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Another example of Montesquieu's anthropological thinking, outlined in The Spirit of Law and hinted at in Persian Letters, is his meteorological climate theory, which holds that climate may substantially influence the nature of man and his society, a theory also promoted by the French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. By ...
The Spirit of Law (French: De l'esprit des lois, originally spelled De l'esprit des loix [1]), also known in English as The Spirit of [the] Laws, is a treatise on political theory, as well as a pioneering work in comparative law by Montesquieu, published in 1748. [2]
In the remainder of the book, Montesquieu details a pattern of steady moral decline interrupted with several short periods of remission caused by the leadership of great emperors, such as Titus, Nerva, Trajan, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Julian as examples of this. [2] [1] Montesquieu states that the Sack of Rome and downfall of the ...
Persian Letters (French: Lettres persanes) is a literary work, published in 1721, by Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, recounting the experiences of two fictional Persian noblemen, Usbek and Rica, who spend several years in France under Louis XIV and the Regency.
Proponents of the doux commerce theory argued that the spread of trade and commerce will decrease violence, including open warfare. [6] [7] Montesquieu wrote, for example, that "wherever the ways of man are gentle, there is commerce; and wherever there is commerce, there the ways of men are gentle" [8] and "The natural effect of commerce is to lead to peace". [1]
Fontenelle L'Encyclopédie Montesquieu Diderot Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès. Continuing the work of the so-called "Libertines" of the 17th century, and the critical spirit of such writers as Bayle and Fontenelle, (1657–1757), the writers who were called the lumières denounced, in the name of reason and moral values, the social and political oppressions of their time.
For example, in The Republic, Plato places great emphasis on the importance of civic virtue (aiming for the good) together with personal virtue ('just man') on the part of the ideal rulers. Indeed, in Book V, Plato asserts that until rulers have the nature of philosophers (Socrates) or philosophers become the rulers, there can be no civic peace ...
The starting point for most social contract theories is an examination of the human condition absent any political order (termed the "state of nature" by Thomas Hobbes). [4] In this condition, individuals' actions are bound only by their personal power and conscience , assuming that 'nature' precludes mutually beneficial social relationships.