MONTESQUIEU: BIOGRAPHY, CONTRIBUTIONS AND WORKS - HISTORY - 2025

Montesquieu, whose real name was Charles Louis Secondat, lord de la Brède and baron de Montesquieu, was one of the most important figures of the Enlightenment. The works of this French philosopher and jurist have up to now influenced the administrative configuration of all the countries of the world.

The characteristics of his thought are marked by the new enlightened ideas that ran through Europe during his time. Criticism, religious tolerance and the search for freedom were the fundamental aspects found in his work. His best known work was The Spirit of Laws.

In The Spirit of Laws, he reflected on the models of power in societies. In this book he concluded that the ideal framework for society would be an administration with separation of powers: executive, legislative and judicial.

Montesquieu spent several years traveling and his time in England was decisive for the formation of his thought. He fell in love with the English constitutional monarchy, especially when compared to the absolutist monarchy in France. For him, the law is the most important element of the state.

Montesquieu: biography

Early years

Charles Louis de Secondat, future Baron de Montesquieu, was born in La Brède, a French town near Bordeaux, on January 18, 1689.

His family, which was noble, maintained a curious tradition characteristic of the wealthiest: choosing a beggar to act as godfather at the christening. The reason was that the child always took into account that the poor were also his brothers.

His first years of study were carried out at the Juilly Abbey College. There, as was customary in the education of noble families, he learned disciplines such as music, fencing or horse riding.

Important for his future works was the influence exercised by the religious of the congregation, who taught him to look beyond social and economic status.

Studies and youth

The young Charles de Secondat chose a career in Law following the tradition of his family. After passing through the University of Bordeaux, he finished his studies in Paris. It is there where he comes into contact for the first time with the intellectual circles of the country.

The death of his father (his mother had died when he was very young) made him return to La Bredè in 1714. His guardian became his uncle, the Baron de Montesquieu.

That same year he joined the Parliament of Bordeaux as a councilor and, the following year, he married a young Protestant.

In 1716 his uncle died. Charles inherited the title of baron from Montesquieu, in addition to a significant sum of money. Within the inheritance there was also the position of Président à Mortier in Parliament, a position he held until 1727.

Within his intellectual work during that period, he highlighted his entry into the City's Academy of Fine Arts.

Letters p

The first work for which Montesquieu received public recognition were the Persian Letters. These writings saw the light in 1721 and, although it was presented as an anonymous work, everyone soon guessed its authorship.

After this he spent long stays in the French capital, busy representing the Parliament and the Academy of Bordeaux. However, the philosopher grew tired of this task, and in 1725 he decided to abandon his public office.

Travel and death

The opposition of the Church did not prevent that, in 1728, it entered the French Academy. On that date he began a series of trips that took him to Italy, Germany, Austria and England. It was in the latter country that he found a political system whose characteristics would be decisive for his critique of the French absolute monarchy.

Montesquieu took three years to return to France. At that time he suffered a very notable deterioration of his sight, which did not prevent him from writing what is considered his culminating work: The spirit of the laws. On February 10, 1755, he died in Paris, a victim of fever and practically blind.

Plays

Baron de Montesquieu, French political philosopher

The importance of the author's thought is such that, to this day, all democratic systems have adopted the separation of powers that he proposed. Moreover, the correct functioning of this separation is one of the indicators of the good democratic health of societies.

In addition, he was a philosopher who advocated religious tolerance and the search for an empirical knowledge of reality.

Law spirit

This work was published in 1748 and was heavily attacked by the Catholic Church. The religious institution included it in its Index of Banned Books. This did not prevent it from becoming very popular in Enlightenment Europe.

Beyond the theory of the separation of powers, the book develops a complete theory on good government. On the sociological plane, Montesquieu affirmed that the structure of the government and its laws are marked by the conditions of the people. In short, only by taking into account all social, cultural and economic aspects can a stable political system be created.

The aspect of the separation of powers was taken from the English system after the arrival of the constitutional monarchy in that country. For the author, this system far exceeds the despotism that France lived.

In this way, he pointed out that it was necessary for the three traditional powers - executive, judicial and legislative - not to be controlled by the same people. This achieves a favorable balance.

Montesquieu also reflected on the types of government: the republicans, who could be democrats or aristocrats; the democratic monarchists, with a king with limited powers; and the despotics.

Other

Another of Montesquieu's best-known works was Persian Letters, published in 1721. It is written in the form of satire, recounting the impressions of an imaginary Persian while walking through Paris.

Another of his most recognized works was Considerations on the causes of the greatness and decadence of the Romans.

To this philosophical and political production must be added his scientific contributions. Although less well known, during the years in which he was a member of the Bordeaux Academy he presented some studies on the adrenal glands and gravity.

Contributions

Montesquieu's contributions to politics, philosophy and social relations are varied and of great importance for the contemporary age. He is considered one of the first sociologists for his studies on human relations and politics.

However, he is not recognized as the founder of this discipline. This title was taken by Auguste Comte when he coined the term "Sociology" in 1824. His ideas and studies continue to appear on current issues such as ways to combat terrorism and the applicability of laws according to the size of a country.

Principles of governance

Within the same work in which he dealt with the separation of powers, Montesquieu also reflected on a concept that he called principles of government. These principles would be the drivers of the different actions of the rulers and the author identified them with human passions.

The French thinker established a series of different principles: political virtue, which was paramount in the republic; honor, which was in the monarchy; and fear, which was the most important in despotism.

Theory of separation of powers

Montesquieu's most important work has been his theory of separation of powers. His ideas on this topic were developed in a discussion on the English constitution.

In these ideas, Montesquieu defended the distribution of powers, rather than the sharp separation of them. This because he considered that there should always be a minimum of interaction between the powers.

The most important discussions raised by Montesquieu on the separation of powers are found in the famous publication "The spirit of the laws."

Modern Liberalism and Politics in Religion

Montesquieu made important theoretical contributions that led to the development of modern Liberalism. For this reason he is considered one of its founders, along with John Locke.

From this perspective, Montesquieu discussed the religious bases of politics in the world. His studies advocated the secularization of politics and making theology consistent with its temporal goals.

These developments subsequently unleashed the accommodation of religious thought to the interests that prevailed in democracies, which meant a great revolution in the political world.

Theories of despotism

Montesquieu redefined the term despotism trying to give greater importance to this word. This new understanding of despotism had far-reaching intellectual and political consequences.

In his redefinition, Montesquieu related despotism with concepts such as fear, violence, isolation and poverty, but he also related it to greed, pleasure, urbanization and the redistribution of wealth.

The importance of this contribution by Montesquieu was the criticism that he himself made of monarchies and merchants from his definition of despotism. These criticisms were widely received and triggered strong changes in European and world politics.

Discussions about freedom

One of the first topics that Montesquieu worked on in depth was the nature and preconditions of freedom. His work in this field has often been ignored due to the controversy they cause.

In his redefinition of the concept of freedom, Montesquieu argued that the subjects in a monarchy were as free (or as little free) as the subjects in a republic. Discussions of this idea, generally little accepted, have allowed a better understanding of the intellectual history of liberalism.

Natural conditions in social relationships

Another contribution of great importance of Montesquieu was the exposition of the influence of the natural conditions on the human relations. He argued that the laws of a nation should consider the nature of things.

According to this, when formulating the laws, aspects such as the climate of the place, the size of the population, the religious traditions and the social structures necessary in that society, among other things, should be taken into account.

References

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