ABSTRACT
The revival of Gabriel Tarde has served to unearth the circumstances and some of the reasons for the repression of his social scientific cosmology. It is probably about time that contemporary Tardian thinkers connect with standard sociological categories, and one area that this section of this volume acknowledges needs to be addressed is the extent and nature of Tarde’s view of the self. Sociologists would undoubtedly discover that they need to find ways to incorporate these erstwhile rabbit-holed enemies of the sociological imagination into their social-ontological musings. A need to recognize all the facts that had been gathering in the seething dark corners of social life beyond the view of sociologists of the sunny side of society would rapidly assert itself. All of Montaigne’s writing revolved around the emerging theme of individuality. Charles Taylor has identified Montaigne as a key transitional figure in the praxis of the modern self.
