How it came about that a man who was in no way destined for literature and politics authored texts considered foundational for modern democracies.
This book brings to light the way in which basic ideas of the Enlightenment were invented and how a French aristocrat discovered the foundations of modern democracies. A life devoted to the study of law, science, and the histories of all societies made it possible for Montesquieu to show how liberty was the thing most at stake in political thought.
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Summary
How it came about that a man who was in no way destined for literature and politics authored texts considered foundational for modern democracies.
This book brings to light the way in which basic ideas of the Enlightenment were invented and how a French aristocrat discovered the foundations of modern democracies. A life devoted to the study of law, science, and the histories of all societies made it possible for Montesquieu to show how liberty was the thing most at stake in political thought.
Description
Since the last biography of Montesquieu in English (Shackleton, Oxford, 1961) Montesquieu scholarship has been entirely renewed, culminating in a critical edition of his complete works in twenty-two volumes that is nearing completion. Since 1998, this new edition of the complete works has considerably modified what was known about Montesquieu and his procedures, eliciting new translations and further studies. Additionally, several thousand manuscript pages were made public in 1994 and continue to generate further scholarly inquiry. The author of this compact biography, originally published by Gallimard 2017, is the director of the critical edition of the works and the most qualified scholar of Montesquieu. At once an introduction to Montesquieu's thought and a synthesis of current knowledge about his life and work, this book is full of insights and revised judgements about Montesquieu and how his political philosophy helped thrust Enlightenment onto the European agenda.
Critic Reviews
'As a biography, Catherine Volpilhac-Auger's Montesquieu is a fine specimen. As a work of history, however, it is even better. … What emerges from Volpilhac-Auger's well-documented work is a Montesquieu who is much diminished in his exceptionalism … And in writing what is ostensibly a biography, Volpilhac-Auger has managed far more: her Montesquieu throws new light on intellectual and cultural milieux one might have thought familiar, as well as puts others more decisively on the radar. Our map of the eighteenth century is far richer for it.' Shiru Shiru, Metascience
'Volpilhac-Auger's biography of Montesquieu reflects a seasoned scholar's work of more than 20 years that cannot be judged by a moment's reading. It should be approved or condemned as a whole, as Montesquieu would have it. To this reviewer, Volpilhac-Auger's biography will be as essential for this generation of Montesquieu scholars and generalists as Robert Shackleton's Montesquieu: A Critical Biography (1961) and Louis Desgraves's Montesquieu (1986) works were for previous generations. To this end, the chronology and selected bibliography serve as essential points de départ for any scholar looking to find (or revisit) the highest-quality French and English materials on Montesquieu.' Alex Haskins, Perspectives on Politics
About the Author
Catherine Volpilhac-Auger is professor emerita at École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (Lyon) and is the president of the Montesquieu Society.
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