Self-examination as a technique
What do you actually think, before you have decided what to think?
What it argues
The essays are an experiment in thinking on the page: Montaigne writes to find out what he thinks, revises as he goes, and refuses system. His subject is himself, and his method is honesty about inconsistency rather than coherence.
The probe
Write three hundred words with no thesis and no conclusion. Read it back and underline every claim you did not know you held.
The source
Essays, III.13 Of Experience — Michel de Montaigne, 1580. The link goes to the text or to a catalogue record for it, not to a summary. This one is a catalogue record: the entry gives you the question and the probe, not the argument in the author's words.
Read next
What would a daily audit of your conduct actually look like?