Lectureship in Literature: Ali Benmakhlouf on Montaigne and Medicine

Ali Benmakhlouf

February 25, 2026

UC San Diego

On February 25, as part of the James K. Binder Lectureship in Literature, Mr. Ali Benmakhlouf will examine Montaigne’s reflections on illness and medicine. Focusing on Chapter 37 of Essays, the lecture explores how Montaigne experienced and understood pain—not through heroic denial or religious acceptance, but as a lived, reflective practice.

Benmakhlouf will highlight Montaigne’s insights into heredity, the body, and the tensions between nature and the innovations of medical science, shedding light on the anthropological and, in today’s terms, “genetic” dimensions of illness.