Download or read book The Theological Basis of Liberal Modernity in Montesquieu s Spirit of the Laws written by Thomas L. Pangle and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-05-15 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spirit of the Laws—Montesquieu’s huge, complex, and enormously influential work—is considered one of the central texts of the Enlightenment, laying the foundation for the liberally democratic political regimes that were to embody its values. In his penetrating analysis, Thomas L. Pangle brilliantly argues that the inherently theological project of Enlightenment liberalism is made more clearly—and more consequentially— in Spirit than in any other work. In a probing and careful reading, Pangle shows how Montesquieu believed that rationalism, through the influence of liberal institutions and the spread of commercial culture, would secularize human affairs. At the same time, Pangle uncovers Montesquieu’s views about the origins of humanity’s religious impulse and his confidence that political and economic security would make people less likely to sacrifice worldly well-being for otherworldly hopes. With the interest in the theological aspects of political theory and practice showing no signs of diminishing, this book is a timely and insightful contribution to one of the key achievements of Enlightenment thought.
Download or read book Montesquieu and the Spirit of Modernity written by David Wallace Carrithers and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crucial to an understanding of Montesquieu's work is the contrast he drew between ancient and modern mentalités. 'Les politiques grecs,' he wrote in his classic work De l'esprit des lois (1748), 'qui vivaient dans le gouvernement populaire, ne reconnaissaient d'autre force qui pût les soutenir que celle de la vertu. Ceux d'aujourd'hui ne nous parlent que de manufactures, de commerce, de finances, de richesses et de luxe meme.' Ancient philosophers had conceptualised model regimes where human beings would flourish in accordance with their natural purposes and potentialities shaped by good laws well obeyed. Such moderns as Montesquieu, on the other hand, ceased to regard the state as a school for morality. No longer concerned with improving man's soul, politics focused instead on the achievement of liberty, security and material prosperity. Clearly something novel and distinctive, something recognisably 'modern', arose during the period from Machiavelli to Montesquieu. A teleological universe suffused with transcendent meaning and purposeful ends was supplanted by a more secular, 'disenchanted' world-view. Both the Christian conception of a life lived in humble devotion to the moral commandments of revealed religion and the classical conception of a virtuous life devoted to ethical perfection were challenged by a new political realism stressing the dominance of the passions over reason and the constructive potential of self-interest. The authors of the eleven essays comprising this volume explore the complex relations between Montesquieu and modernity and between Montesquieu and antiquity. Assessing the content of his three major works, they conclude that whereas the label 'modern' suits Montesquieu, he nonetheless retained certain philosophical approaches characteristic of antiquity as well as a high regard for the primacy accorded to politics and philosophy in the classical era.
Download or read book Montesquieu and the Spirit of Modernity written by David W. Carrithers and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crucial to an understanding of Montesquieu's work is the contrast he drew between ancient and modern mentalités. 'Les politiques grecs,' he wrote in his classic workDe l'esprit des lois(1748), 'qui vivaient dans le gouvernement populaire, ne reconnaissaient d'autre force qui pût les soutenir que celle de la vertu. Ceux d'aujourd'hui ne nous parlent que de manufactures, de commerce, de finances, de richesses et de luxe meme.'Ancient philosophers had conceptualised model regimes where human beings would flourish in accordance with their natural purposes and potentialities shaped by good laws well obeyed. Such moderns as Montesquieu, on the other hand, ceased to regard the state as a school for morality. No longer concerned with improving man's soul, politics focused instead on the achievement of liberty, security and material prosperity.Clearly something novel and distinctive, something recognisably 'modern', arose during the period from Machiavelli to Montesquieu. A teleological universe suffused with transcendent meaning and purposeful ends was supplanted by a more secular, 'disenchanted' world-view. Both the Christian conception of a life lived in humble devotion to the moral commandments of revealed religion and the classical conception of a virtuous life devoted to ethical perfection were challenged by a new political realism stressing the dominance of the passions over reason and the constructive potential of self-interest.The authors of the eleven essays comprising this volume explore the complex relations between Montesquieu and modernity and between Montesquieu and antiquity. Assessing the content of his three major works, they conclude that whereas the label 'modern' suits Montesquieu, he nonetheless retained certain philosophical approaches characteristic of antiquity as well as a high regard for the primacy accorded to politics and philosophy in the classical era.
Download or read book Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty written by Paul Anthony Rahe and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2009-09-22 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fresh examination of the world of Montesquieu seeks to understand the short-comings of modern democracy in light of the French philosopher's insightful critique of commercial republicanism.
Download or read book Montesquieu written by Susan Gordon and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2005-12-15 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Highlights the life of philosopher and prolific author Chales Montesquieu and discusses two of his well-known books on political philosophy, "Persian Letters" and "The Spirit of the Laws."
Download or read book Montesquieu s Science of Politics written by Charles de Secondat baron de Montesquieu and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2001 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In what constitutes the only English-language collection of essays ever dedicated to the analysis of Montesquieu's contributions to political science, the contributors review some of the most vexing controversies that have arisen in the interpretation of Montesquieu's thought. By paying careful attention to the historical, political, and philosophical contexts of Montesquieu's ideas, the contributors provide fresh readings of The Spirit of Laws, clarify the goals and ambitions of its author, and point out the pertinence of his thinking to the problems of our world today.
Download or read book The Spirit of Laws written by Montesquieu and published by Masterlab. This book was released on 1750 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spirit of Laws is a treatise on political theory first published by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu in 1748. Montesquieu pleaded in favor of a constitutional system of government and the separation of powers, the ending of slavery, the preservation of civil liberties and the law, and the idea that political institutions ought to reflect the social and geographical aspects of each community.
Download or read book The Spirit of Laws written by Montesquieu and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-04-28 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Spirit of Laws written by Charles de Secondat baron de Montesquieu and published by . This book was released on 1886 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Spirit of the Laws written by Charles de Secondat and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-11-13 with total page 784 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spirit of the Laws is a treatise on political theory, as well as a pioneering work in comparative law, published in 1748 by Montesquieu. Originally published anonymously, partly because Montesquieu's works were subject to censorship, its influence outside France was aided by its rapid translation into other languages. In 1751 the Roman Catholic Church added De l'esprit des lois to its Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Yet Montesquieu's treatise had an enormous influence on the work of many others, most notably: Catherine the Great, who produced Nakaz (Instruction); the Founding Fathers of the United States Constitution; and Alexis de Tocqueville, who applied Montesquieu's methods to a study of American society, in Democracy in America.
Download or read book Montesquieu The Spirit of the Laws written by Charles de Secondat baron de Montesquieu and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1989-09-21 with total page 814 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Montesquieu s Philosophy of Liberalism written by Thomas L. Pangle and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Modern History Sourcebook Montesquieu The Spirit of the Laws 1748 written by and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents information about the treatise "The Spirit of the Laws" (1748), written by French political philosopher Charles Louis de Secondat, also referred to as Baron de La Brede et de Montesquieu (1689-1755). Notes that the treatise contains numerous theories, including respect for the role of history and climate in shaping a nation's political structure. Offers access to a sample of "The Spirit of the Laws," which reflects his view on the English Constitution.
Download or read book Montesquieu s The Spirit of the Laws written by and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2024-02-06 with total page 1018 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spirit of the Laws not only systematizes the foundational ideas of “separation of powers” and “balances and checks,” it provides the decisive response to the question of whether power in the nation-state can be limited in the aftermath of the Westphalian settlement of 1648. It describes a civilizational change through which power becomes domesticated, with built-in resistance to attempts to absolutize (or make total) political power. As such, it is the Bible of modern politics, now made more accessible to English readers than it ever has been.
Download or read book The Spirit of Laws written by Baron De Montesquieu and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on with total page 710 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most influential books of all time, this masterpiece of political philosophy was widely read throughout Europe, attracted an especially enthusiastic readership in England, and had a profound effect on the framers of the American Constitution. Montesquieu (1689-1755), already famous and controversial through his Persian Letters, a work of his youth in which he humorously satirized the foibles of French society, turned in his later years to this serious treatise on the nature of law. But though the subject itself was profound, this gravitas did not inhibit the famous Montesquieu wit. Master of the pithy bon mot, he managed to survey a great deal of political and philosophical territory while keeping his readers charmed with memorable and artfully turned phrases. Liberty, he says, consists in the ability to do what one ought to desire and in not being forced to do what one ought not to desire. Concerning the unpopularity of the English in France, he says it is due to their arrogance, which is such that even in peace they seem to negotiate with none but enemies.The scope of this masterful work is truly prodigious. Montesquieu explores the essentials of good government; compares and contrasts despotism, monarchy, and democracy; and discusses the factors that lead to corruption of governments. Among the many other topics considered are education of the citizenry, crime and punishment, abuse of power and of liberty, individual rights, taxation, slavery, the role of women, the influence of climate on the temper of a people and their form of government, commerce, religion, and a host of additional subjects.The Spirit of Laws is essential and genuinely enjoyable reading for anyone interested in the development of democracy.
Download or read book Empire and Modern Political Thought written by Sankar Muthu and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-17 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of original essays by leading historians of political thought examines modern European thinkers' writings about conquest, colonization, and empire. The creation of vast transcontinental empires and imperial trading networks played a key role in the development of modern European political thought. The rise of modern empires raised fundamental questions about virtually the entire contested set of concepts that lay at the heart of modern political philosophy, such as property, sovereignty, international justice, war, trade, rights, transnational duties, civilization, and progress. From Renaissance republican writings about conquest and liberty to sixteenth-century writings about the Spanish conquest of the Americas through Enlightenment perspectives about conquest and global commerce and nineteenth-century writings about imperial activities both within and outside of Europe, these essays survey the central moral and political questions occasioned by the development of overseas empires and European encounters with the non-European world among theologians, historians, philosophers, diplomats, and merchants.
Download or read book Soft Despotism Democracy s Drift written by Paul Anthony Rahe and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1989, the Cold War abruptly ended and it seemed as if the world was at last safe for democracy. But a spirit of uneasiness, discontent, and world-weariness soon arose and has persisted in Europe, in America, and elsewhere for two decades. To discern the meaning of this malaise we must investigate the nature of liberal democracy, says the author of this provocative book, and he undertakes to do so through a detailed investigation of the thinking of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Tocqueville. Paul A. Rahe argues that these political thinkers anticipated the modern liberal republic's propensity to drift in the direction of “soft despotism”—a condition that arises within a democracy when paternalistic state power expands and gradually undermines the spirit of self-government. Such an eventuality, feared by Tocqueville in the nineteenth century, has now become a reality throughout the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. So Rahe asserts, and he explains what must be done to reverse this unfortunate trend.
