· 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...