Montesquieu

by

Catherine Volpilhac-Auger

• LAST REVIEWED: 01 December 2022
• LAST MODIFIED: 28 October 2020
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396577-0275

Introduction

The first readers of Montesquieu (b. 1689–d. 1755) confronted the breadth of writings that extended into every domain, seeking to offer a global vision of human activities by means of the notion of relationship (rapport) that outright rejects any artificial segmentation of the real. It is multiple as well in its form, insofar as it adopts, while renewing them radically, the paths of fiction, treatises, and essays. But his thought has often been teleologically reduced to The Spirit of Law (L’Esprit des lois, 1748) alone, to which all the rest of his work was supposed to be leading. To be sure, it is a culminating work; but with the discovery of a mass of uncompleted or confidential manuscripts it has become impossible to limit ourselves to his published works: if we are to understand its design and implications in depth, to see even its meaning (for Montesquieu’s thought, synthetic and rich in allusions, is concentrated, even elliptical), it is better to contextualize it and show its evolution. The edition of the texts (and of course their translations as well) here assumes particular importance, for it is not merely a function of philology, but also of interpretation, and it grounds the hermeneutic, which has developed historically in several directions. The first critiques bore on the supposed disorder of The Spirit of Law. This still sometimes underlying notion has become marginal, especially after the renewal of research around 1960. On the other hand the reproach of not choosing between fact (particular) and right (universal), what is and what ought to be, or rather describing without taking sides and underrating the question of value, assumes major importance; to it correspond the political question and that of justice, to which must be added two little-understood aspects of his philosophical activity: the domain of history, and that opened by the Persian Letters. A section on Montesquieu in Context also allows us to put Montesquieu’s originality into relief by indicating the philosophical currents in which he can be situated, more precisely in a section on Montesquieu and the Foundations of Modern Thought; and the Posterity section looks at the echo and influence of his work, more especially in the United States, which merits its own section. As a complement, we have thus also adopted an analytical presentation of the different means that allow us to approach his work: simple tools, edited collections, monographs that are rarely aligned along a single axis or theme of his thought, so pregnant is this totalizing vision in which “everything is closely connected.” By way of complement, bibliographies, biographies, and research resources, indispensable tools, are also presented. The author would like to thank Philip Stewart for translating this article from French into English.

Overviews

A presentation of L’Esprit des lois is the simplest and most effective means of introducing a reader to Montesquieu’s thought, whether in the form of a rapid, brilliant synthesis as in Larrère 1999; methodical analysis as in Spector 2010; or extended, systematic examination as in Binoche 2015. An overall approach is provided on a beginning level in Macfarlane 2000 and with more sophistication in Shklar 1987 and Starobinski 1994, with Ehrard 1998 offering a series of closer looks. The first biobibliographical presentation including an analysis of L’Esprit des lois was put forward just after Montesquieu’s death in d’Alembert 2017 (cited under From Life to Work).

• Binoche, Bertrand. Introduction à De l’esprit des lois de Montesquieu. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2015.

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  This plunge (and not a simple introduction) into Montesquieu’s thought defines the originality of his properly philosophical method: without ever dissociating fact and value, L’Esprit des lois constitutes a “new science,” that of human institutions (and not laws only), and seeks in a “negative politics” the means of combating despotism. A rigorous demonstration based on close reading of the text.

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• Ehrard, Jean. L’Esprit des mots: Montesquieu en lui-même et parmi les siens. Geneva, Switzerland: Droz, 1998.

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  A republication of earlier articles that constitute a perfectly coherent ensemble on Montesquieu and all the contemporaries with whom he had intellectual affinities (from Voltaire to Diderot, by way of Marivaux, Rousseau, etc.), as well as major themes of his thought (Rome, the Regency, revolutions, sovereignty, and so forth). Although discontinuous, it is the best approach for articulation of Montesquieu’s life and work.

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• Larrère, Catherine. Actualité de Montesquieu. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po, 1999.

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  An “incitation to read L’Esprit des lois,” this short work (fewer than 130 pages in small format) shows clearly and effectively how Montesquieu could bring to liberalism (see Politics and the Question of Freedom) a critical dimension, thanks to the tension between universality and diversity that constitutes one of the principal axes of his work.

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• Macfarlane, Alan. The Riddle of the Modern World: Of Liberty, Wealth and Equality. Basingstoke, UK, and London: Macmillan, 2000.

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  A quick overview of some key points in his thought, under the heading of “Liberty” (the book goes on to consider two other traits of the modern “riddle,” wealth and equality). See pp. 1–69.

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• Shklar, Judith. Montesquieu. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.

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  A pioneering work in its time, which takes into account the whole life and work of Montesquieu, while stressing his education and the eclecticism of his readings, determining a skepticism that led him to a more humane vision of politics. Montesquieu thus illustrates a key notion: the “liberalism of fear.”

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• Spector, Céline. Montesquieu: Liberté, droit et histoire. Paris: Michalon, 2010.

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  This study essentially follows the unfolding of L’Esprit des lois the better to clarify its structure. This analytical approach rests on a very sure and well-informed reading. The demonstration is utterly clear. Certainly one of the best ways of approaching Montesquieu, and already in some depth.

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• Starobinski, Jean. Montesquieu. Paris: Seuil, Écrivains de toujours, 1994.

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  A much-revised version since its first edition (1953), abetted by a rich iconography, which applies to the work of Montesquieu’s own precept in his Voyages: to see “the whole together.” The first edition had laid the bases of a “modern” Montesquieu; the edition of 1994 complements that presentation, accounting for all dimensions of the man and the philosopher.

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Bibliographies

The critical bibliography relating to Montesquieu is relatively difficult to cover, for the author is classified in philosophy, history, literature, juridical and political science, etc. While no compilation therefore can be considered exhaustive, and while any attempt at methodical organization of the bibliography seems doomed to failure, such repertories retain some usefulness as guides to the reader. These tools are complemented by critical and selective bibliographies that provide the state of research and a gauge of the evolution of Montesquieu’s place in the history of philosophy: their function is less bibliographical data per se than the identification of the broad critical currents.

Research Tools

To approach Montesquieu, one possibility is to begin with the commentary and presentation of sources: the library in which he found his documentation and inspiration, in Bibliothèque virtuelle Montesquieu; the vocabulary he employed, in Spector 2001; and the principal themes found in his work, in Ehrard 1965. This analytical form (see also Casabianca 2013, cited under Individual Works) already provides the reader with an overview of the fundamental concepts in Montesquieu’s thought.

• Bibliothèque virtuelle Montesquieu. École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 2016.

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  An open-access site, the “Montesquieu Virtual Library” allows one to explore the books and readings of Montesquieu thanks to the manuscript catalogue of his library (more than three thousand titles), which, corrected and enriched, is the true key to his culture. Its composition and the acquisitions and uses of the books are fully analyzed. A database made to reconstitute this library offers numerous research functions and access to digitized versions of numerous works.

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• Ehrard, Jean. Politique de Montesquieu. Paris: Armand Colin, 1965.

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  A thirty-page introduction offers a clear, accessible synthesis. A selection of texts addresses, in succession, “politics and ‘the nature of things,’” “freedom and the forms of government,” “the elements of social happiness.”

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• Spector, Céline. Le vocabulaire de Montesquieu. Paris: Ellipses, 2001.

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  Montesquieu’s originality as seen in his language, as attested by thirty-eight entries corresponding to key notions of his philosophy.

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Primary Sources

Since the 18th century, the complete work of Montesquieu has been envisaged by numerous successive editions that have increased the corpus (today five times larger than during his lifetime) and brought it into compliance with contemporary research criteria and readers’ requirements. Information and the means of approaching the philosopher have thereby been considerably renewed: thus each edition makes all previous ones obsolete, and also those that have been slow to take into account the progress of disciplines and the evolution of critical approaches. With the revelation late in the 19th century of the manuscripts held by Montesquieu’s descendants at the Château de La Brède (publications of the Bibliophiles de Guyenne), and then the publication, in 1954, of the catalogue of Montesquieu’s library (see Research Tools), decisive steps forward were taken. This section is limited to editions beginning with the 20th century, indicating all the while those of historical value (original editions) and manuscripts available online.

Politics and the Question of Freedom

Montesquieu’s work is both unified and diverse in its very ambition: to grasp the totality of relationships that constitute the human world. It is in that sense that he is “political” or that his politics covers the whole of his thought. It is therefore necessary to ask about his design: If Montesquieu did not seek to overturn the established models and institutions of his time, what was he trying to accomplish in L’Esprit des lois? That is a main question in Barrera 2009. Should one see in him a scientific mind, more inclined to describe than to judge and especially to condemn? That interpretation long prevailed, especially in France, where he has been classified on the side of sociology. A more political vision has come from the United States, where the question of Montesquieu’s liberalism has become central, to be tied in with the most current problematics (see also Montesquieu in Context): the old paradigm, that of virtue, has been abandoned in favor of an idea of man as a free individual, which defines modernity, according to the analysis of Leo Strauss. It is human rights and the protection of the individual that become central and insert Montesquieu into the middle of modern politics. This is the principle of the fundamental work Pangle 1973, which has had considerable influence well beyond the United States: among his most important relays are Shklar 1998 and Rahe 2009 (see also Schaub 1995, cited under Persian Letters as a Real Work of Philosophy, and Carmen Iglesias in Bottaro Palumbo and Postigliola 1995, cited under Edited Collections), the emphasis also being sometimes on despotism, as in Sullivan 2017, or honor, as in Krause 1999 and Bonzi 2016. Thus also is the fundamental notion of citizenship enriched, following the analysis in Larrère 1999. Without casting doubt on the properly political interpretation of Montesquieu, Manin 1985 takes a position against that interpretation, which the author deems simplistic, and Spector 2011 points out some of its contradictions, while Ippolito 2016 insists on the current applications of Montesquieu’s idea of liberty.

• Barrera, Guillaume. Les Lois du monde: Enquête sur le dessein politique de Montesquieu. L’Esprit de la cité. Paris: Gallimard, 2009.

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  Far from remaining within the question of legislation, this work defines the purpose of L’Esprit des lois. Montesquieu seeks to create a “useful work,” which constitutes the very premise of a political activity. Placing it back into the whole of the work, Barrera plumbs its principal axes, from religion to the question of power. A perfect overview of the whole, perfectly well informed in detail.

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• Bonzi, Federico. L’honneur dans l’œuvre de Montesquieu. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2016.

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  Honor, the principle of monarchies in The Spirit of Law, is analyzed in its genesis through the whole of Montesquieu’s work and placed back in its intellectual context (notably Mandeville). Far from making it the basis of the “noble prejudice,” Montesquieu envisages nobility on a political, social, and historical plane that makes it a capital element of monarchy. The document is rich and, for the most part, current.

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• Ippolito, Dario. Lo spirito del garantismo: Montesquieu e il potere di punire. Rome: Donzelli, 2016.

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  This short work in Italian (111 pages) recalls how much Montesquieu wished to make penal law more humane, not only by limiting and proportioning punishments, but also by denouncing inquisitorial procedure. Thus, he opens the way to garantismo, a specifically Italian notion designating the protection the law affords the individual.

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• Krause, Sharon. “The Politics of Distinction and Disobedience: Honor and the Defense of Liberty in Montesquieu.” Polity 31.3 (1999): 469–499.

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  Honor, the principle of monarchies according to Montesquieu’s typology of governments, is an important element, but so far underestimated, of his liberalism: both an act of fidelity to the monarch and of resistance to despotism, it is “both a source of agency and a limit on agency” (p. 484).

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• Larrère, Catherine. “Le civique et le civil: De la citoyenneté chez Montesquieu.” Revue Montesquieu 3 (1999): 41–61.

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  Against an old definition of citizenship as belonging to the city, Montesquieu defends a new, much more extended conception that privileges belonging in the plural.

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• Manin, Bernard. “Montesquieu et la politique moderne.” Cahiers de Philosophie Politique de l’Université de Reims 3 (1985): 157–229.

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  A critique of Pangle 1973. A close analysis of the text shows that if Montesquieu can indeed be considered a Modern, and if his purpose is indeed deeply political, then to consider him from the standpoint of liberalism is too reductive: Montesquieu is a thinker of plurality; and plurality introduces a cleavage throughout liberalism, which can no longer be founded only on the idea of unity. Reprinted in Hoquet and Spector 2004, cited under Edited Collections, pp. 171–231.

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• Pangle, Thomas L. Montesquieu’s Philosophy of Liberalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973.

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  In line with Leo Strauss, who assumes several levels of reading in an author required to dissimulate as was Montesquieu (see Spector 2013 in United States), the work puts into relief the model of commercial England, founded on self-interest, as dominant in Montesquieu, beginning with which the model of political freedom, defined as universal, would be affirmed. A fundamental work for the interpretation of Montesquieu in the current of liberalism.

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• Rahe, Paul A. Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.

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  Continuing the work in Rahe 2005 (cited under the Question of History), and the lines of interpretation in Pangle 1973, an ambitious interpretation, both philosophical and historical: England, free and commercial, appears as the ideal regime to Montesquieu, who could not overtly criticize France. But that is to assume a principle of double reading of him that remains to be proven, and to minimize his criticisms of England.

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• Shklar, Judith. “Montesquieu and the New Republicanism.” In Political Thought and Political Thinkers. By Judith Shklar, 244–261. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

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  In the tradition of Quentin Skinner, the role of Rome in Montesquieu’s thought is examined in the light of the categories framed in Pangle 1973, following Strauss: unlike Rousseau, Montesquieu does not think the ancient republics can fulfill modern aspirations (1st ed. 1990, Machiavelli and Republicanism).

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• Spector, Céline. Montesquieu: Pouvoirs, richesses et société. Paris: Hermann, 2011.

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  While situating itself in the liberal interpretation of Montesquieu, this study questions certain of its propositions: the diversity of the passions can indeed come down to self-interest alone, and to this paradigm answers that of manners, characteristic of modern democracies, which combines honor, politeness, and luxury (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2004).

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• Sullivan, Vickie B. Montesquieu and the Despotic Ideas of Europe: An Interpretation of The Spirit of the Laws. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017.

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  Examining Montesquieu’s relation to the Christian religion, as well as to his predecessors (Machiavelli, Hobbes, Aristotle, and Plato), this work puts the accent on one of the fundamental axes of his thought: the fear of despotism, which is not limited to Asia. A real introduction to The Spirit of Law (generously quoted), despite an insufficient familiarity with recent bibliography, particularly in French.

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Law and Justice

Almost all works dealing with Montesquieu are necessarily forced to discuss right and justice: many articles do so in the Edited Collections (thus, in Volpilhac-Auger 2013, cited under Edited Collections, the “Justice” theme is represented by nineteen articles). It is equally impossible to list all the commentaries of Book 1 of L’Esprit des lois, which furnishes the historical framework for an analysis that then deploys entirely on a human level (Rahe 2012, cited under United States, notes 7, 8, and 20 furnishes a good bibliography). Therefore only a few titles are mentioned here, to suggest only the philosophical foundations for analysis of Montesquieu and his penal philosophy (for his activity as magistrate, see Kingston 1996, cited under From Life to Work), further referring to various articles by David Carrithers cited under Edited Collections. The bases are posited in Waddicor 1970 and Hanisch 2015; more-precise interpretations are furnished in Mosher 1994, Terrel 2006, and Spector 2005. Penal philosophy is more specifically envisaged in Carrithers 1998: the requirement for moderation of punishments that he features is precisely what Muyart de Vouglans (Porret 1997) denounces.

• Carrithers, David. “Montesquieu’s Philosophy of Punishment.” History of Political Thought 19 (1998): 213–240.

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  The originality of Montesquieu’s approach lies in being at once retributive and utilitarian; it takes the form of a much more moderate scale of punishments than in the existing penal system, of which it constitutes an obvious critique.

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• Hanisch, Till. Justice et puissance de juger chez Montesquieu: Une étude contextualiste. Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2015.

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  This work analyzes two aspects of Montesquieu’s thought that are often separated: the notion of justice, and its exercise by the judge. The values of moderation and equity are presented as predominant so that the judge may interpret the law while keeping justice out of the sovereign’s grip—except when it is a matter of international relations (war, trade, colonization).

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• Mosher, Michael. “The Judgmental Gaze of European Women: Gender, Sexuality and the Critique of Republican Rule.” Political Theory 22.1 (February 1994): 25–44.

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  A stimulating analysis of the power interplay constituting gender relations, through The Spirit of Law and Persian Letters (though the latter is treated in a somewhat simplifying manner). The question is developed through the opposition between Europe and the Orient and the typology of governments.

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• Porret, Michel. “Les ‘lois doivent tendre à la rigueur plutôt qu’à l’indulgence’: Muyart de Vouglans versus Montesquieu.” Revue Montesquieu 1 (1997): 65–95.

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  The reaction of this criminalist of the second half of the 18th century makes clearer the way in which Montesquieu’s moderation in criminal matters was perceived and combated.

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• Spector, Céline. “Quelle justice? Quelle rationalité? La mesure du droit dans L’Esprit des lois.” In Montesquieu en 2005. Edited by Catherine Volpilhac-Auger, 219–242. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2005.

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  Justice does not proceed from transcendency, but from the “nature of things,” and therefore is inscribed within a history, yet does not fall into relativism.

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• Terrel, Jean. “À propos de la conquête: Droit et politique chez Montesquieu.” Revue Montesquieu 8 (2006): 137–150.

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  Conquest makes it possible to test a certain number of principles of natural law and to see how Montesquieu inflects some of Pufendorf’s categories.

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• Waddicor, Mark. Montesquieu and the Philosophy of Natural Law. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1970.

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  If it is clear that Montesquieu refers to the authors on natural rights who have become classics (Pufendorf, Grotius), it is less clear to what degree he makes use of their categories, which he strongly inflects. This work is a first approach to the problem.

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The Question of History

Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and of Their Decline (1734) is often considered Montesquieu’s great historical work, and above all as a minor prelude to L’Esprit des lois; but in fact it is a political work, in which, through the Roman example, he explores great questions at the heart of his preoccupations: What government, what customs, what laws can assure the prosperity of a nation and its survival? These are the main questions in Postigliola 1987 and Pii 1997 (see also Considerations, Lowenthal 1965, cited under English Translations (Entire Works)). And how to account for the principles of causality at work in history can be found in Schuurman 2013 and Bianchi and Minuti 2013. One can even hypothesize that the present can be perceived through an analysis of Antiquity, as in Rahe 2005. Conversely, history, insofar as it is inquiry, is constantly present throughout Montesquieu’s work; it is a key to understanding the modern world, for it is in the past that its institutions are rooted, as established in Cox 1983. Thus Montesquieu appears to have thoroughly renewed the historical project, as it also can be seen in Senarclens 2003.

• Bianchi, Lorenzo, and Rolando Minuti, eds. Montesquieu et les philosophies de l’histoire au XVIII^e siècle. Cahiers Montesquieu 10. Naples, Italy: Liguori, 2013.

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  Eight articles, four in English. Against the Pyrrhonism inherited from Bayle and the providentialism of Bossuet, Montesquieu defends the intelligibility of history (noticeable in the very design of L’Esprit des lois) and the importance of human action.

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• Cox, Iris. Montesquieu and the History of French Laws. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1983.

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  The most serious erudition is brought to bear to better our understanding of the final books of L’Esprit des lois, and shows how Montesquieu draws on history to illuminate the foundations of monarchy.

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• Pii, Eluggero. “La Rome antique chez Montesquieu.” Revue Montesquieu 1 (1997): 25–38.

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  Montesquieu finds in an examination of Rome elements essential to his political thought; he interprets it notably in the light of Italian authors Machiavelli, Doria, and Gravina.

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• Postigliola, Alberto. Storia e ragione. Naples, Italy: Liguori, 1987.

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  The only collection of articles (in French and Italian) devoted entirely to Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and of Their Decline. A considerable enrichment, which renewed studies on the subject.

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• Rahe, Paul. “The Book That Never Was: Considerations on the Romans in Context.” History of Political Thought 26 (2005): 43–89.

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  Maintains the idea that Considerations on the [. . .] Romans is strongly influenced by French failures in the War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714), which brought England to a position of new world power (see also Rahe 2009, cited under Politics and the Question of Freedom). An interesting hypothesis.

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• Schuurman, Paul. “Determinism and Causal Feedback Loops in Montesquieu’s Explanations for the Military Rise and Fall of Rome.” British Journal for the History of Philosophy 21.3 (2013): 507–528.

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  A close examination of Montesquieu’s highly original historical “determinism,” which makes Rome into a complete “system” and privileges evolution over invariables, and leads to questioning of some of the propositions in Israel 2001 (see Montesquieu in Context). A rich and rigorous study, beginning with the principle that Considérations on the [. . .] Romans is not a history book but a “methodological exercise in causal explanation applied to the subject of Rome” (p. 508).

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• Senarclens, Vanessa de. Montesquieu historien de Rome. Geneva, Switzerland: Droz, 2003.

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  A historian of nations through the particular case of Rome, Montesquieu renews the functions and modalities of history, making it one of the instruments of political analysis.

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• Spector, Céline. “Montesquieu et l’histoire: Théorie et pratique de la modération.” In Sens du devenir et pensée de l’histoire au temps des Lumières. Edited by Bertrand Binoche and Franck Tinland, 53–75. Seyssel, France: Champ Vallon, 2000.

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  Montesquieu studies the genesis of forms of knowledge and institutions, for that is where he finds, not an instance of legitimation, but the means of guaranteeing moderation and still respecting differences.

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Persian Letters as a Real Work of Philosophy

The 1960s marked a turn in the interpretation of the Persian Letters, with the emphasis being placed on its novelistic character, considered as unjustly eluded; at that point there was a proliferation of studies of its properly narrative aspects. Since then it has appeared necessary to rebalance the question, either by showing how the imaginary and the political converge and are mutually reinforced, as in Grosrichard 1997 (first published 1979) and Starobinski 1989, or by reading the work in the light of the rigorous political analysis in Ehrard 1997 (see also Mosher 1994, cited under Law and Justice). These interpretations, classics by now, have constituted the basis of numerous studies devoted to the whole of Montesquieu’s work: all those envisaging the Persian Letters as the decisive moment in the development of his thought take them into account. In this perspective, more recent volumes, Martin 2013 and Stewart 2013, approach the Persian Letters rejecting any partition between fiction and the political, between “literature” and “philosophy,” as foreign to the project but also to the very spirit of Montesquieu.

• Ehrard, Jean. “Un roman politique: Les Lettres persanes.” In L’Invention littéraire au siècle des Lumières: Fictions, idées, société. Edited by Jean Ehrard, 17–32. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1997.

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  Explores three levels: the facts, the observations and sentiments they evoke, and the ideas. The analysis bears as much on the structure of the work as on the treatment of the contemporary world, as much on the characters’ consistence as on the ideology behind them, and ends on the “question mark” constituted by the death of Roxane (first publication 1970).

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• Grosrichard, Alain. The Structure of the Seraglio: European Fantasies of Asiatic Despotism. London: Blackwell Verso, 1997.

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  A seminal work (1st French ed., 1979) on the representations of the seraglio and of Oriental despotism in Western thought of the 17th and 18th centuries. The psychoanalytic approach enriches a political reading of the passions.

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• Martin, Christophe, ed. Les Lettres persanes de Montesquieu. Paris: Presses de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 2013.

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  Various approaches (sixteen articles) that valorize the idea that Persian Letters, opening onto the Enlightenment, are at the junction of the novel and philosophy, of ideology and satire. The economy of the passions becomes a component of the political discourse.

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• Schaub, Diana. Erotic Liberalism: Women and Revolution in Montesquieu’s Persian Letters. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1995.

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  Considering Persian Letters as an integral part of Montesquieu’s philosophical project, Schaub envisages the fate of the women as a decisive element in Montesquieu’s liberalism: the political, religious, and domestic despotisms are all linked.

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• Starobinski, Jean. “Exil, satire, tyrannie: Les Lettres persanes.” In Le Remède dans le mal: Critique et légitimation de l’artifice à l’âge des Lumières. Edited by Jean Starobinski, 91–121. Paris: Gallimard, 1989.

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  A brilliant presentation of fiction as rejection of any oppressive order and as discovery in man of a universal norm, despite the disparity of thought and acts present in the failure of the main character (it also serves as preface to the Persian Letters: see Starobinski 2003, cited under Individual Works).

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• Stewart, Philip, ed. Les Lettres persanes en leur temps. Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2013.

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  Twelve contributors set out to see the Persian Letters in a new light, striving particularly to bring out the foreignness that the Persian eye makes suddenly apparent.

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Montesquieu in Context

There is no way Montesquieu can be dissociated from the philosophical traditions that fed into his work, marking him on the way—even when it is a matter of dissociating himself from them and asserting his originality. It is by placing him back into this long history of ideas that one can judge his true modernity, conceived as a capacity for breaking with his predecessors or contemporaries, or visible in his manner of reinterpreting contemporary themes (see Grosrichard 1997, cited under Persian Letters as a Real Work of Philosophy), especially about extra-European peoples (Minuti 2015). The notion of “nature” appears as an angle of attack making it possible to measure the decisive inflections he contributes, although prudently, to fundamental notions, as established in Ehrard 1996, whereas Israel 2001 sees in it merely the sign of his belonging to a moderate or lukewarm Enlightenment. It is also a means of understanding how he assumes a place in liberal thought, following the point of view in Hirschman 1977, or furnishes elements for reflection on the political theory that presumes to underpin democracy in Manin 1997. But the “Montesquieu moment” is also decisive for understanding, with Ehrard 2008, how antislavery ideas take hold in a Europe of slaveholders or, more generally, the “pragmatism” of Enlightenment.

• Ehrard, Jean. L’Idée de nature en France dans la première moitié du xviiie siècle. Bibliothèque de l’Évolution de l’Humanité. Paris: Albin Michel, 1996.

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  The relationships between nature and society, nature and morality, nature and necessity, enable us to understand better, by placing them in their intellectual context, fundamental notions like virtue, happiness, the influence of climate, and the political doctrine of L’Esprit des lois beginning with the history of the French monarchy. Reprint of edition of 1960.

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• Ehrard, Jean. Lumières et esclavage. Brussels: André Versaille, 2008.

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  After a comprehensive survey of what the discourses of the Church, of the philosophical tradition or science, of economic theories and fiction tell us about slavery in the 18th century, the antislavery positions of Montesquieu, forcefully relayed by the Encyclopédie, take on new relief.

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• Hirschman, Albert. The Passions and the Interests. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977.

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  A key element in discussion of Montesquieu’s liberalism, which advances the notion of “gentle commerce”: profit can be reconciled with virtue, and private interests converge toward the general interest. After abandoning the ideal of republican virtue, Montesquieu can then appear as one of the Moderns.

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• Israel, Jonathan. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650–1750. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

  DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206088.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Takes from Montesquieu his usual function as a founder of the Enlightenment by displacing the heart of the movement away from France, but above all by labeling Montesquieu foreign to the radical Enlightenment because of his moderate positions on religious, feminist, and political questions.

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• Manin, Bernard. The Principles of Representative Government. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

  DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511659935Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Casting a new look at the very notion of democracy, and reverting to the opposition between direct and representative democracy, that is, between election and drawing lots, this work examines the principles that determine suffrage and weighs Montesquieu’s contribution to this question. First edition in French, 1995.

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• Minuti, Rolando. Una geografia politica della diversità: Studi su Montesquieu. Naples, Italy: Liguori, 2015.

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  A compendium of articles (in Italian) presenting a historical and sociological analysis that develops Montesquieu with relation to extra-European peoples, who are essential to his theoretical process. Discusses three complementary fundamental and original approaches of Montesquieu: man’s action on the surrounding world (against the idea of determinism by climate and terrain); the denunciation of intolerance, studied historically; and the interest in Islam, considered on a political rather than religious level.

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• Rasmussen, Dennis Carl. The Pragmatic Enlightenment: Recovering the Liberalism of Hume, Smith, Montesquieu, and Voltaire. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

  DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781107045439Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  As the title suggests, the emphasis here is not on either the “radical” Enlightenment or the “moderate” (timid) Enlightenment but on context-sensitive reform as exemplified by these four influential writers.

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Montesquieu and the Foundations of Modern Thought

Montesquieu can be considered as one of the principal founders of sociology, as Aron 1965 showed, and for this reason his influence extends far beyond the French sphere, as it appears from Todorov 1993. But it is interesting to show how he has prevailed in various domains starting from a tradition anchored in his own country, in constant dialogue with his predecessors and contemporaries. The analysis in Carcassonne 1927 takes place on a historical level and needs to be extended by the political analysis in Beaud 2009, to ground the idea that the present notion of constitution owes everything to Montesquieu. The question of liberty is also fundamental (see also Politics and the Question of Freedom) and must be looked at from a large point of view, with Jaume 2000, and a more narrow one, with de Dijn 2008.

• Aron, Raymond. Main Currents in Sociological Thought. Vol. 1. New York: Basic Books, 1965.

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  What are the underpinnings of sociology? A now-classical answer that makes of Montesquieu one of the principal creators of modern thought. (Republished by Anchor Books, 1968.) See chapter 1.

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• Beaud, Olivier. “L’histoire du concept de constitution en France: De la constitution politique à la constitution comme statut juridique de l’Etat.” Jus Politicum 3 (2009).

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  How, under English influence, Montesquieu makes of politeia a fundamental political concept, quickly adopted by French parlementarians.

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• Carcassonne, Ely. Montesquieu et le problème de la constitution française au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1927.

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  A historically thorough study that shows how Montesquieu renewed the questions of the origins of the European monarchies and gave its political meaning to the notion of “constitution.”

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• de Dijn, Annelien. French Political Thought from Montesquieu to Tocqueville: Liberty in a Levelled Society? Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

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  How was French liberal thought in the 19th century inspired by Montesquieu’s “aristocratic liberalism”? This study of readings of Montesquieu is interesting, but his work remains relatively underanalyzed, beginning with the very (debatable) notion of “aristocratic liberalism.”

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• Jaume, Lucien. La Liberté et la loi: Les origines philosophiques du libéralisme. Paris: Fayard, 2000.

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  Inserts Montesquieu into the tradition of a liberalism conceived as requirement of a government of freedom for the protection of the moral and political subject, who is empowered to judge the acts of the power he has instituted.

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• Todorov, Tzvetan. On Human Diversity: Nationalism, Racism, and Exoticism in French Thought. Translated by Catherine Porter. Cambridge, UK: Harvard University Press, 1993.

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  Montesquieu and Rousseau are defined as the founders of a “critical humanism,” beginning with fundamental questions in Montesquieu: what constitutes unity of humanity, and how can its diversity be respected (1st ed. in French 1989).

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Posterity

Montesquieu’s thought covered so many fields and, even more important, was so balanced and so prudent in its expression (some have occasionally said “ambiguous”) that he has been read in various, sometimes contradictory manners. There is no attempt here to cover the whole range of these interpretations (see Volpilhac-Auger 2013, cited under Edited Collections: thirty-three articles under the theme “Montesquieu’s readers”; see also Kingston 2009, cited under Edited Collections: ten articles), even if they have given rise to genuine philosophical works, as with Condorcet, a reader of Book 29 of L’Esprit des lois, or Destutt de Tracy, the author of a Commentary on L’Esprit des lois. In the 18th century, but also in the 19th, he remains a veritable reference point, well beyond France. To give an idea of this, the only works listed here are those that include several major references. Ehrard and Benrekassa 1989 is centered on a particular moment in French history when Montesquieu’s influence suddenly lost all its pertinence and force. Contrariwise, Felice 2005 envisages over the long term and a wider space the multiple interpretations that have been given of his thought.

• Ehrard, Jean, and Georges Benrekassa, eds. “Montesquieu et la Révolution.” Dix-Huitième Siècle 21 (1989): 59–186.

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  Nine contributions examine how Montesquieu, a tutelary figure of the French Revolution in its early years, was impugned, and then took on new relevance for the 19th century, the age of constitutions.

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• Felice, Domenico. Montesquieu e i suoi interpreti. 2 vols. Pisa, Italy: ETS, 2005.

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  In chronological order and over one thousand pages (in Italian), readings of Montesquieu in various countries from Voltaire to the 20th century are presented.

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United States

Among the innumerable contributions devoted to the role played by Montesquieu (or rather the role others had him play: Bailyn 1993 for the publication of the sources; Amiel 2013 for a general presentation of the terms of the debate) in the constitutional debate in the formation of the United States, only a few can be listed (see Shklar 1987, cited under Overviews, and especially Rahe 2012, with the most recent bibliography). But one must go further, for the place accorded to Montesquieu as one of the founders of liberalism authorizes one to see in him much more than an element in the debate (Cohler 1988), and in particular refers back to contemporary problematics (see also Politics and the Question of Freedom): that is why the position of Hannah Arendt and that of Leo Strauss, who opened this perspective, deserve study, in order to approach the influence of 20th-century American philosophers (Amiel 1998, Spector 2013).

• Amiel, Anne. “Hannah Arendt lectrice de Montesquieu.” Revue Montesquieu 2 (1998): 119–138.

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  Starting with the course taught by Arendt at Cornell University in 1965, but also with her reflection on totalitarianism, Montesquieu, largely reinterpreted by this philosopher, appears as a major piece of her “apparatus.”

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• Amiel, Anne. “La figure de Montesquieu dans le débat constitutionnel américain.” Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 77.1 (2013): 47–64.

  DOI: 10.3917/rmm.131.0047Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  An inquiry into the manner in which the debate on the Constitution in the United States, between 1776 and 1787, evolved: How was Montesquieu brought into the debate? The opposition between federalists and anti-federalists forces those on both sides to renew their reading and their arguments.

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• Bailyn, Bernard, ed. The Debate on the Constitution. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, 1993.

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  Enables one to place “the immortal Montesquieu” (as he was then called) in the overall context of the debates.

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• Cohler, Anne M. Montesquieu’s Comparative Politics and the Spirit of American Constitutionalism. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1988.

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  Based on careful rereading of The Spirit of Law, the author (one of its recent translators) tries to go beyond the usual banalities about his influence on the US Constitution, stressing what the Americans took from Montesquieu about “spirit and character, rather than law and principle” (p. 10).

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• Rahe, Paul. “Montesquieu’s Natural Rights Constitutionalism.” In Natural Rights, Individualism and Progressivism in American Political Philosophy. Edited by Helen Paul, Fred Miller, and Paul Jeffrey, 51–81. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

  DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139237116Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  In addition to the interest of the analysis in itself, this article offers a solid bibliography on the question (notes 93–94).

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• Spector, Céline. “Montesquieu et la crise du droit naturel moderne: L’Exégèse straussienne.” Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 1 (2013): 65–78.

  DOI: 10.3917/rmm.131.0065Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Presentation and critique of Leo Strauss’s unpublished courses on Montesquieu (University of Chicago, 1965–1966).

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Monographs

The study of the political thought is generally considered a means of encompassing Montesquieu’s entire work: thus, for example, his scientific activity itself (academic papers) can appear as the matrix of a more general approach to human phenomena (Casabianca 2008). But it would appear reductive to studies devoted to notions such as commerce and religion to relate them only to politics, however much these may be fundamental aspects of his “liberalism”; so room is made here for Spector 2006 and Pangle 2010, even if the latter makes evident the absence of an extensive study on Montesquieu’s ideas on religion, through the totality of the work. The political question, approached from the bias of history in Althusser 2007, must in any case be placed in relation with that of slavery, which had often been treated in itself (this refers back to an old but fundamental work, Jameson 1911), all the more so that it elicited controversy; but there is no longer any doubt that Montesquieu condemns slavery, although he does not denounce it as explicitly as some would like (see Benrekassa 1999, cited under Bibliographies: State of Research). Also to be considered is that, as with any Enlightenment author, no activity of the mind remained foreign to Montesquieu: thus room must be made for aesthetics (Ehrard 1965). The question of “influences,” judiciously transformed in Haskins Gonthier 2010 into “exchanges,” recalls that Montesquieu was also a man of his time, a great reader who also passed ideas along. So many different facets need to be juxtaposed to reveal a Montesquieu if not complete, at least in all his richness (Volpilhac-Auger 2017).

• Althusser, Louis. “Montesquieu: Politics and History.” In Politics and History: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Marx. By Louis Althusser and translated by Ben Brewster, 13–110. London: Verso, 2007.

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  A brilliant work by a famous Marxist philosopher, who marked his era by defining Montesquieu as a theoretician of facts, but also as a “feudal,” respecting the social order (1st French ed. 1959).

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• Casabianca, Denis de. Montesquieu: De l’étude des sciences à l’esprit des lois. Paris: Champion, 2008.

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  Montesquieu’s first scientific papers did not make of him an adept of “scientific” methods applied to the moral world, but did educate his vision: he sees as a physicist; he also learned in his travels the multiplication of points of view: which illuminates properly political problematics, and the central notion of moderation.

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• Ehrard, Jean. Montesquieu critique d’art. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1965.

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  One of the rare studies devoted to Montesquieu’s aesthetics, centered on the progressive formation of his artistic taste in the course of his travels (1729–1731). A work that remains fundamental.

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• Haskins Gonthier, Ursula. Montesquieu and England: Enlightened Exchanges, 1689–1755. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2010.

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  Follows Montesquieu’s various publications chronologically. Particularly good are the early chapters, which thoroughly renew the question of the English influence on Montesquieu’s early writings.

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• Jameson, Russel P. Montesquieu et l’esclavage: Étude sur les origines de l’opinion anti-esclavagiste en France au XVIIIE siècle. Paris: Hachette, 1911.

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  A work that has become a classic, to be complemented by Ehrard 2008 (cited under Montesquieu in Context); see also Derathé 2011 (cited under Individual Works).

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• Pangle, Thomas L. The Theological Basis of Liberal Modernity in Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.

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  Targets what had been omitted in Pangle 1973 cited under (Politics and the Question of Freedom): the religious question. Montesquieu, over against the traditional interpretation that sees in him the defender of toleration, appears as basically opposed to all religion, which sends us back to the model of the Ancients. The thesis would be more convincing if the corpus used for the demonstration were more developed.

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• Spector, Céline. Montesquieu et l’émergence de l’économie politique. Paris: Champion, 2006.

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  Montesquieu, attentive to the advantages of “gentle commerce,” was also sensitive to the dangers of a merchant society, and to the effects it produces on the whole of society. Money, demography, fiscality, colonization, and the notion of empire are thus envisaged as the different facets of political economy.

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• Volpilhac-Auger, Catherine. Montesquieu: Une histoire de temps. Lyon, France: ENS Éditions, 2017.

  DOI: 10.4000/books.enseditions.7382Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Fifteen articles, several of them previously unpublished, dealing with all of Montesquieu’s work. The “time” angle (of plot, of history, of reception) allows one to take into account his multiple dimensions—literary, political, philosophical, historical, and juridical.

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Edited Collections

This section does not seek to give here an artificial unity to a list of works, characterized by the diversity of their approaches, that complement the other sections. Carrithers 2009 presents a panorama of interpretations, including old ones, which makes it a very complete instrument, as is Felice 2010; Volpilhac-Auger 2013 achieves the same usefulness by means of analytical articles. Kingston 2009 and Carrithers, et al. 2001 offer methodical studies, the second of these being centered on L’Esprit des lois. Bottaro Palumbo and Postigliola 1995 and Carrithers and Coleman 2002 cover a wide range of topics while Volpilhac-Auger 2017 looks into the complexity of a polysemic but unifying notion.

• Bottaro Palumbo, Maria Grazia, and Alberto Postigliola, eds. L’Europe de Montesquieu: Actes du colloque de Gênes, 26–29 mai 1993. Cahiers Montesquieu 2. Naples, Italy: Liguori, 1995.

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  Thirty articles (mostly in French, but some in Italian) to study what Montesquieu thought of one European country or another, but also to answer these questions: What representation of Europe do we find in Montesquieu, and especially what role does Europe play in his conception of the world and politics?

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• Carrithers, David, ed. Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2009.

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  A volume of nearly six hundred pages containing articles published between 1942 and 2006, all in English (originally or in translation). A vast range of subjects is taken in. A very useful collection, even if some articles are too dated to be very useful.

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• Carrithers, David, and Patrick Coleman, eds. Montesquieu and the Spirit of Modernity. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2002.

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  Through a rich and thoughtful definition of “modernity” it is possible to present both the relationship with Antiquity as well as the burning problems that Montesquieu faced, and thus to reevaluate the opposition between Ancients and Moderns (twelve articles, almost all in English).

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• Carrithers, David W., Michael A. Mosher, and Paul A. Rahe, eds. Montesquieu’s Science of Politics: Essays on The Spirit of Laws. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001.

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  The first edited collection in English devoted exclusively to L’Esprit des lois. A methodological and not merely descriptive study (ten chapters), an introduction to the essential problematics of the work with interesting depth.

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• Felice, Domenico, ed. Leggere lo Spirito delle legi di Montesquieu. 2 vols. Milan: Mimesis, 2010.

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  Numerous contributions (710 pp., in Italian) by the best Italian specialists, for a tour of the principal notions.

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• Hoquet, Thierry, and Céline Spector, eds. Lectures de l’Esprit des lois. Pessac, France: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 2004.

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  Republication of fundamental and principally recent articles that have become hard to find, combining the diversity of viewpoints on Montesquieu and the diversity of his own method (250 pp., in French).

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• Kingston, Rebecca, ed. Montesquieu and His Legacy. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009.

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  To study Montesquieu’s heritage, one must also discern the strongest concepts in his work, those most likely to inspire new readings and provide guidance (see also Posterity); fifteen articles, all in English, 300 pp.

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• Volpilhac-Auger, Catherine. “Montesquieu: De l’esprit et des lois.” Diciottesimo Secolo 2 (2017): 165–166.

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  A single term designates the human mind (le bel esprit), the spirit of nations (l’esprit général), and that of institutions (l’esprit des lois). This compact volume (available online) suggests that in Montesquieu it constitutes a key to comprehension, both for grasping the overall “system” he is constructing, and as an operative notion he creates for the understanding of human societies.

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• Volpilhac-Auger, Catherine, ed. A Montesquieu Dictionary. Translated by Philip Stewart. Lyon, France: ENS de Lyon, 2013.

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  With the collaboration of Catherine Larrère, more than two hundred articles covering all aspects of Montesquieu’s thought, life, and works, in the light of the most recent research. Entirely bilingual, English and French. Constantly expanded and updated. Online only.

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From Life to Work

Montesquieu’s life interferes little with his work; though useful, biographies are therefore not fundamental in order to approach the work; it is nonetheless to be regretted that there is still no intellectual biography of him. Certain studies do build bridges between the life and work (a part of his life in Kingston 1996), for which the author of d’Alembert 2017 himself had provided the model immediately following Montesquieu’s death. The most recent and complete is Volpilhac-Auger 2017. Starobinski 1994 and Ehrard 1998 are also important references (both cited under Overviews) whose approaches are not specifically biographical but bring out the essential themes of Montesquieu’s thought by using the human dimension as a guideline.

• d’Alembert, Jean le Rond. “Éloge de M. le président de Montesquieu et ‘Analyse de L’Esprit des lois.’” In Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Vol. 5. Edited by Jean le Rond d’Alembert and Denis Diderot. Paris: Académie des Sciences, 2017.

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  This presentation of Montesquieu, the first of its kind, renders him homage, with the underlying intention of making him an Encyclopedist and thus legitimizing the enterprise. But this eulogy and this analysis, constantly repeated by the publishing tradition, also constitute in themselves (and not only on a historical level) an interesting study of Montesquieu as a man and of the principal axes of L’Esprit des lois. Volume 5 first published in 1755. Facsimile edition part of the Edition Numérique Collaborative et Critique de l’Encyclopédie (ENCCRE).

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• Desgraves, Louis. Chronologie critique de la vie et des œuvres de Montesquieu. Paris: Champion, 1998.

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  Purely factual: furnishes the date, place, and documentary source for each event, including Montesquieu’s activity as landowner, Academician, etc. Useful for locating the precise date of an event, the presence of Montesquieu in Paris or elsewhere, etc. It can be completed by a list of simplified chronological data on the Montesquieu website.

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• Kingston, Rebecca. Montesquieu and the Parlement of Bordeaux. Geneva, Switzerland: Droz, 1996.

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  Montesquieu’s experience as magistrate in Bordeaux, where a new discourse was practiced tending to respect local particularities, had an influence on his conception of criminal justice, inciting him to take cultural diversity into account. It is too bad this study does not go deeper into L’Esprit des lois.

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• Lacouture, Jean. Montesquieu: Les vendanges de la liberté. Paris: Seuil, 2003.

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  A readable biography, written for a general public; but it is secondhand, content mainly to give shape to what was already known, and sometimes proposes debatable interpretations.

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• Volpilhac-Auger, Catherine. Montesquieu. Paris: Gallimard, 2017.

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  While providing the full range of relative research activity to date, this book strives to remain accessible to a broad public. Attentive to the historical context (drawing notably on the now fully accessible and rich documentation of the collection of La Brède), it presents an intellectual biography where the work of Montesquieu and the construction of his thought play the primary role.

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