Skeptical and Natural Philosophy

Michel De Montaigne

When discussing religious belief, which did Montaigne consider to be more important: reason or faith?

In considering reason versus faith as a foundation for religious beliefs, Montaigne (1533–1592) claimed that faith, simple belief, was the best course, because all reasoning can be shown to be unsound. Philosophical views had been in conflict since the ancients, so only Pyrrhonic skepticism, with its prescribed suspension of judgment, was acceptable. There was no certainty even in the knowledge of the new sciences, since the experts disagreed and scientific knowledge was subject to change.