Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
1689–1755 · French Enlightenment · Prominent
Montesquieu was a French political philosopher who founded the comparative study of politics. Split the power to make laws, to enforce them and to judge under them, hand each to different people, and no one can turn tyrant: he argued that in The Spirit of the Laws, and the framers of the U.S. Constitution built on him. Republics run on virtue, monarchies on honor, despotisms on fear.
Signature
The position Montesquieu is most identified with in the Profiler:
- Polity
- leans Liberalism
- Government
- Parliamentary System / Representative Democracy / Federal Republic
Positions on the 2 axes the sources answer
- Natural Processes
- leans Mechanistic (25 on a 0–100 scale from Mechanistic to Purposeful)
- Polity
- leans Liberalism (75 on a 0–100 scale from Illiberalism to Liberalism)
18 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Montesquieu refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Theology
- Deism
What is your position on the existence and nature of God or gods? - Government
- Parliamentary System / Representative Democracy / Federal Republic
What is your ideal form of government? - Highest Good
- Freedom
What is the highest good? - Knowledge
- Sense Experience / Pragmatic Test
What is the ultimate foundation of knowledge? - Ethics Basis
- Virtue
What is the ultimate basis of ethics? - Agency
- Compatibilism
What is the nature of human agency and freedom? - Authority
- Consent of the Governed
What is the legitimate source of authority? - Law
- Natural Law
What is the ultimate source of legitimate law? - Primary Bond
- Nation / Humanity
What is your primary bond and loyalty?