Montesquieu: biography of this French philosopher.

Summary of the life of Montesquieu, one of the leading intellectuals of political philosophy.

If we say the name of Charles Louis de Secondat may not mean anything to many, although his views on the division of political powers have been key to many modern liberal constitutions.

Much better known as Montesquieu, this great French thinker lived at the time of the Enlightenment, at a time when the English Monarchy had to evolve to a constitutional regime in order to survive and France, after the absolutist reign of Louis XIV, was giving way to what would be the seed of the French Revolution.

These events did not go unnoticed in the works of this philosopher who, in fact, could not resist explaining in detail how the events of his time influenced his thinking and political vision. Let's find out through this biography of Montesquieu.

Brief biography of Montesquieu

Charles Louis de Secondat, Sieur de la Brède and Baron de Montesquieu, better known as simply Montesquieu, was a French philosopher and jurist whose work was written in the midst of the Enlightenment, a context of intense intellectual, cultural and political activity.He was one of the most important philosophers and essayists of the movement. His theory on the separation of the powers of the State had great repercussion, exerting notorious influence on the Constitution of the United States.

His thought is framed within the critical spirit of the French Enlightenment, being characterized by religious tolerance, the aspiration and promotion of freedom and his concept of happiness in the civic sense. It must be said that he did not follow the rest of the Enlightenment in absolutely everything, since he did not follow the dominant trend of abstraction and deductive method shared by many scientists of the time. he broke away from the dominant current of abstraction and the deductive method shared by many scientists of the time, being in favor of a more concrete and empirical knowledge.He was in favor of a more concrete and empirical knowledge.

He has been considered as a disseminator of the English Constitution and his proposal on the separation of powers is very close to the thought of John Locke. However, it must be said that the thought of Charles Louis de Secondat is complex and has a personality so unique that it makes him one of the most influential thinkers in the history of political doctrines.

Early years

Charles Louis de Secondat was born on January 18, 1689 in the castle of La Brède, a short distance from Bordeaux, France.a short distance from Bordeaux, France. He was the son of Jacques de Secondat and Marie-Françoise de Pesnel, his family belonging to the so-called toga nobility. His mother, who died when Charles de Secondat was only seven years old, was the heiress of a large fortune that brought the baronage of La Brède to the de Secondat family.

Montesquieu studied at the Catholic school of Juilly and later followed the family tradition of studying law.. First he would do so at the University of Bordeaux and later at the University of Paris, coming into contact with the intellectuals of the French capital. When his father died in 1714 he returned to La Brède where he became a councilor in the Parliament of Bordeaux.

There he went to live under the protection of his uncle, at that time Baron de Montesquieu. A year later Charles Louis de Secondat married Jeanne Lartigue, a Protestant who brought him a large dowry when he was only 26 years old. In 1716 his uncle died, inheriting a fortune as well as the title of Baron de Montesquieu and Président à Mortier in the Parliament of Bordeaux, a title he would exercise between 1716 and 1727.

• You may be interested in, "What was the Enlightenment movement?"

A philosopher of the Old and the New World.

By this time England had already settled as a solid constitutional monarchy as a result of the Glorious Revolution (1688-1689) and had united with Scotland in the Union of 1707, forming the Kingdom of Great Britain. Meanwhile, in France, Louis XIV died in 1715, who had ruled for a long time, and was succeeded by Louis XV, who was only 5 years old. These national transformations caused a great impact on Montesquieu, who would refer to them in several of his writings.

Montesquieu receives literary recognition for publishing his work "Lettres persanes". ("Persian Letters", 1721), a satire based on the imaginary correspondence between a Persian visitor strolling through Paris, which highlights the absurdities of contemporary European society. Later he published "Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et leur décadence" ("Considerations on the causes of the greatness and decadence of the Romans", 1734).

In 1748 he published anonymously "De l'Esprit des Loix" ("The Spirit of the Laws"), a text that quickly elevated him to a position of great influence. Although it received a rather poor reception in France, both from those who supported and those who were against the regime, it had a greater impact in the rest of Europe, especially in Great Britain. In fact it caused a real stir in the Catholic world, being banned by the Catholic Church which included this book in the "Index Librorum Prohibitorum".

Montesquieu was also popular in the New World. He was highly valued among the enlightened British colonists, being seen as an example of liberty, though not yet a reference for the Independence of the Thirteen Colonies. In fact, Montesquieu was the most cited person on the subjects of government and politics in pre-revolutionary British colonial America, being also cited by the American founders more than any other source except the Bible itself.

After the American Revolution took place, Montesquieu's works continued to strongly influence many of the thinkers and founders of the United States, among them James Madison of Virginia, the first American president of the United States, and the first American president of the United States, James Madison of Virginia.Among them James Madison of Virginia, one of the fathers of the U.S. Constitution. Montesquieu's philosophy promotes the idea that a government should be formed in which no man is afraid of the other, an aspect that would be vindicated and remembered by Madison at the time of drafting the Constitution.

Last years

Montesquieu was admitted to the Academy of Sciences of Bordeaux, where he presented several studies on the adrenal glands, gravity and the echo.. He worked as a magistrate, but this profession bored him, so in the end he ended up selling the position and decided to devote himself to traveling around Europe, observing the customs and institutions of the different countries.

During his last years he dedicated himself to traveling and finishing several of his works. He had the opportunity to visit all kinds of countries, mainly Austria, Hungary, Italy and England. As he learned more about other cultures, more ideas came to his mind to explain and understand society and politics, as well as ways to make men freer.

But despite being a very lucid man, enlightened by the Age of Enlightenment, there was a time when he could only imagine the light, since he progressively lost his sight until he became completely blind. He died on February 10, 1755 in Paris, at the age of 66.. His body is buried in the Church of Saint-Sulpice in the French capital.

Philosophy of history

His particular philosophy of history minimizes the role of individuals and events. Montesquieu presents his point of view in "Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence", in which he states that each historical event was inspired by a particular event rather than by the action of a particular person or set of persons.

Montesquieu exemplified this principle with situations that occurred in the times of classical Rome. In analyzing the transition from the Republic to the Empire, Montesquieu suggested that if Julius Caesar and Pompey had not worked to usurp the government of the Republic, other men would have done so. The cause of the beginning and end of major historical events was not the ambition of particular characters, in this case Caesar and Pompey, but the ambition of human beings in general.

His vision of politics and the division of powers

Montesquieu developed the ideas that John Locke had already cultivated about the division of power. In his work "The Spirit of the Laws" he expresses his deep admiration for the English political institutions, affirming that the law was the most important thing in a State. When he published his "Persian Letters" in 1721, he acquired a fulminating success and renown in the French society of the time, worried about the regency of the young Louis XV of France, a king who still had to learn how to be a king.

"The Spirit of the Laws" is considered his main work, originally published in Geneva in 1748 after fourteen years of work. This work was severely criticized, especially by the Jansenists and the Jesuits. Montesquieu did not stand idly by and replied to these attacks, publishing in 1750 a defense of this work which would later be censored by Rome in 1751.

On the basis of this work, two points are considered to be Montesquieu's great contributions to Western thought and to the scientific study of human societies. The first is the fact of undertaking the scientific task of describing social reality on the basis of an analytical and positive method, which does not stop at the mere empiricist description of facts, but rather tries to organize the diversity of data of social reality by reducing them to a concrete number of types or variables..

In addition to this, it aims to provide a sociological response to the diversity of social facts under the idea that there is an order or causality of these facts that is susceptible to rational interpretation. That is, that a social phenomenon must have some cause, and that this cause can be addressed without resorting to mystical or supernatural explanations.

However, his most important legacy is his theory of the separation of powers, which has led him to be considered by many as one of the precursors of liberalism, along with figures such as John Locke. Although he was not the first to speak of separation of powers, it should be noted that it was his theory that ended up exerting more force on this idea, and he is seen as the greatest exponent of this issue. His theses would serve as a starting model for the rulers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when drafting constitutions..

The structure presented by Montesquieu is clearly influenced by the British constitutionalist system, which in his time was relatively new. The political system was divided into three powersThe political system was divided into three powers, which acted as a check, counterbalance and control of those who exercised those powers. The idea was to avoid the same person holding all the functions of the State, since that would mean an absolutist regime in which it would be difficult to stop a bad ruler.

Montesquieu attributed to Parliament the legislative power, that is, to create the laws; to the government the executive power, that is, to exercise political power; and to the courts of justice the judicial power, that is, to apply the laws and decide whether they have been complied with or not. It is by means of these three separate powers that Parliament, Government and the Courts are prevented from committing abuses, which would make people less free in the country that should rightly grant them freedoms, protection, rights and duties.

Bibliographical references:

• Althusser, Louis (1979). Montesquieu. Politics and history. Barcelona: Ariel.
• Spurlin, Paul M (1941) Montesquieu in America, 1760-1801. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.