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Loath to identify himself with any school of thought (he never even directly called himself a skeptic), Montaigne nonetheless does name himself a “naturalist”: “We naturalists judge that the honor of invention is greatly and incomparably preferable to the honor of quotation” (iii.12, F809, V1056C). Used in a literary instead of a philosophic context, as well as somewhat off-handedly, the label would nevertheless have sent a specific signal to readers. Today, the term applies capaciously to a diverse array of scholars working within what can be described as a pre-scientific mentality, most notably empirical medical practitioners such as Ambroise Paré (1510-1590) and observers of flora and fauna such as Pierre Belon (1517-1564) and Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566). But Montaigne's peers used it more pointedly to designate the attempt to explain phenomena without recourse to divine causation, or “first causes.” Naturalism, in brief, entailed a search for secondary causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]