LINGUGAGEM, CETICISMO E ENSAIO EM MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to highlight the connection between language, literature, and Pyrrhonism in the work of Michel de Montaigne. To this end, we will first outline the Pyrrhonian skeptical reflections on language, rash judgment, and the imperturbability of the soul. In a second stage, we will show how Montaigne appropriates the skeptical problematization of language—drawing on sources such as Diogenes Laertius and Sextus Empiricus—and how he employs this critical attitude in his polemic against the Protestants. Finally, we will argue that Montaigne reinterprets and distances himself from the Pyrrhonian stance, thus inaugurating a novel way of conceiving the relationship between language, writing, and skepticism: the essayistic genre.