Discours de la Méthode

Quote: Pour moi, je n'ai jamais présumé que mon esprit fût en rien plus parfait que ceux du commun;

Synopsis: René Descartes gives us many of his philosophical ideas. Many taken from his own schooling, and other life experiences. He is very descriptive in portraying his outlooks. For example in the second part he states, "Mais, comme un homme qui marche seul et dans les ténèbres . . . " Religion and God play a big part in his writings.

Reader's Response: Reading his idea's and his outlook on life was very interesting. It wasn't as easy to read as some of the other texts from the Renaissance and Middle Ages. His different philosophies especially make you really think.

Louise Labe

La vie m'est trop molle et trop dure, j'ai grands ennuis entremeles de joie

Louise Labe was a female poet in the renaissance who wrote sonnets on love. I get the feeling that in her poems she was usually the woman scorned. She was always sad and longing for love. My favorite poem was Sonnet VII because I loved her use of the antithesis. It made it interesting to read and I really think that is how love can be. I think that you get a lot of good and bad feelings with love and she made a good point of showing that.

Sonnet III- Writing about a love that she had that completely and utterly destroyed her.

Sonnet VII-Love not only makes her happy but sad at the same time

Sonnet XVIII- A love so passionate that it makes her feel like she is living a double life and she wants to be with that person all the time

And I can understand if some of my poem descriptions aren't that helpful! Ha. Some of it went over my head!

De l'institution des enfants

Quote: "Tant d'hummeurs, de sectes, de jugements, d'opinions, de lois et de coutumes, nous apprennent a juger sainement des notres, et entrainent notre jugement a reconnaitre son imperfection et sa naturelle faiblesse".

Synopsis: In this essay Montaigne puts forth his stance on what children should be taught. He seemed to be displeased with the education of philosophers. Such as Aristotle. He made the comment," que les principes d'Aristote ne soient principes pour lui, non plus que ceux des Stoiciens et des Epicuriens" He wants the child to form his own views of the world and humanity. He believes that the child should make his own judgements from his own experiences and efforts.

Reader's response: I personally enjoyed this essay on learning. I particularly like the idea behind thirsting and starving for knowledge. It was difficult for me to grasp all of what he was saying though. He wanted this lad to be very well rounded and used examples philosophers and popular texts to illustrate his ideology.