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.
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.
This volume makes available in an English translation the most significant part of Montesquieu's political, social and legal theory. About two-thirds of the volume has been translated from the Spirit of the Laws, not redone in English since the eighteenth century. That version was notoriously inadequate: Montesquieu's key terms were not rendered consistently; often his meaning was distorted by giving the nearest English eighteenth-century legal or institutional equivalent. Finally, English usage has changed so much that the eighteenth-century translation makes Montesquieu seem both quaint and obscure. This volume also includes substantial selections from the Persian Letters and the Considerations on the Causes of the Romans; Greatness and Decline. Although adequate translations of these works exist, it seemed advisable to maintain intellectual and stylistic consistency by providing English versions on the same principles as the Spirit of the Laws.
The Personal and the Political presents three fables written by social commentator and political thinker Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brede et de Montesquieu: The Temple of Cnidus (on eros and justice), Lysimachus (on philosophy and imperial ambition), and Dialogue de Sylla et d'Eucrate (on the limits of political ambition). This work is author W.B. Allen's response to attempts that collapse Montesquieu's analysis of modern political philosophy into a general discussion of virtue and morality by raising anew the issues of true and false happiness and pleasures. Allen maintains that Montesquieu's fables demonstrate the continuing relevance of the issue of philosophical morality, and offer a reconciliation of the tension between philosophical morality and political morality. The Personal and the Political provides a translation of each fable (with parallel French text), a brief introduction and commentaries to develop the context in which each is written and the situations that they address. Each fable is suited to introduce Montesquieu's conceptions of ancient virtues and vices, and what they contribute to modern sensibilities.
One of the landmark works of the eighteenth century, De L'Esprit des Lois had an immeasurable influence on jurisprudence and political thought, especially in America. It contained provocative and wide-ranging ideas on the sociology of law, the separation of political powers and the need for checks on a powerful executive office. First published in Geneva in 1748, it remains one of the most significant studies of political and legal theory ever written.
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