ABSTRACT
According to Stoic philosophers, only a wise man is truly capable of seeing himself as a minuscule part of the universe. Such self-reflection allows the sage to focus his attention on his real position in the world. In gazing into the looking-glass and in reading the book of Nature, the apprentice philosopher will grasp his own identity. However, Montaigne then proceeds to elaborate a more moralistic view of 'le monde', inviting his pupil to explore the world of ruined kingdoms and faded lustre. The metaphor of the 'book of the world' is echoed in Rene Descartes's Discours de la methode as a means of describing the author's intellectual journey. As a young man, Descartes shared with his contemporaries an obsessive interest in rhetoric and literature. However, Descartes is not so much defending Guez de Balzac as identifying the worthiest features of rhetorical practice, those which induce a heightened 'attentiveness' on the part of the hearers or readers.
