MONTESQUIEU's MOST important contributions

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In this lesson from a TEACHER, we will talk about the contributions of Montesquieu more important, who was actually called Charles Louis Secondat, lord de la Brède and baron de Montesquieu, and was one of the most important figures of the Illustration, influencing, to this day, the works of the French philosopher and jurist, in the administrative configuration of countries around the world. His thought is marked by the new ideas of an era, which with optimism he trusted in the unstoppable power of reason for the development of society. The central themes of his extensive work are criticism, religious tolerance and the search for freedom, being the most representative, The ANDspirit of the Leyes. If you want to know more about Montesquieu's contributions, continue reading this lesson.

Index

1. Montesquieu's main contributions
2. The Spirit of Laws, Montesquieu's most important contribution
3. Persian letters, another of his main works

The main contribution of Montesquieuhas been his proposal of separation of powersIn fact, all democratic systems have adopted this model, constituting the very essence of democracy. On the other hand, Montesquieu makes a defense of the religious freedom and from empirical study of reality.

In the development of his thought, his trip to England was decisive, where he was able to observe the great differences that existed between the model of constitutional monarchy of this country, for which he had great respect, and the French absolutist system, to which much of his criticism is directed. In fact, the English system after the arrival of the constitutional monarchy, directly influenced his theory of the separation of powers, a system, which for Montesquieu, was infinitely better than the absolutist monarchy of France.

In addition, Montesquieu was a member of the Bordeaux Academy, where he presented some theories on the adrenal glands and gravity.

Montesquieu has been a determining factor in the evolution of Modern liberalism, and not in vain, he considers himself, along with John Locke, one of its founders. The philosopher will bet on a separation of the church and the state and adapt religious thought with the interests of democratic societies, a true revolution in the political field.

The French will make a tough criticism of despotism of the time, to the point of giving a new meaning to the word, associating it with terms such as fear, violence, isolation and poverty, which had a great impact on the intellectual and political world, and unleashed very important changes throughout the world. world.

Another of his contributions are his works on the nature and freedom, stating that the same freedom existed in the Monarchy as in the Republic, a proposition not without controversy, although it is true that it has contributed to a better understanding of liberalism. He will also defend, Montesquieu, that laws must depend on the nature of a people and their inhabitants, such as climate, size, religious traditions, structures social...

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The ANDspirit of the Leyes, is the most important work of Montesquieu, and here, the author reflects, on the different models of power existing in societies, concluding that the separation of powers: executive, legislative and judicial, is the perfect way to administer a State, the law being the most important element of it. The work was published in 1748, being the victim of attacks by the Catholic Church, which immediately classified it as a forbidden book, but at the same time it went very well received by enlightened thinkers, who can see in it a true turning point, a before and after in the way of understanding politics and politics. government.

The work goes beyond the separation of powers to develop a whole government theory, affirming that both its structure and the laws depend on the characteristics of a country, depending on its terms socior-economictos, of their culture. Only in this way is it possible to build a firm political system.

The philosopher is going to make in this work a defense of the separation of powers: legislative, executive and judicial, so that power was not held by them and achieve a balance that favored all parts.

Regarding the different models of government, Montesquieu, proposes three mainly:

1. Republic: Democrats or Aristocrats
2. Democratic monarchy
3. Despotism

The first two would be legitimate, while the last would be an illegitimate form of government, although it is It is true that for the philosopher, there is a fine line between the second and the third, an idea that he picks up at say:

...”rivers run to melt into the sea; the monarchies are going to lose themselves in despotism” ...

These three systems were to be governed by a series of different principles:

1. Political virtue, fundamental in the Republic
2. Honor, essential in the Monarchy
3. Fear, crucial in Despotism

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Persian Letters, published in 1721, is another of the main works of the French philosopher. It is a work of a satirical genre, which describes the perception of a Persian man on his visit to the French capital.

Despite being a short book, its content is very deep and uses the figure of an oriental person, from a culture other than European, to criticize the customs of western society. To do this, he uses irony and humor, being the French monarchs and their court, the main victims of his attacks.

“Well I see, troglodytes, that your virtue begins to be burdensome (…) and you want to submit to less rigid laws than your customs. How am I to give precepts to a troglodyte? Do you want him to perform virtuous actions because I send them to him, since without my mandate he would only do them following his natural inclination?

Three will be the main themes that the work addresses: religion, morals and politics and in it he makes a harsh criticism of the Christian religion, for its dogmatism and the irrational life of its ministers.

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Montesquieu, Baron of (1778). Law spirit. Ed. Isthmus. 2002