This first comprehensive commentary on The Spirit of the Laws uncovers and explicates the plan of Montesquieu's famous but baffling treatise. Pangle brings to light Montesquieu's rethinking of the philosophical groundwork of liberalism, showing how The Spirit of the Laws enlarges and enriches the liberal conception of natural right by means of a new appeal to History as the source of basic norms.

"Montesquieu (1689-1755) was one of the major figures of the French Enlightenment. He was a widely travelled man, unusual in those days for French intellectuals, and like de Tocqueville a century later, he brought his magnificent powers of observation to bear on what he had seen. Credited as one of the principal inventors of what we today call political science, Montesquieu is primarily known to English-speaking readers by the great work De l'esprit des lois (Spirit of the Laws). But Les (...) Lettres Persanes (The Persian Letters) is still required reading in French lycees and universities and is considered as much a literary work as a political treatise." "In Montesquieu Revisited, Peter V. Conroy, Jr., reevaluates Montesquieu as a fully fledged "homme de lettres," no longer merely a political, social, and economic commentator. Conroy offers detailed readings of The Persian Letters and Spirit of the Laws as well as an explication of three important but largely overlooked works, Voyages in Europe, Considerations on the Romans, and My Thoughts. In his discussion of these works, Conroy shows what is unique and original in Montesquieu: his theory of climate and its effect on civilization, his desire to show the impact of values and attitudes upon historical events, his narrative strategies, and his constant analytical bent. Montesquieu emerges as a more complex figure than the conventional view of him as exemplar of the age of reason - in fact as a more truly "modern" author."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (shrink)

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1976.

One of the most original political thinkers of the Enlightenment, Montesquieu utilized his passionate belief in toleration and the moral benefits of science to construct a naturalistic system of political science based on the study of history, comparative government, and human behavior. This volume reveals Montesquieu's purpose by exploring the range of his literary output, focusing on his scandalous novel, The Persian Letters (1721), his philosophical history, Considerations on the Greatness and Decline of the Romans (1734), and his magnum opus, (...) The Spirit of the Laws (1748). (shrink)

Cette étude examine les pratiques du Parlement de Bordeaux dans les années 1714-1726. Nouvelle interprétation de la théorie politique de Montesquieu.

The Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series, previously known as SVEC (Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century), has published over 500 peer-reviewed scholarly volumes since 1955 as part of the Voltaire Foundation at the University of Oxford. International in focus, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment volumes cover wide-ranging aspects of the eighteenth century and the Enlightenment, from gender studies to political theory, and from economics to visual arts and music, and are published in English or French.

In this volume Anne M. Cohler shows the importance of Montesquieu's teaching for modern legislation and for modern political prudence generally, with specific reference to his impact on The Federalist and Tocqueville. In so doing, she delineates Montesquieu's contribution to political philosophy and suggests new ways to think about the formation of the American Constitution.

Why do men and women sometimes risk their necks to defend their liberties? Montesquieu's philosophy of liberalism combines a realist's account of the political institutions that support individual liberty, centering on the separation of powers, with a fine sensitivity to the forms of motivation needed to sustain them. This thesis examines the motivation, or set of motivations, that Montesquieu calls "honor." As he presents it in The Spirit of the Laws, honor is the principled but ambitious self-concern that animates resistance (...) to political authority when that authority oversteps its constitutional limits and encroaches on individual liberties. Those with honor think too much of themselves to endure the abuse of power, and so distinguish themselves by their disobedience in defense of their liberty. As such, honor is an important source of political agency, for it can inspire the vigorous defense of individual liberties even when the risks are high and the benefits are uncertain. ;The analysis draws primarily on The Spirit of the Laws, with supplementary consideration of other works by Montesquieu. It systematically elaborates the meaning and the significance of honor, and shows that honor is more central to Montesquieu's liberalism as a whole than previous scholarship has acknowledged. Additionally, the study shows that honor is an important resource from within classical liberalism for understanding political agency better than it presently is understood in political theory. Although the relationship between honor and democracy is tense, liberal democracy needs honor in some form if it is to sustain itself over time. And while honor cannot provide a complete account of political agency in liberal democracy, it can advance our understanding of political agency, and of the complex forms of motivation that support it. (shrink)