Secondly, Montaigne addresses the types of free thinking that are appropriate for a healthy mind and body. He argues that the free thought of a person should be based in the thought of the "great thinkers." Montaigne says if a person ".embraces the opinions of Xenophon and Plato by his own reasoning, they will no longer be theirs, but his"(pg.56). He encourages people to ".imbibe their ["great thinkers"] ways of thought."(pg.56). Montaigne"s argument is that free thinking not based in the thought of the "great thinkers" is simply uneducated freethinking, and thus is unhealthy for the mind and body. Finally, Montaigne"s essay "On the Education of Children" reveals Montaigne"s argument against the learning of "profitless" knowledge, or in other words. He says that ".most of the branches of knowledge in current usage are valueless to us."(pg.65) and that ".we must limit the extent of our studies in those branches."(pg.65). Montaigne"s apparent argument is that only a certain type of education, one based strongly in the thought of the "great thinkers," is the type of education that will provide for not only a healthy body, but also a healthy mind.

             In Montaigne"s essay "On the Power of the Imagination," Montaigne next argues against the perils of the imagination. He declares that the imagination, unlike freethinking based in acceptable knowledge, leads directly to an unhealthy body. Montaigne first attacks the sheer power of the imagination. Montaigne states regarding the imagination that "Everyone feels its impact, but some are knocked over by it"(pg.36). He contends that the imagination is something that slowly begins to take over the mind of a person and drive them further from the appropriate lines of learning. He argues that the imagination leads to the harm of the body.