... the influence of two prominent liberal thinkers—Montesquieu and “Publius” (the combined persona of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay)—on Brown’s novel Ormond (1799) to show how Brown, concerned about the dynamics of a federalist constitution, fused the cosmopolitan ethos...

... and Pufendorfian sociability. The final sections consider how Hobbes’s ideas were attacked by Montesquieu, Denis Diderot, and contributors to the Encyclopédie. The chapter reveals that attacks on Hobbes increased as the eighteenth century progressed, even though many of his ideas appear to have...

...In addition to the few more practical travelogues analysed in the previous chapter, four ambitious works show the genre aiming to substantially enrich readers’ understanding of the world, works that echo something of Romantic natural history and ethnography, the heritage of Montesquieu...

... Montesquieu derailments of democracy political messianism Lefort Claude Leibniz Gottfried Merleau Ponty Maurice Spirit of Laws Montesquieu disembodiment of power Heidegger Martin totalitarianism emergence in twentieth century religion Confucianism secularism as threat to religion domination vs...

...This chapter offers an interpretation of Montesquieu as a reformist ancient constitutionalist, the key figure in the development of ancient constitutionalism into pluralist liberalism. It shows that his defense of corps intermediares, provincial diversity, and parlements...

... Desmarets de Saint Sorlin Jean Magny Constantin de Le Nouveau Mercure Galant Routh Bernard Temple Sir William Chaudon Louis Mayeul Diderot Denis Feller Francois Xavier de abbé Jaucourt Louis de Marivaux Pierre de Montesquieu Charles Rousseau Jean Jacques Voltaire Francois Marie Arouet Effen...

... to adjudicate conflicting claims on who “we, the people” are under conditions of globalization, migration, and secession. By letting go of Rousseau’s legacy and introducing the work of Montesquieu, this chapter initiates the reorientation of democratic theory from sovereignty to spirit. Benhabib Seyla...

... politicians and legal theorists believed that the security and prosperity of Britain depended on more closely harmonizing English and Scottish law. Importantly, writers who reached that conclusion did so despite their engagement with Montesquieu’s analysis of legal diversity in The Spirit of the Laws...

... civil religion Calvin Penn Winthrop Cotton Mather Montesquieu A topic like ‘Republicanism and Religion’ demarcates a broad field of discourse and, as such, cries out for clarification and parameter-setting. Much of the literature on the topic has focused on the relationship between republican...

...Montesquieu proclaims in The Spirit of the Laws that the correct way to proceed in criminal judgments is the most important knowledge, but he also indicates that despotism is a constant threat to its implementation. As a result, the unmasking of despotism, wherever it lurks, is a central focus...

...This chapter examines the few references to Machiavelli in The Spirit of the Laws to reveal the extent and depth of Montesquieu’s engagement with the Florentine thinker. Although Montesquieu equivocally acknowledges his predecessor’s eminent status by calling him a great man, it becomes clear...

...This chapter clarifies Montesquieu’s elusive comments on Christian doctrine in The Spirit of the Laws to offer his appraisal of its effects, both salutary and pernicious, on the laws and mores of modern Europe. Montesquieu favorably compares Christendom to pagan Greece and Rome in regard to slavery...

...Montesquieu writes at length on the development of Roman law in The Spirit of the Laws, focusing especially on the changes made to the civil code by the Christian emperors. Montesquieu attributes to the influence of early Christian ideas a number of repressive and unnatural provisions in Rome’s...

...Montesquieu’s comments on the political works of Plato, The Republic and The Laws, in The Spirit of the Laws reveal that the Frenchman considers the Athenian philosopher to have been a legislator who aimed at the actual establishment of an ideal regime. Indeed, Montesquieu claims that Plato sought...

...In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu claims that Aristotle’s political ideas grew out of his jealousy of Plato and his passion for Alexander the Great. Like Aristotle, Montesquieu finds much to criticize in Plato’s legislation. But, as is argued in this chapter, Montesquieu also perceives...

...Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws is famous for overtly associating despotism with Asia and the Middle East and not with Europe. A scholar on this basis might be inclined to term Montesquieu an Orientalist, one who gazes at exotic foreign cultures in order to exert control over these distant peoples...

...Chapter 7 sets out Foucault’s commitment to pluralism as the basis of his democratic approach to politics. The chapter starts by considering Foucault’s conception of power in comparison to Montesquieu’s conception of the ‘separation of powers’ as represented through the lens of the jurist Charles...

...The principle of checks and balances is a guiding premise of the American Constitution and of the definition of the presidency and executive power. Where did it come from? Historians portray it as an eighteenth-century concept, adumbrated by Montesquieu and invoked to identify the wisdom...

...This chapter presents a discourse analysis of the sociology of the Enlightenment. It consists of an analysis of the constructive steps represented by early authors such as Thomas More, Thomas Hobbes, Giambattista Vico, Montesquieu, Adam Ferguson and John Millar. Mandrou R Absolutism Certainty...

... to the foreign ones. The eighteenth-century representative of the French Enlightenment, Charles-Louis de Secondat Montesquieu (1689–1755), used in his classical work The Spirit of the Laws (1748) a controversial theory of climate (originally used in ancient Aristotelian texts), claiming...