num_pages: 144
description: Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) was perhaps the most authentic and original of the political thinkers of the Enlightenment. He believed passionately in toleration and in the moral benefits of science, and constructed a naturalistic system of political science based on the study of history, comparative government, and human behavior. His magnum opus is undoubtedly The Spirit of the Laws (1748), which examines the concept of law as both cause and effect of the structure of political systems. Inspiring everything he wrote was a profound hatred for, and fear of, despotism, which he regarded as the supreme evil, and which served him as a moral standard for judging regimes. Of these he considered England the best modern example, and his account of its constitution, which was to provide a model for the American Constitution of 1787, inspired many of the French liberals of his day.This volume reveals Montesquieu's purpose by exploring the range of his literary output, focusing on his scandalous novel, Persian Letters (1721), his philosophical history, Considerations on the Greatness and Decline of the Romans (1734), and The Spirit of the Laws.
language: English
title: Montesquieu
titlecomplete: Montesquieu (Past Masters)
characters: Montesquieu
genres: Philosophy
ratings_count: 9
series: Past Masters (Oxford)
publisher: Oxford University Press