Le Dos de ses livres: Descartes a-t-il lu Montaigne ?

Studies on the question of direct filiation of Montaigne and Descartes deal with it as an evidence shown in texts. However, apart from rare exceptions, we forgot that, since the idea emerged, it has remained hypothetical. Alluding to a portrait of Descartes with untitled books shelved on the fore-edge, Le Dos de ses livres. Descartes a-t-il lu Montaigne? approaches the topic from the opposite perspective: the author assumes that Descartes did not read the Essays. He thus undertakes his inquiry from the historical angle, from their first writings to the contemporary works, and from the philological one, through the critical analysis of the intertext gathered for over a century by the genealogists.