ABSTRACT
Of course, it remains an ideal to give up argument in the sense in which Oakeshott and Kass speak of it and to seek always for a style of thought, like Montaigne’s, which is conversational. Th is is an ideal because our own view will often seem to us to be the correct view with which others ought to agree, and so we will often need to remind ourselves that, on account of the fallibility, weakness and unclarities of our own thought, this is not so. But the attempt to achieve such an ideal is, in my view, not only necessary as a matter of honesty, but is also key both to avoiding a kind of intolerance and fanaticism in thought and to fi nding a way of thinking that is wise, as Montaigne’s is, because it is playful.
