320 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



Francis Bacon, quite different conditions prevailed on the 

 22. Continent. There a pronounced scepticism as to the 



Continental , 11 i j_ j. 



thought capacity of the human intellect to reach certainty in 

 scepticism, matters of fundamental importance had got hold of men's 

 .minds. It found expression mainly in French learned 

 and polite literature : in the writings of a man of the 

 world like Michel de Montaigne 1 (1533-1592); of 

 Pierre Charron 2 (1541-1603), a lawyer and preacher; 

 and of Francois Sanchez 3 (died 1632), a professor of 

 medicine and philosophy at Montpellier. Out of this 

 general scepticism, which rested more on the uncertainty 

 that pervaded the thought of the age than on the fruit- 

 lessness of the philosophy of the schoolmen or on the 

 want of advance in useful knowledge in the dark ages, it 

 is the great merit of Descartes to have sought a way to 



1 Montaigne's ' Essais ' appeared 

 in 1580, an augmented edition in 

 1588. "As the most important 

 among them may be considered the 

 ' Apologie de Raymond Sebond ' (ii. 

 12), which contains important dis- 

 cussions on Faith and Knowledge. 

 Montaigne founds his doubt upon 

 the diversity of individual views : 

 every one has a different opinion, 

 whereas truth can only be one ; 

 there is no certain, no generally 

 admitted knowledge. Human rea- 

 son is weak and blind in all 

 things, knowledge is deceptive 

 (especially contemporary philosophy, 

 which explains explanations and 

 not things) ; and the laws of the 

 country, which reason advises us 

 to follow, are a seething ocean of 

 opinions of a people or a Sovereign " 

 (Falckenberg, ' Geschichte der 

 Neueren Philosophic,' 1886, p. 34). 

 If theoretical certainty is impos- 

 sible, practical conduct must rely 

 on nature and revelation. 



2 Charron develops Montaigne's 



sceptical and practical position into 

 a system. In his work ' De la 

 Sagesse' (1601), "doubt has the 

 double purpose to keep alive the 

 spirit of research and to lead us 

 to Faith. As reason disposes of 

 no means by which to distinguish 

 truth from falsehood, it follows 

 that we are born to search for 

 truth but not to possess it. Truth 

 abides only in the bosom of the 

 Deity, &c., &c." (Falckenberg, 

 ibid. ) 



3 The principal work of Sanchez 

 is entitled 'Tractatus de multum 

 nobili et prima universal! scientia 

 quod Nihil Scitur," and appeared 

 one year after the first edition of 

 Montaigne. It is directed against 

 Aristotle and scholastic philosophy. 

 Another work, intended to give the 

 true philosophy, never appeared. It 

 is interesting to see how views inde- 

 pendently expressed by more recent 

 thinkers can already be found in 

 these the earliest representatives of 

 the modern critical spirit. 



