You Are a Stranger to Yourself | All of Montaigne's Philosophy | Philosophy for Sleep

A complete deep dive into Michel de Montaigne's revolutionary philosophy—the man who invented the essay and made himself the subject of investigation. This is not surface-level summary. We explore his radical skepticism, embodied wisdom, politics of uncertainty, philosophy of friendship, evolution over 20 years of writing, and where his ideas succeed and fail. Discover why a 16th-century French aristocrat understood human nature better than most modern psychology, why he thought certainty was more dangerous than doubt, and how his insights on contradiction, cruelty, and self-deception remain urgently relevant today. Includes scholarly debates, practical applications, honest critiques, and everything you need to understand one of history's most influential yet misunderstood thinkers.

00:00:00 Intro
00:01:53 The Method of Wandering Thought
00:10:39 What Do I Know?
00:22:50 The Self as Laboratory
00:35:42 Custom is King
00:48:00 Learning to Die
00:59:30 The Wisdom of the Body
01:11:55 Perfect Friendship
01:23:26 Against Pedantry
01:34:34 Living with Contradiction
01:44:18 The Cruelty Problem
01:56:19 Politics Without Certainty
02:08:30 The Examined Life in Practice
02:18:53 Evolution of a Mind
02:29:34 Montaigne's Legacy
02:40:38 Where Montaigne Fails