Montaigne on Property, Public Service, and Political Servitude

Bibliographic Data

ID10420157
AuthorsConstance Jordan (Claremont Graduate University, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume56
Issue2
Pages408-435
Publication date2003-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRenaissance Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0034-4338 • E-ISSN: 1935-0236
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/1261852
OpenAlexW2332145881
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited25

Montaigne's claim to be free from obligations to individual persons or the state in general is based on a corresponding assertion of self ownership. He claims a property in himself which includes the right to determine the nature of his employment. His stated preference is to limit any counterclaims upon his propriety, to invest his time and abilities exclusively in himself. Despite this preference, however, he describes his own career in public service and its terms. He agrees that the property he has in himself can be leased to the use of his prince, but he insists that this use not offend his judgment or preempt his will. He distinguishes his service from political servitude, which entails a forfeiting of the powers of judgment and will. His language describing how and for whom he works borrows terms from the market denoting ownership, possession, debt, obligation, and benefit

Assertion · Business · Debt · Economics · Economy · Epistemology · Law and economics · Linguistics · Microeconomics · Obligation · Political science · Politics · Possession (linguistics · Preference · Property (philosophy · Reflexive pronoun · Service (business · Computer Science · Finance · French Literature and Criticism · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought

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