Charron Pierre (1541–1603), French Catholic theologian who became the principal expositor of Montaigne’s ideas, presenting them in didactic form. His first work, The Three Truths (1595), presented a negative argument for Catholicism by offering a skeptical challenge to atheism, non- Christian religions, and Calvinism. He argued that we cannot know or understand God because of His infinitude and the weakness of our faculties. We can have no good reasons for rejecting Christianity or Catholicism. Therefore, we should accept it on faith alone. His second work, On Wisdom (1603), is a systematic presentation of Pyrrhonian skepticism coupled with a fideistic defense of Catholicism. The skepticism of Montaigne and the Greek skeptics is used to show that we cannot know anything unless God reveals it to us. This is followed by offering an ethics to live by, an undogmatic version of Stoicism. This is the first modern presentation of a morality apart from any religious considerations. Charron’s On Wisdom was extremely popular in France and England. It was read and used by many philosophers and theologians during the seventeenth century. Some claimed that his skepticism opened his defense of Catholicism to question, and suggested that he was insincere in his fideism. He was defended by important figures in the French Catholic church. See also MONTAIGN. R.H.P. cheapest-cost avoider, in the economic analysis of law, the party in a dispute that could have prevented the dispute, or minimized the losses arising from it, with the lowest loss to itself. The term encompasses several types of behavior. As the lowest-cost accident avoider, it is the party that could have prevented the accident at the lowest cost. As the lowest-cost insurer, it is the party that could been have insured against the losses arising from the dispute. This could be the party that could have purchased insurance at the lowest cost or self-insured, or the party best able to appraise the expected losses and the probability of the occurrence. As the lowest-cost briber, it is the party least subject to transaction costs. This party is the one best able to correct any legal errors in the assignment of the entitlement by purchasing the entitlement from the other party. As the lowest-cost information gatherer, it is the party best able to make an informed judgment as to the likely benefits and costs of an action. See also COASE THEOREM , PHILOSOPHY OF ECO- NOMIC. M.S.M. Ch’en Hsien-chang (1428–1500), Chinese poetphilosopher. In the early Ming dynasty Chu Hsi’s li-hsüeh (learning of principles) had been firmly established as the orthodoxy and became somewhat fossilized. Ch’en opposed this trend and emphasized ‘self-attained learning’ by digging deep into the self to find meaning in life. He did not care for book learning and conceptualization, and chose to express his ideas and feelings through poems. Primarily a Confucian, he also drew from Buddhism and Taoism. He was credited with being the first to realize the depth and subtlety of hsin-hsüeh (learning of the mind), later developed into a comprehensive philosophy by Wang Yang-ming. See also CHU HSI, NEO – CONFUCIANISM , WANG YANG – MIN. S.-h.L.