Montesquieu

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani returns above all to the preface of The Spirit of the Laws: men are not guided by their fancy alone, and in every age the laws correspond to something12. He sees Montesquieu as one of the first sociologists, who looks for what is objective in the laws and takes history into account. He recalls that Hegel admired him for showing that there is reason in the diversity of laws3. He also credits him, through climate and geographical situation, with the first strictly materialist determination, still a naturalist one. He considers this thinker too neglected, while warning against a reductive reading of this geographical materialism45. For him, Montesquieu opens the Enlightenment together with Bayle, along with the revival of the critical movement. On the other hand, he finds no aesthetic reflection in his work. He mentions the Persian Letters, fake letters that serve as a pretext for philosophising. Depending on the session, he gives Montesquieu's scientific hobby as chemistry or as physics.

1. 1#2.2 Entre crise et guerre : Philosopher ?15 Feb 2016 · 1:26:43
2. 2Ibn Battûta19 Feb 2020 · 43:53
3. 3Hegel Plage 4/52 Feb 2016 · 18:27
4. 4Musicosophie 8. Bonheur et malheur en musique11 Jan 2021 · 1:06:05
5. 510#5 La figure d'Antigone, telle qu'en elle-même enfin...24 Nov 2021 · 29:16

Summary produced automatically from 28 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.