Summary:
This is an infomrative essay about Montesquieu's philosophies.
·His full name was Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu
·Born near Bordeaux on January 18, 1689
·He belonged to a noble family who abandoned him during his childhood years
·He widely traveled, received a decent education and studied Latin and writing
·Aside from being a philosopher he was a jurist and a satirist.
·He published Persian Letters. In these letters he criticized the French culture and society. He mocked the king, absolute monarchy, parliament, academy, university and most of all the Catholic religion.
·He produced a study about the rise and fall of Rome titled Considerations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur decadence.
·One of his greatest pieces was The Spirit of the Laws, which compares the three different types of government - republic, monarchy and despotism. Its major theories were that climate and status determine the forms of governments and the powers in government should be separated and balanced to assure individual freedom. He believed Republic (democratic powers) should be used in a small state with moderate weather conditions, Monarchy (people follow the kings rules) should be used in medium sized states and Despotism (dictator rules through fear without rules) should be used in a large state with a hot climate.
·He developed the system of checks and balances, which is where the divisions of government keep a look out for each other by having control over one another in certain circumstances. This system permits authority to be checked or kept within limits and keep almost equal to each other
·In Montesquieu's writings the third class is kept absent because he preferred political institutions opposed to social economic problems
· His view point is that of the statesmen not the moralist and he keeps religious matters on the side
·He developed the theory of separation of powers (governmental functions) executive, legislative and judicial
·He liked the system of government in England because its errors never lasted long and attention was given to the people. He thinks the only way to maintain a fair government is having a system that forbids one person to have all the control
·Montesquieu disagrees with Hobbes because he believes basic human nature is good and men form societies to protect themselves opposed to saying men are in a state of peace rather then at war because the formation of a society, not human nature results in a state of war.
·He states when society forms a government there are three kinds of law:
- Law of nations - applies to mutual communication (international law)
- Political Law- relations between the government and the people (constitutional, public and administrative law)
- Civil Law- regulates relationships among citizens
He believes these laws are created from reason.
·He maintained a society that is directed by laws and he believes freedom comes when people abide by the laws but it is hard to find because man abuses power. This is his main reason for wanting equal power.
·He believes human nature is generally good and laws are maintained through their spirit not by the laws themselves
·He also believes a balanced constitution with dividing powers is the best form of government and the other forms are alright as long as they are used in context
·Montesquieu died in 1755
This is the complete article, containing 525 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
