ABSTRACT
In 1571, a French nobleman retired to his chateau in the Dordogne; he proceeded to lock himself in its tower, immersing himself in his expansive personal library. Nine years later, in 1580, the first edition of the Essays of Michel de Montaigne appeared. No treatment of death in Montaigne’s thought can fail to mention the 1563 death from plague of his beloved friend, Etienne de La Boetie, which occurred when Montaigne was thirty years old. The mark of La Boetie’s death can be spied in Montaigne’s decision to begin composing the Essays only after the death of his friend. Whatever difficulty one encounters in extracting from Montaigne’s views on death a specifically political teaching will likely owe something to the highly ambiguous nature of Montaigne’s political views. Montaigne’s skepticism towards transformative politics has made him attractive for a certain type of liberal, as well, and it is here that his views on death find their readiest political application.
