Montesquieu

Past Masters (Oxford)

by Judith N. Shklar

Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) was perhaps the most authentic and original of the political thinkers of the Enlightenment. He believed passionately in toleration and in the moral benefits of science, and constructed a naturalistic system of political science based on the study of history, comparative government, and human behavior.

His magnum opus is undoubtedly The Spirit of the Laws (1748), which examines the concept of law as both cause and effect of the structure of political systems. Inspiring everything he wrote was a profound hatred for, and fear of, despotism, which he regarded as the supreme evil, and which served him as a moral standard for judging regimes. Of these he considered England the best modern example, and his account of its constitution, which was to provide a model for the American Constitution of 1787, inspired many of the French liberals of his day.

This volume reveals Montesquieu's purpose by exploring the range of his literary output, focusing on his scandalous novel, Persian Letters (1721), his philosophical history, Considerations on the Greatness and Decline of the Romans (1734), and The Spirit of the Laws.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 1987

About the author

Judith Shklar was born as Judita Nisse in Riga, Latvia to Jewish parents. Because of persecution during World War II, her family fled Europe over Japan to the US and finally to Canada in 1941, when she was thirteen. She began her studies at McGill University at the age of 16, receiving bachelor of art and master of art degrees in 1949 and 1950, respectively. She later recalled that the entrance rules to McGill at the time required 750 points for Jews and 600 for everyone else. She received her PhD degree from Harvard University in 1955. Her mentor was the famous political theorist Carl Joachim Friedrich, who, she later recalled, only ever offered her one compliment: "Well, this isn't the usual thesis, but then I did not expect it to be." Eventually she became his successor.

Shklar joined the Harvard faculty in 1956, becoming the first woman to receive tenure in Harvard's Government Department in 1971. During her first year in the job, the Department permitted her to stay at home with her first child while writing her first book. When it came time for her tenure decision, the Department dithered, so Shklar proposed a half-time appointment with effective tenure and the title of lecturer, partly because she had three children by then. In 1980, she was appointed to be the John Cowles Professor of Government. Her friend and colleague Stanley Hoffmann once remarked, “she was by far the biggest star of the department.” Hoffmann also called her "the most devastatingly intelligent person I ever knew here."

During her career, Shklar served in various academic and professional capacities. For example, she was active in the committee that integrated the American Repertory Theater into the Harvard community.

Throughout her life, Judith Shklar was known as "Dita." She and her husband, Gerald Shklar, had three children, David, Michael, and Ruth

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast read, enjoyed the analysis of The Persian Letters. It illustrated the work more in terms of the literary nature than future importance on The Spirit of the Laws.