Selected Political Writings

by Montesquieu, Melvin Richter (Translator)

The essential political writings of Montesquieu--a substantial abridgment of The Spirit of the Laws, plus judicious selections from The Persian Letters and Considerations of the Romans' Greatness and Decline --are masterfully translated by Melvin Richter. Prefaced by a new fifty-page introduction by Richter for this revised edition, The Selected Political Writings displays the genius and virtuosity of Montesquieu the philosopher, social critic, political theorist, and literary stylist, whose work commands the attention of all students of the Enlightenment and of modern constitutional thought.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Nonfiction, Classics, Political Science, France, History

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 1990

About the author

Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Enlightenment. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, which is taken for granted in modern discussions of government and implemented in many constitutions throughout the world. He was largely responsible for the popularization of the terms "feudalism" and "Byzantine Empire."

Reviews

[Isaac · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful fuckin translation
There's liberty in translation where idioms or perhaps clarity might be better expressed in another matter between languages but Richter takes too many liberties to the point that you wonder whether he was capable of working with the French or not.

I dont normally rate philosophical works on the pretense that i dont really have a valid standard for comparing... philosophies but this edition is atrocious

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book blew my mind.

[for-much-deliberation ...]

this volume focuses on the works of philosopher, social critic and political theorist Montesquieu and engages ideas on the Enlightenment and modern constitutional thought.

[James Northrup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great

[Simon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would have liked this to be a straightforward review of selections from the political writings of Montesquieu, one of the key political theorists of philosophy's modern era. However, his writings on "Negro Slavery," in Book XV of his 'The Spirit of the Laws' ('De l'esprit des loix,' 1748), makes this not possible.

Contained in this Book ("How the Laws of Civil Slavery Are Related to the Nature of the Climate") is a repudiation of slavery as an institution whereby: "… the master… acquires all sorts of bad habits from his relationship to his slaves. Without being aware of it, becomes accustomed to behaving with a total absence of moral virtue; he becomes proud, hasty, severe, irascible, voluptuous, cruel" (pp. 200-1).

However, unfathomably, in Chapter V, Montesquieu addresses Black slavery, stating:

"[i]f I were ever forced to defend our right to make Negroes our slaves this is what I should say: Since the European peoples have exterminated the Americans, they were obliged to make the Africans their slaves in order to clear such vast stretches of land” (p. 203).

Then, Montesquieu issues some of the most mind-numbing racial statements that I have encountered from a major philosopher; I am not repeating them, but they can be found on pp. 203-4.

The book’s editor, Melvin Richter (late of Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York) who offers a detailed introduction and a large apparatus of endnotes, says in endnote 12: "[t]he deliberate irony of this chapter was not perceived by [a previous] editor… who wrote: "the above arguments from [sic] a striking instance of the prejudice under which even the liberal mind can labor." Richter also states that this chapter was directed at: "… satirizing apologists of Negro slavery" (p. vii).

I failed to read this chapter as ironic and even if it was satirically-minded, the racial virulence is so pronounced, that the satire falls flat, not only reinforcing but augmenting and extending the stereotyping.

Montesquieu concludes the chapter with this:

“Weak minds exaggerate too much the injustice done to Africans. Were it as great as they make out, surely the rulers of Europe, who were so given to making useless treaties, would’ve agreed to a general convention in behalf of mercy and pity” (p. 204).

Montesquieu, a skilled writer, could easily have constructed the sort of analysis directed toward slave-holding found elsewhere in this Book. I truly do not understand this approach.

Reading Montesquieu as a theorist for the separation of powers remains important but what he expresses in the above-considered chapter needs to be kept in mind.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

In America, Montesquieu is mainly remembered as an influence on the founding fathers, especially in his thoughts about how to set up a separation of powers in a democratic government. Our founders would all have read and been familiar with his thought and it had an influence in their organization of our federal government into its branches.

Montesquieu is not exactly a deeply coherent political thinker outside of his contributions to separation of powers, and much of this book is devoted to his dissection of what he views as the various virtues of different types of government: republics are characterized as strong in virtue, monarchies in honor, and despotisms in fear. While there is a certain logic behind saying the despotisms rule through fear, I don't exactly follow or agree with the descriptions of democracies or monarchies.

One refreshing persepective in the work is that Montesquieu, unlike so many of his contemporaries, has no trouble condemning slavery, demonstrating that even in the 1700s there were those who were able to say that water is wet without hemming and hawing.

I see some are complaining about this translation, but I do not have the requisite knowledge to make any judgments there. I didn't find it unduly confusing, but I'm not sure how well it conveys the original French sentiment. In my rooting around, I wasn't finding many options for a general purpose Montesquieu single volume work, so I lay readers such as myself do not have a plethora of options here.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for american revolution class