Abstract

This study of Montaigne's Essais is elaborated according to a two-pronged approach. It examines philosophical antecedents and how they are manipulated, modified and incorporated into the writing of the Essais, and how the combination of diverse discourses of the Essais develops into new philosophical accomplishments and a new genre of writing. ;The dissertation begins by examining the intertextual patterns and ontological presuppositions underlying the Essais. In order to introduce one of the study's central topics, an aspect of Montaigne's writing that is often overlooked, how he modifies the arguments and presuppositions of scholastic philosophy by combining them within the variety of orders of discourse that comprise the writing of the Essais, these patterns are linked through readings of Aristotle's Metaphysics and Montaigne's treatment of Amyot's translations of Plutarch, particularly the passage "Nous n'avons aucune communication a l'estre..." which Montaigne appropriates for the conclusion of the "Apologie de Raimond Sebond." ;The Essais' combination of discursive orders is then studied through analyses of the use of hypotyposis to express conceptualization, its improvisations with the terms of traditional sign theory, its use of passages from Cicero, and its inventions of novel arguments concerning the Names of gods as instrumenta regni. By relativizing notions like virtue, honor and glory, and exploiting equivoques and contradiction, Montaigne manages to write with the topics of moral philosophy and literary themes while continually interrupting logical, thematic and narrative developments. By analyzing the role of affective reactions discovered through analyzing the content and conditions of oral and written communication Montaigne elaborates multiple genres of discourse and moments of writing into a philosophy and a philosophy of composition. The fifth chapter describes how Montaigne mutually implicates explanations of affective, intellective and social processes to arrive at a theory of the affective passions