Montesquieu ... Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu[a] (18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, intellectual, historian, and political philosopher.
Montesquieu, French political philosopher whose principal work, The Spirit of Laws, was a major contribution to political theory. It inspired the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Constitution of the United States. Learn more about Montesquieu’s life and work.
Montesquieu was one of the great political philosophers of the Enlightenment. Insatiably curious and mordantly funny, he constructed a naturalistic account of the various forms of government, and of the causes that made them what they were and that advanced or constrained their development. He used this account to explain how governments might be preserved from corruption. He saw despotism, in ...
Montesquieu (1689-1757) was a French philosopher whose ideas in works like The Spirit of the Laws helped launch the Enlightenment movement in Europe. His ideas on the separation of powers, that is...
Montesquieu is most associated with separation of powers, but he also wrote on the value of free speech a press free to criticize government.
Montesquieu brought his search for the general laws active in society and history to its completion in his greatest work. Published in 1748, The Spirit of the Laws was an investigation of the environmental and social relationships that lie behind the laws of civilized society.
Montesquieu French political philosopher Born: Birthplace: La Brède, near Bordeaux, France Died: Place of death: Paris, France Montesquieu defended and developed the theory behind separation of powers in government, significantly influencing the framers of the U.S. Constitution. Philosophically, he is best known for positing history as the basis for ...