Description:
The Spirit of the Laws--Montesquieu's huge, complex, and enormously influential work--is considered one of the central texts of the Enlightenment, laying the foundation for the liberally democratic political regimes that were to embody its values. In his penetrating analysis, Thomas L. Pangle brilliantly argues that the inherently theological project of Enlightenment liberalism is made more clearly--and more consequentially-- in Spirit than in any other work.
In a probing and careful reading, Pangle shows how Montesquieu believed that rationalism, through the influence of liberal institutions and the spread of commercial culture, would secularize human affairs. At the same time, Pangle uncovers Montesquieu's views about the origins of humanity's religious impulse and his confidence that political and economic security would make people less likely to sacrifice worldly well-being for otherworldly hopes. With the interest in the theological aspects of political theory and practice showing no signs of diminishing, this book is a timely and insightful contribution to one of the key achievements of Enlightenment thought.
Brief description:
Thomas L. Pangle is the Joe R. Long Chair in Democratic Studies and codirector of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas at the University of Texas at Austin. His many books include, most recently, The Socratic Way of Life, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Review Quotes:
"Pangle's close textual analysis time and again sheds new light on passages that scholars have been citing for years. His interpretive lens helps to make sense of them in ways that genuinely advance our knowledge of Montesquieu's own project, the rise of liberal modernity, and the contemporary dilemmas of secularism."
--Sharon Krause, Brown University