In “Montaigne and the Macaques,” Frampton expresses his sympathy for Montaigne. The thrust of this excerpt from Frampton’s forthcoming book is that Montaigne manages to describe vividly and forcefully the relationship between human proximity and moral feeling. “For Montaigne, human proximity is at the heart of morality.” And: “Montaigne’s general point is clear: that we have an inbuilt propensity for sympathy and understanding, but that proximity matters.”