Exposé

Ben Hutchison

Montesquieu: Works• Les causes de l'écho (The Causes of an Echo)• Les glandes rénales (The Renal Glands)• La cause de la pesanteur des corps (The Cause of Gravity of Bodies)• La damnation éternelle des païens (The Eternal Damnation of the Pagans)• Système des Idées (System of Ideas)• Lettres persanes (Persian Letters)• Le Temple de Cnidus • Histoire véritable d'Arsace et Isménie ((The True History of) Arsace and Isménie, a novel)• Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence (Considerations on the Causes of

the Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans)• De l'esprit des lois ((On) The Spirit of the Laws)• La défense de «L'Esprit des lois» (In Defence of "The Spirit of the Laws")• Pensées suivies de Spicilège (Thoughts after Spicilège)• Essai sur le goût • Le flux et le reflux de la mer• Mémoires sur la fièvre intermittente• Mémoires sur l'écho• Les maladies des glandes rénales• La pesanteur des corps• Le mouvement relatif• Le Spicilège• Pensées

The Man

Montesquieu was not only Baron De Montesquieu, but also Baron de La Brède, and for a short time, a président de mortier.

He travelled a lot, which shows in his opinions and ideas

http://www.constitution.org/img/montesquieu.jpg

The Work

• His first successful work was The Persian Letters, a novel published in 1721 written in 161 letters. In this manner, he analyzes his own culture, through someone else’s eyes.

• The next important piece was The Temple of Cnidus, a 1725 pastiche of classical sentimental romance. This is simply an excersise of literary value, in which Montesquieu is stretching his new-found wings, so to speak.

The Work

• After this, A True Story, 1725-1730, unpublished. Montesquieu uses this work to “find his medium”

• Reflections of a Universal Monarchy, 1734, was the next important work. In this work, Montesquieu establishes several of his ideas.

• The Spirit of Laws is the first “real” Montesquieu, published in 1748.

The Ideas

• His ideas were shaped by other literary works, all of varying subjects. Among these:– Law– Moral and Physical Philosophy– Reality versus Idealism– Concept of Political Liberty– The Separation of Powers– Philosophical Attitudes: Determinism and

Pessimism

Pastiche D’Orleans