One of the many ancient philosophies to become fashionable during the Renaissance was Skepticism. This was brought about due to the rediscovered writings of a Roman Skeptic called Sextus Empiricus. Just as the old Skeptics had, the neo-Skeptics believed that people should suspend belief when confronted with a situation that can be doubted.

The most famous Skeptic of the Renaissance was Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592), who espoused the philosophy in his celebrated and influential Essays. In fact, Montaigne created the literary conceit of the essay, introducing a new genre to the literary world.

Montaigne believed that our senses were inherently suspect, hence we should doubt just about everything. People were entitled to their opinions, and all opinions were valid because we can never be really sure of facts.

Montaigne had little faith in the Scientific Revolution, either. He believed that such knowledge was transitory and would eventually be usurped and disproved by subsequent generations. His philosophy was a variation of “can't we all just get along?” or perhaps, more accurately, there is no reason why we should not get along, because none of us really know which end is up. Life is a grand and glorious guessing game.