Teaching my tween about the origin of essays. Montaigne has much to teach all of us about intellectual humility.
“What do I know?” (or in French, “Que sais-je?”) is the famous philosophical motto of 16th-century French thinker Michel de Montaigne, the father of the modern essay. He adopted a balance scale as his personal emblem to symbolize his commitment to suspending judgment and embracing radical intellectual humility. [1, 2, 3]
Montaigne used this skeptical phrase to challenge the dogmatic certainty of his era—a time defined by plague, political instability, and violent religious wars. Instead of claiming absolute truths, his philosophy emphasized:
• The Fallibility of Reason: Montaigne argued that human perception is limited and subjective, meaning we should rely on doubt and continuous questioning rather than blind conviction.
• Radical Self-Reflection: By famously stating “I myself am the subject of my book,” he turned his own changing mind, habits, and contradictions into his primary field of study.
• Acceptance of Change: His motto represents the idea that acknowledging “I do not know” frees us from arrogance and allows for personal growth and open-mindedness.
I made this for my friend's daughter who is trying out pottery. I've been making her little instructional videos and this one is a timelapse of me trimming and putting a handle on a mug. Thought I would share in case you guys find this interesting.
Someone shared this with me who said it had been circulating in the Hasidic community. Will likely offend a lot of people these days.
Hi everyone, I haven't been active in Solid Ground for a while, but I am still alive and kicking! I now work as personal assistant to a mind-bendingly weird and diva-esque artist-lip-syncher-performer named Fiona Blueberry. She is blissfully clueless about politics and seems to be completely unaware of the culture wars. Working with her is a breath of fresh air. If you need a mood lift, I encourage you to watch this video we made together. Happy 4th, everyone! Wishing you fun/love/peace on this holiday. :) www.fionablueberry.com
I met a few Americans last night who proceeded to tell me that ICE is detaining and putting into slave labour camps a huge amount of legal immigrants because they are Hispanic and it is like Nazi behaviour.
I pushed back a bit, stating that ICE is going after illegal immigrants, but apparently that’s not true. Any insight from the Americans here? This same person complimented me on my “make 1984 fiction again “ T-shirt.
