family and romantic relationship which I disagree with, but to each his own.

I think that our lives would become warped and lacking in perspective without friends. Without friends, we would presumably be spending all of our time alone or with family, which isn’t healthy. What makes friends important is that, unlike family, we get to choose them. We can choose friends that share similar interests, that we have harmonious relationships with, that make us see things in a new light. All things that may not be present in other relationships.

Do I make a good friend? I can, but I’ve never had a close platonic friendship like the one that Montaigne references. I’ve always devoted most of my attention to my family and my romantic relationship.