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Montaigne on Property, Public Service, and Political Servitude

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Constance Jordan
Constance Jordan*
Affiliation:
Claremont Graduate University
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Abstract

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.

Type
Studies
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , Summer 2003 , pp. 408 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 2003

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