Montesquieu's The Spirit of Laws is an enduring classic of social and political theory deserving a fresh reading every generation. The modern reader, however, is likely to find a work that ran to over a thousand pages in its two-volume first edition a bit overwhelming. Presented here, therefore, is the first English-language compendium of The Spirit of Laws, together with the first English translation of the posthumously published treatise containing the physiological theory underlying Montesquieu's theory of climate.

El libro que estableció la teoría de la separación de poderes -afirmando la independencia del poder judicial con respecto al ejecutivo y el legislativo, para asegurar la libertad del pueblo- es una de las obras clave del pensamiento político, jurídico, sociológico e histórico de todos los tiempos.Aquella teoría enunciada por Charles-Louis de Secondat, barón de La Brède y de Montesquieu -"No hay libertad si el poder judicial no está separado del legislativo y executivo"- es tan sólo (...) uno de los momentos cumbres de este libro{ probablemente, el más importante de todo el siglo XVIII y un verdadero clásico desde que se publicó en Ginebra en 1748.Montesquieu tardó cerca de viente años en escribir "Del espíritu de las leyes"{ obra ingente que "empecé y dejé" en numerosas ocasiones, entregando "mil veces á los vientos las hojas que había escrito" y que, finalmente, concluyó, con más de 1.000 páginas -hojas perennes- que le ofrecen una lectura imprescindible.Lex Nova pone ahora a su disposición, por primera vez, este cuidado facsímil que reproduce, en tres tomos, la edición que publicó el anónimo licenciado M.V.M. en Madrid, París y Londres -respectivamente- en 1821, traduciendo aquella obra "libremente al español".Un verdadero lujo a su alcance. (shrink)

Montesquieu was one of the great political philosophers of the Enlightenment. Insatiably curious and mordantly funny, he constructed a naturalistic account of the various forms of government, and of the causes that made them what they were and that advanced or constrained their development. He used this account to explain how governments might be preserved from corruption. He saw despotism, in particular, as a standing danger for any government not already despotic, and argued that it could best be prevented (...) by a system in which different bodies exercised legislative, executive, and judicial power, and in which all those bodies were bound by the rule of law. This theory of the separation of powers had an enormous impact on liberal political theory, and on the framers of the constitution of the United States of America. (shrink)

A classic work of the European Enlightenment--and one of the most popular, if scandalous, in its day--the Persian Letters captures, in an engaging epistolary format, the transformational spirit of the era. Amid an ongoing tale rife with sex, violence, and wit, the work addresses a diverse range of topics from human nature and the origins of society, to the nature and role of religious belief, the role of women, statecraft, justice, morality, and human identity. With skill and artistry, Raymond MacKenzie’s (...) stunning new translation accurately reflects the mood and character of the work. In his richly conceived Introduction, MacKenzie seamlessly weaves together an overview of the period with details of Montesquieu’s life, including the influences that inspired the _Persian Letters_, the character and power of the book, and its reception. This edition also includes a Calendar of the _Persian Letters_, a Bibliography of Works in English, and a Bibliography of Works in French. Related texts provide insight into the legacy of the _Persian Letters_. They include selections from works by George Lyttelton, Voltaire, Oliver Goldsmith, and Maria Edgeworth. (shrink)

Der Vergleich zwischen Alexis de Tocqueville und Charles de Montesquieu (1689–1755) stammt nicht erst aus dem 20. Jahrhundert, sondern wurde schon von Zeitgenossen Tocquevilles gemacht, die im Autor der Démocratie en Amérique einen neuen Montesquieu sahen (OC XIII, 1, 274, FN). Nachdem Tocqueville am 21. April 1842 seine Antrittsrede an der Académie française gehalten hatte, wo er den Sitz des Grafen von Cessac übernommen hatte, antwortete ihm Mathieu Louis Molé. In dieser Antwort sagt der Cousin Tocquevilles, (...) Letzterer habe nicht nur für Amerika getan, was Montesquieu für die Römer getan hatte, sondern er habe auch gezeigt, dass Amerika Europa den Weg vorgezeichnet hat (OC XVI, 278). (shrink)

The Spirit of the Laws is, without question, one of the central texts in the history of eighteenth-century thought, yet there has been no complete, scholarly English-language edition since that of Thomas Nugent, published in 1750. This lucid translation renders Montesquieu's problematic text newly accessible to a fresh generation of students, helping them to understand quite why Montesquieu was such an important figure in the early enlightenment and why The Spirit of the Laws was, for example, such an (...) influence upon those who framed the American constitution. Fully annotated, this edition focuses attention upon Montesquieu's use of sources and his text as a whole, rather than upon those opening passages towards which critical energies have traditionally been devoted, and a select bibliography and chronology are provided for those coming to Montesquieu's work for the first time. (shrink)

Of laws in general -- Of laws directly derived from the nature of government -- Of the principles of the three kinds of government -- That the laws of education ought to be relative to the principles of government -- That the laws given by the legislator ought to be relative to the nature of government -- Consquences of the principles of different governments, with respect to the simplicity of civil and criminal laws, the form of judgements, and inflicting of (...) punishments -- Consquences of the different principles of the three governments, with respect to sumptuary laws, luxury, and the condition of women -- Of the corruption of the principles of the three governments -- Of the laws in the relation they bear to defensive force -- Of laws, in the relation they bear to offensive force. (shrink)

Montesquieu cercò di dimostrare come, sotto la diversità degli eventi, la storia abbia un ordine e manifesti l'azione di leggi costanti. Ogni ente ha le proprie leggi. Le istituzioni e le leggi dei vari popoli non costituiscono qualcosa di casuale e arbitrario, ma sono strettamente condizionate dalla natura dei popoli stessi, dai loro costumi, dalla loro religione e sicuramente anche dal clima. Al pari di ogni essere vivente anche gli uomini, e quindi le società, sono sottoposte a regole fondamentali (...) che scaturiscono dall'intreccio stesso delle cose. Queste regole non debbono considerarsi assolute, cioè indipendenti dallo spazio e dal tempo; esse al contrario, variano col mutare delle situazioni; come i vari tipi di governo e delle diverse specie di società. Ma, posta una società di un determinato tipo, sono dati i principi che non può derogare, pena la sua rovina. Ma quali sono i tipi fondamentali in cui si può organizzare il governo degli uomini? Montesquieu ritiene che i tipi di governo degli uomini siano essenzialmente tre: la repubblica, la monarchia e il dispotismo. Ciascuno di questi tre tipi ha propri princìpi e proprie regole da non confondersi tra loro. Il principio che è alla base della repubblica è, secondo Montesquieu, la virtù, cioè l'amor di patria e dell'uguaglianza; il principio della monarchia è l'onore ossia l'ambizione personale; il principio del dispotismo, la paura che infonde nei cuori dei sudditi. La repubblica è la forma di governo in cui il popolo è al tempo stesso monarca e suddito; il popolo fa le leggi e elegge i magistrati, detenendo sia la sovranità legislativa sia quella esecutiva. (shrink)

The essential political writings of Montesquieu--a substantial abridgment of The Spirit of the Laws, plus judicious selections from _The Persian Letters_ and _Considerations of the Romans' Greatness and Decline_--are masterfully translated by Melvin Richter. Prefaced by a new fifty-page introduction by Richter for this revised edition, The Selected Political Writings displays the genius and virtuosity of Montesquieu the philosopher, social critic, political theorist, and literary stylist, whose work commands the attention of all students of the Enlightenment and of (...) modern constitutional thought. (shrink)

Montesquieu: politics and history.--Rousseau: the social contract.--Marx's relation to Hegel.

Discourse on the motives that should encourage us towards the sciences (1725) ; Essay on the causes that can affect minds and characters (1736-1738/1739) -- Dissertation on Roman politics in religion (1716) ; Discourse on Cicero (1717) ; Dialogue between Sulla and Eucrates (1724) -- Notes on England (1729-1731) ; Reflections on the inhabitants of Rome (1732) -- In praise of sincerity (1717?) ; Treatise on duties (1725) ; On consideration and reputation (1725) ; Discourse on the equity that must (...) determine judgments and the execution of laws (1725) ; Dialogue between Xanthippus and Xenocrates (1727) ; Lysimachus (1751) -- Letters from Xenocrates to Pheres (1724) ; On politics (1725) ; Reflections on universal monarchy in Europe (1731-1733) ; Reflections on the character of certain princes and on certain events in their lives (1731-1733) ; Memorandum on the silence to impose on the "Constitution" (1754) -- Memorandum on the debts of state (1715) ; Considerations on the wealth of Spain (1727-1728) -- Defense of the spirit of law (1750). (shrink)

• " Qu'on ne se méprenne pourtant pas : ce n'est pas la curiosité de son objet, mais son intelligence, qui est tout Montesquieu. Il ne voulait que comprendre. Nous avons de lui quelques images qui trahissent cet effort et sa fierté. Il ne pénétrait dans la masse infinie des documents et des textes, dans l'immense héritage des histoires, chroniques, recueils et compilations, que pour en saisir la logique, en dégager la raison. Il voulait tenir le "fil" de cet (...) écheveau que des siècles avaient emmêlé, tenir le fil et le tirer à lui, pour que tout vint. Tout venait. " • Cet essai décisif de philosophie politique marqua plusieurs générations de philosophes. Il ouvre des perspectives saisissantes dans une oeuvre réputée difficile, et conclut tout à trac " Un tel parcours pour revenir chez soi. ". (shrink)

Une lettre de Montesquieu (1689-1755) à d'Alembert du 16 septembre 1753 refuse la proposition d'écrire pour l'Encyclopédie les articles "Démocratie" et "Despotisme" et propose une contribution sur le "Goût. L'Essai sur le goût dans les choses de la nature et de l'art de Montesquieu forme une partie de l'article "Goût", paru dans le tome VII de l'Encyclopédie en 1757 de façon posthume et à l'état inachevé. Cet article est lui-même composé d'un article dû à Voltaire, puis du "fragment (...) sur le goût" de Montesquieu, comme l'appellent Diderot et d'Alembert. "Dans ce petit traité du plaisir qu'est l'Essai sur le goût, l'exigence d'harmonie et de symétrie n'émane pas simplement d'une raison théoricienne soucieuse d'introduire partout son ordre : à travers cet ordre même, c'est un élargissement d'horizon qui s'opère où l'oeil dominera désormais un plus vaste spectacle, contemplant un royaume visible en pleine lumière, où rien nulle part ne se dérobe. L'instinct de maîtrise et de possession aura trouvé satisfaction" Jean Starobinski. (shrink)

Based on the 1758 edition, this translation strives for fidelity and retains Montesquieu's paragraphing. George R. Healy's Introduction discusses _The Persian Letters_ as a kind of overture to the Enlightenment, a work of remarkable diversity designed more to explore a problem of great urgency for eighteenth century thought than to resolve it: that of discovering universals, or at least the pragmatic constants, amid the diversity of human culture and society, and of confronting the proposition that there are no values (...) in human relationships except those imposed by force or agreed upon in self-interested conventions. (shrink)

Of laws in general -- Of laws directly derived from the nature of government -- Of the principles of the three kinds of government -- That the laws of education ought to be relative to the principles of government -- That the laws given by the legislator ought to be relative to the nature of government -- Consquences of the principles of different governments, with respect to the simplicity of civil and criminal laws, the form of judgements, and inflicting of (...) punishments -- Consquences of the different principles of the three governments, with respect to sumptuary laws, luxury, and the condition of women -- Of the corruption of the principles of the three governments -- Of the laws in the relation they bear to defensive force -- Of laws, in the relation they bear to offensive force. (shrink)

Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, mentions Niccolò Machiavelli by name in his extant works just a handful of times. That, however, he read him carefully and thoroughly time and again there can be no doubt, and it is also clear that he couches his argument both in his Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline and in his Spirit of Laws as an appropriation and critique (...) of the work of the predecessor whom he termed ‘this great man’. In this paper I explore the manner in which the Frenchman redeployed the arguments advanced by the Florentine for the purpose of refuting the latter's conclusions. ☆ In citing Machiavelli, I employ N. Machiavelli, Tutte le opere, ed. M. Martelli (Florence, 1971), and I refer to the divisions within each work provided by the author. To make my references to Machiavelli's Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio more precise, I sometimes also employ the paragraph enumeration added by the editors of N. Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, tr. H. C. Mansfield and N. Tarcov (Chicago, 1996). In citing Montesquieu, wherever possible, I have employed the splendid new critical edition being produced by the Société Montesquieu: Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, Œuvres complètes de Montesquieu, ed. J. Ehrard, C. Volpilhac-Auger, et al., 22 vols. (Oxford, 1998-), which I cite as VF. I cite Montesquieu, Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence (1734), ed. F. Weil and C. Courtney, as CR by chapter and, where appropriate, line from VF, ii, 89–285. I cite Montesquieu, De l’Esprit des lois (1757), as EL by part, book, chapter, and, where appropriate, page from Montesquieu, Œuvres complètes de Montesquieu, ed. R. Caillois, 2 vols. (Paris, 1949–51), ii, 225–995, and Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, Mes pensées as MP by number from Montesquieu, Œuvres complètes de Montesquieu, ed. A. Masson, 3 vols. (Paris, 1950–5), ii, 1–677. (shrink)

Charles-Louis de Secondat, barón de La Brède y de Montesquieu, es uno de los personajes intelectuales más significativos del "siglo de las Luces". Todavía hoy, a doscientos cincuenta años de su muerte, son de gran actualidad algunas de sus fundamentales teorías y formulaciones, como el principio de la división de poderes dentro de un Estado, la concepción de la existencia de un "espíritu" característico de cada pueblo, el rechazo de la tortura y la necesidad de conmensurar (...) las penas a los delitos. La relevancia, la complejidad y la riqueza de los temas afrontados por el filósofo francés hacen comprender claramente el motivo por el que autores ilustres se han visto influidos por su pensamiento, y esto sería motivo suficiente para recopilar todos sus escritos. (shrink)

Tradução do texto originalmente intitulado "Dissertation sur la politique des Romains dans la religion", de Charles-Louis de Secondat, barão de La Brède e de Montesquieu. Trata-se de trabalho apresentado no dia 18 de junho de 1716 à Academie Royale des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts de Bordeaux e somente publicado após a sua morte.

Montesquieu and the Spirit of Rome argues that the eighteenth-century French author Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755) developed a novel, comprehensive account of Roman history that framed his new political science and grounded his political teachings. Rome's legacy in early-modern thought turns on the work of Montesquieu, and through Rome Montesquieu articulated the strengths and weaknesses of the modern state-the moderation that can distinguish it and sources of (...) extremism that must haunt it. This book is the first to unify Montesquieu's Roman thoughts; it is the first to reconstruct the Rome that was one of his most powerful legacies in the 18th and 19th centuries. Montesquieu and the Spirit of Rome restores Rome to its proper place at the peak of Montesquieu's thought and Montesquieu's thought to its proper place in the history of classical study. It treats Montesquieu as what he claimed to be - a jurist, a poet, a historian, and a political writer of the first rank, ad it revives his hard-nosed defence of moderation. (shrink)

De publicatie van de Perzische brieven van Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755) zorgde voor grote deining in het frivole en verdeelde Frankrijk van 1721. Montesquieu werd op slag een van de meest bewierookte intellectuelen van zijn tijd. Later schreef hij over de opkomst en de ondergang van het Romeinse Rijk. Zijn meest 'geleerde' werk, 'Over de geest van de wetten' (1748), was de echte prelude tot de sociale wetenschappen, tot (...) een verreikend nieuwe kijk op mens en samenleving. Montesquieu's oorspronkelijke denken kent nog steeds vele bewonderaars, maar roept ook vandaag nog controverse op. 0In 'Montesquieu: enigmatisch observateur' brengen twaalf auteurs zijn veelzijdige oeuvre opnieuw tot leven. Zij denken door op de onderwerpen die Montesquieu tot een groot schrijver maakten, op de polemieken die hij veroorzaakte en de pennen die hij in beweging bracht. Hun essays kijken naar Montesquieu vanuit een filosofisch, politiek, sociaal, literair en juridisch perspectief. (shrink)

The article states that in the "Esprit des Lois" Charles Louis de Secondat Montesquieu famously proposes a version of the doctrine of the separation of judicial, executive and legislative power as a way of protecting political liberty ("the opinion each has of his security"). Given the context in which he situates his arguments: an immense and theoretically opaque excursus which discusses almost everything known to political theory, anthropology and economics before his time, and essentially descriptive methodology, (...) it is not easy to discern a clear line of argument in support of the doctrine of the separation of powers. (shrink)

We call attention to the historical fact that the meaning of symmetry in antiquity—as it appears in Vitruvius’s De architectura—is entirely different from the modern concept. This leads us to the question, what is the evidence for the changes in the meaning of the term symmetry, and what were the different meanings attached to it? We show that the meaning of the term in an aesthetic sense gradually shifted in the context of architecture before the image of the balance was (...) attached to the term in the middle of the 18th century and well before the first modern scientific usage by Legendre in 1794.Keywords: Symmetry; Vitruvius; Claude Perrault; Charles-Louis de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu; Balance in architecture. (shrink)

In the modern period, the most original and influential theories about law and politics were developed in connection with a set of far-reaching, interrelated questions about the definition of law, the purpose of law, the relationship between law and morality, and the existence of natural law and natural rights. In this entry I summarize the contributions of Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu; William Blackstone; Jeremy Bentham; and Immanuel Kant as exemplars of (...) the history of modern thought on law and politics. (shrink)

Der Vergleich zwischen Alexis de Tocqueville und Charles de Montesquieu stammt nicht erst aus dem 20. Jahrhundert, sondern wurde schon von Zeitgenossen Tocquevilles gemacht, die im Autor der Démocratie en Amérique einen neuen Montesquieu sahen. Nachdem Tocqueville am 21.

Pythagoras -- Confucius -- Heracleitus -- Parmenides -- Zeno of Elea -- Socrates -- Democritus -- Plato -- Aristotle -- Mencius -- Zhuangzi -- Pyrrhon of Elis -- Epicurus -- Zeno of Citium -- Philo Judaeus -- Marcus Aurelius -- Nagarjuna -- Plotinus -- Sextus Empiricus -- Saint Augustine -- Hypatia -- Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius -- Śaṅkara -- Yaqūb ibn Ishāq aṣ-Ṣabāḥ al-Kindī -- Al-Fārābī -- Avicenna -- Rāmānuja -- Ibn Gabirol -- Saint Anselm of Canterbury -- al-Ghazālī -- (...) Peter Abelard -- Averroës -- Zhu Xi -- Moses Maimonides -- Ibn al-'Arabī -- Shinran -- Saint Thomas Aquinas -- John Duns Scotus -- William of Ockham -- Niccolò Machiavelli -- Wang Yangming -- Francis Bacon, Viscount Saint Alban (or Albans), Baron of Verulam -- Thomas Hobbes -- René Descartes -- John Locke -- Benedict de Spinoza -- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz -- Giambattista Vico -- George Berkeley -- Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu -- David Hume -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- Immanuel Kant -- Moses Mendelssohn -- Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet -- Jeremy Bentham -- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel -- Arthur Schopenhauer -- Auguste Comte -- John Stuart Mill -- Søren Kierkegaard -- Karl Marx -- Herbert Spencer -- Wilhelm Dilthey -- William James -- Friedrich Nietzsche -- Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege -- Edmund Husserl -- Henri Bergson -- John Dewey -- Alfred North Whitehead -- Benedetto Croce -- Nishida Kitarō -- Bertrand Russell -- G.E. Moore -- Martin Buber -- Ludwig Wittgenstein -- Martin Heidegger -- Rudolf Carnap -- Sir Karl Popper -- Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno -- Jean-Paul Sartre -- Hannah Arendt -- Simone de Beauvoir -- Willard Van Orman Quine -- Sir A.J. Ayer -- Wilfrid Sellars -- John Rawls -- Thomas S. Kuhn -- Michel Foucault -- Noam Chomsky -- Jürgeb Gabernas -- Sir Bernard Williams -- Jacques Derrida -- Richard Rorty -- Robert Nozick -- Saul Kripke -- David Kellogg Lewis -- Peter (Albert David) Singer. (shrink)