Innovation as Spiritual Exercise: Montaigne and Pascal

, Taking Pascal's appropriation of Montaigne as its main example, this article asks what it means to "say something new" in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It argues that literary and philosophical innovation is best understood in reference to the rhetorical tradition, and it...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Force, Pierre (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: University of Pennsylvania Press 2005
In: Journal of the history of ideas
Year: 2005, Volume: 66, Issue: 1, Pages: 17-35
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:, Taking Pascal's appropriation of Montaigne as its main example, this article asks what it means to "say something new" in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It argues that literary and philosophical innovation is best understood in reference to the rhetorical tradition, and it analyzes what "saying something new" means in terms of inventio, dispositio, elocutio, decorum, and ethos. Close attention is also paid to the relationship between economy and equity (in the rhetorical sense of these terms). For Pascal and Montaigne, the "new" is desirable not for its own sake, but rather as an exercise for the soul.
ISSN:1086-3222
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of the history of ideas
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1353/jhi.2005.0026