Melville, Montaigne, and Skepticism
Montaigne is famous because he is arguably the first "essayist" in Western Literature, the first author whose prose reveals the personal characteristics of the author while insisting on the value of subjectivity over the "objective" prose of philosophy, theology, or history.
Melville seems to have been familiar with Montaigne at that time he wrote Moby-Dick because he cites two stories about elephants which Montaigne also uses -- accounts of elephants kneeling and raising their trunks towards the setting sun (a "proof" of an innate awareness of God in animals); and the story of an elephant who vied with Aristophanes the Grammarian for the affections of an Alexandrian flower-girl. The essay in which these anecdotes appears ("An Apology for Raymond Sebond") is more than a source of elephant stories, however. Melville may well have found the essay inspiring because of its opinions about faith, philosophy, and Pyrrhonism.
Raymond Sebond was an early Renaissance theologian who wrote a treatise arguing that the existence of God could be proven by an analysis of the physical phenomena and details of the natural environment around us, a doctrine similar to the Natural Theology of Melville's own era. Montaigne begins the essay by praising Sebond's enterprise; however, he soon avers that deep religious belief, not scientific knowledge and exploration, is the way to an apprehension of the Divine, claiming: "Only faith can embrace, with a lively certainty, the high mysteries of our religion." What follows is an attack on the triumphalism and shallow claims of certain philosophers to gain a complete knowledge of the universe, with Montaigne demonstrating their errors and castigating their boasts. In contrast, Montaigne insists on the importance of faith: "The first commandment which God ever gave to Man was the law of pure obedience. It was a bare and simple order, leaving Man no room for knowing or arguing". In their quest for knowledge, philosophers are falling into the same trap as Adam and Eve: "curiosity is an innate evil, dating from [Man's] origins....The original Fall occurred when Man was anxious to increase his wisdom and knowledge".
Montaigne was not attacking all philosophy, but merely the claims of philosophers to explicate the universe. His grudge is with metaphysicians, not moral philosophers. He celebrates Socrates because the ancient Greek insisted on man's essential ignorance and emphasized the importance of doubt and relentless self-examination. According to Montaigne, "his best teaching taught ignorance and his best wisdom was simplicity." Montaigne also upholds the skepticism of Pyrrho, who believed that indubitable proof was beyond mankind's capacity, as an example of the intellectual approach philosophy must follow. Instead of making proclamations, philosophers must analyze, explore, and discuss while reminding themselves of mankind's limitations. Pyrrhonists achieve "a total immobility of judgement" or "an inner persuasion" which "makes them avoid precipes and protect themselves from the chill of the evening" -- that is, it avoids leading them into making rash judgments about the nature of the universe.
Where does Melville fit into all this? Well, Moby-Dick is certainly, on one level, the story of a skeptic and a doubter (Ishmael) who analyzes yet seeks to avoid claims that he comprehends every aspect of "the whale." Furthermore, Montaigne's distaste for book-laden speculation resembles Melville's lack of patience for a philosophical outlook aloof from the turmoil of the natural world. Montaigne constantly shows the best-laid schemes and theories of philosophers foiled by the practical experience of "everyday" people. As Montaigne says, "When Philosophy has run out precepts she sends us back to athletes and mule-drivers." Melville might have changed that from "mule-drivers" to "fore-top men." In fact, after describing the Pequod straining under the weight of a Sperm whale's head (symbolizing Idealists from Plato to Kant) hung on one side of the ship, with a counter-balancing Right whale's head hing on the other side -- this head symbolizing materialist empiricists such as John Locke -- Ishmael jokingly dismisses the efforts of those who'd seek to live by the dictates of philosophy:
--------------------[Chapter 73] (Montaigne quotations are from
the translation by M.A. Screech)
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