It is the emotional difference that counts. Montaigne and Pascal had similar insights into the less flattering sides of human nature – into the realm of the ‘human, all too human’, where selfishness, laziness, pettiness, vanity, and countless other such failings lurk. But Montaigne gazed upon them with indulgence and humour; in Pascal, they inspired a horror greater even than anything Descartes managed to muster.
