Ep. 239: Montesquieu Invents Political Science (Part One)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

• Episode: Ep. 239: Montesquieu Invents Political Science (Part One)
• Website: The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
• Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePartiallyExaminedLife
• Duration: 00:45:05
• Published: 2020-03-23 14:32

On The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by Charles Louis de Secondat, aka Baron de Montesquieu.

What keeps a society functioning? Montesquieu, though of course not the first political philosopher, was perhaps the first to systematically explore correlations between characteristics of a government, its people, its climate, dominant industries, religion, and other factors. Some of his ideas directly influenced the American Constitution, and some of them are very very weird.

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