Scene: Outside the Sorbonne University, Paris. The statue of Michel de Montaigne gleams in the afternoon sun, particularly his shiny right foot.
Clara: (grinning and rubbing Montaigne’s foot vigorously) Voilà! Done! Now I’m officially protected from failing my literature exam tomorrow.
Lucas: (raising an eyebrow) Clara, you know that poor statue’s foot doesn’t actually influence your grade, right?
Clara: Oh, come on, Lucas! You scientists are so boring. This is tradition! Generations of students have done this. It’s part of being here. And anyway, last year I forgot to rub it before my medieval lit exam, and guess what? I barely scraped a pass.
Lucas: Maybe because you didn’t study enough, not because Montaigne was personally disappointed you skipped his foot?
Clara: (laughs) Hey, maybe Montaigne’s ghost haunts bad students. You never know.
Lucas: Right. Because of all the things a Renaissance philosopher would care about in the afterlife, meddling in undergraduate grades is top of his list.
Clara: Lucas, you don’t understand. It’s not just about the statue. It’s about feeling connected, you know? It calms me down. My grandma used to say, “Un peu de superstition ne fait pas de mal” — a little superstition doesn’t hurt.
Lucas: Hmm. But it can hurt when people start depending on it instead of their own preparation. Remember last semester, when Pierre carried his “lucky” pen into the physics exam — and it ran out of ink in the first five minutes?
Clara: (laughing) True! But still, I bet he felt more confident going in. That counts for something.
Lucas: Fair point — confidence matters. But you don’t need magic for that. You could just… I don’t know, actually prepare and remind yourself of all the hard work you’ve done.
Clara: That’s so dry, Lucas. Where’s the poetry in that? Where’s the charm? Humans need a little ritual, a little mystery.
Lucas: Okay, Socrates. But don’t you think it’s dangerous to attribute success or failure to things we can’t measure or test? Imagine if your doctor started making diagnoses based on whether Mercury was in retrograde.
Clara: Well, obviously, that would be nuts! But this is harmless. It’s like crossing your fingers, or wishing someone bonne chance. You don’t actually believe the universe changes — it’s symbolic.
Lucas: So you don’t really believe Montaigne’s foot brings luck?
Clara: (smirking) I’m… keeping my options open.
Lucas: Ah, the classic Pascal’s wager for exam superstition: better to rub the foot just in case.
Clara: Exactly! Besides, what’s the harm? It’s fun, it’s tradition, and honestly, after three hours of Derrida, I need to believe in something simple.
Lucas: You know, maybe you’ve got a point. Rituals can help us cope, even if they’re irrational. But promise me one thing?
Clara: What?
Lucas: You’ll also finish reviewing your notes tonight. Montaigne’s foot can only do so much heavy lifting.
Clara: Deal. But I’m still rubbing his foot again tomorrow morning — just to be sure.
Lucas: (grinning) If you get a top grade, I’m going to start rubbing that foot before my biology exams.
Clara: See? Even the rational mind has its limits.
Lucas: No — I’ll just be running an experiment. For science, of course.
Clara: Sure, sure. And when you ace your exam, you’ll thank me.
Lucas: If I ace my exam, I’ll thank your study habits. But I’ll give Montaigne a polite nod, just in case.
(They walk off together, laughing, as another student approaches the statue and gives the foot a quick rub.)
Science Vs Superstition 
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