On expressing a living, flexible thinking.....

      So what Montaigne criticizes the philosophers for is not that they express their opinions, far from it:  opinion is precious and is a stimulus to further thought.  Where they go wrong is in tricking their ideas out as absolute truths.  But we can think of the world, or God, only on the basis of our own selves and the contingencies of our lives.  this is why the philosopher can never attain certainty, merely communicate personal convictions.  In other words, a philosophy expresses first and foremost what is felt and thought by a human being in a given society at a specific moment in history.  People of a pessimistic temper will produce philosophies imbued with pessimism, just as optimists will be inclined to view mankind and the world through optimistic eyes.
      What is phony is erecting our philosophy, our vision of human beings, the world or God into a universal system.  Two centuries before Immanuel Kant, Montaigne put metaphysics to death.  This helps us understand the objective he was pursuing in the writing of the Essays:  expressing a living, flexible thinking that follows the ups and downs of everyday life, one that is subjective and far removed from any dogmatic pretention.

-Frederic Lenoir,  Happiness:  A Philosopher's Guide