Likewise, Rabelais emphasizes the importance of learning through Gargantua's letter to Pantagruel, in which he emphasizes his past experiences with humanistic studies, having in his prime "the reputation of the most learned man of [his] day- (157). On the subject of authorities, the learning process is important for two reasons in particular. First, acquiring knowledge is important in order to deem yourself as an authority on a particular subject. This is evident when Montaigne claims that while reason is the most important source for making judgments, it is also ridiculous to condemn anything and everything simply because it seems unlikely to us (74). Secondly, acquiring knowledge is important in order to deem the false from the true opinions that authorities may give. Montaigne begins his essay on judging the true from the false asserting that it is only the simple minded who have "a readiness to believe and the readiness to be convinced- (74). This is seen in Rabelais' thought as well. After reading the riddle that was found on the foundations of the Abbey of Theleme, the monk interpreted it to be like a tennis game, noting that the "provoking people- get to serve twice, and "the cord hangs right across the court, and whoever speaks up and says it went under or over, everybody takes his word for it- (128). Thus, through the riddle of the Abbey, Rabelais encourages those "all who are willing to learn- (125) to begin to stand up to authority by discerning what is right and what is wrong, specifically by attaining knowledge.
However, according to Montaigne, this knowledge must be specifically be critical knowledge. He uses digestion as an analogy to reflect the worthlessness of book knowledge. According to Montaigne, in comparing the mind to the stomach and food as thoughts, "the stomach has not done its job if, during concoction, it fails to change the substance and the form of what it is given- (43).
