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1-1-1981
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MONTESQUIEU AND EARLY LIBERAL THOUGHT:
A Dissertation Presented
By
STEPHEN J. ROSOW
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
September 1981
Political Science
Stephen J. Rosow 1981
ii
MONTESQUIEU AND EARLY LIBERAL
THOUGHT
The Dilemma of the Citizen in the
Modern State
A Dissertation Presented
By
Stephen J. Rosow
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
my own
tation to write.
But in the end, this dissertation was a very pri-
devel-
here are of course my own but they could not have
those
oped without the faith and encouragement of
that someday
friends who for years have been telling me
IV
.
more
V
ABSTRACT
Montesquieu and Early Liberal Thought:
The Dilemma of the Citizen in the Modern State
September 1981
vi
Montesquieu's theory, I argue, is how can individuals,
of citizenship.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
^
Chapter
I. MAN AND HISTORY
Introduction jLO
I. Man as Moral Agent 12
1. Montesquieu's pessimism as a
foundation of a theory of
mind and history 12
2. Moderation: Montesquieu's
reinterpretation of
Aristotle's Ethics 17
3. Human nature and the origin
of society 27
4. From the social to the political
self 32
II. History: Particulars and Universals . 35
1. The nature of history and the
historian 35
2. Developmental history 38
3. —
Scientific history laws and
causes 41
4. The success of the synthesis:
the general and the
particular 53
Introduction 62
I. Commerce: The International
Marketplace 64
1. The historical development of
European commerce 64
2. The economics of the European
system 70
3. The universal benefits of
commerce 74
II. International Justice and Law: The
Politics of International
Citizenship 84
viii
1. The critique of Universal
Monarchy 85
2. Defensive force and
international law 96
III. Conclusion 2^04
Introduction 173
ix
I. Posing the Problem of Citizenship . . 175
1. Vision
2. The myth of the Troglodytes ! ! 179
3. The idea of 'interest' 135
II. The Quest for Knowledge: Paris
vs. Persia -^92
1. Rica and Usbek: the modern
'savant* ;L92
2. Usbek: The master in search
of the world I94
3. Usbek: the bonds of despotism . 198
III. Citizenship Under Despotism: The
Dialectic of Master and Slave . . . 201
1. The descent into the seraglio . 201
2. The eunuchs: slaves as
masters 203
3. Masters and slaves: the
reversal of roles 210
V. CITIZENSHIP IN MODERATE GOVERMENTS : THE
UNIVERSAL POLITICS OF DE L' ESPRIT DES LOIS . 221
Introduction 221
I. L'Esprit as Political Action 223
1. The principle of a form of
government 223
2. The role of political
education 229
3. Liberty and Montesquieu's
analysis of power 233
II. L'Esprit as Political Space 241
1. Liberty and the notion of
1 esprit general
' 241
2. The forms of government .... 243
3. Citizenship in moderate
governments 251
III. Law: The Unity of Political Action
and Political Space 261
1. The universality of law and
1' esprit general 261
2. The conjunction of politics
and history 268
3. Law, tradition and ideology . . 272
IV. Conclusion: The Modern Ideal of the
Citizen 276
X
VI. CONCLUSION: MONTESQUIEU AND THE LIBERAL
THEORY OF CITIZENSHIP 283
II.
I. Montesquieu and Liberal Theory
Toward a Critical Theory of
.... 283
Citizenship 294
FOOTNOTES ^06
. BIBLIOGRAPHY 332
INTRODUCTION
1
2
not political.
notion of citizenship.
tell us much both about the early modern state and about
the kingdom.
CHAPTER I
10
11
cumstances .
of Artistotle's Ethics:^^
individuals
otherwise control.
reason for this and search out why they stand off from
each other. "^^
Ibben
society :
ship .
has she always been free, but that she has turned
in independence.'
of history.
tract theory.
tural law would be valid even if God did not exist :47
con-
will require plunging the state into civil war and the
al of Roman history.
of a republic to demonstrate
the centrality of utility
for the laws of history:
destruction.
tory .
62
63
merely for the sake of the glory of conquest but for the
sake of commercial advantage. Roman policy was exactly
opposite. Lacking the commercial spirit of the Atheni-
ans they gloried in pure conquest. They sought colonies
not in order to establish firm trading partnerships but
mere hant s
activity 22
. .
not the public good must form the basis for resolving
primarily formal.
just ice
of great monarchies.'
expansion.
ions," (p. 21) "they will show that wars have not been
requirements.
an historically determined
situation which constrained
them but which also opened up
possibilities for creati ve
action. For Montesquieu, free will was
as much a f act
'
114
115
dition.
Of government, and he
was not fundamentally
concerned
with the question of
obligation. This problem
was left
to the era of religious
wars on the continent
and to the
civil wars in England. Hobbes s first attempt to
'
form-
ulate a comprehensive view of
politics is De Give in
Which the reader "shall find
briefly described the
duties of men; first, as men;
then as subjects; lastly,
as Christians. "1 For Hobbes
the central concern was
the relation between citizens
and rulers within politi-
cal space. He and his followers through
the eighteenth
century filled this space on the
basis of a strict di-
chotomy between the knowledge appropriate
to rule and
the knowledge appropriate to
citizenship. This led to
a conception of the legislator
"not as the agent of a
divine idea but as a man of intelligence blessed with a
golden opportunity. "2 He stood above citizens because
he had the capacity to be rational-to
recognize, con-
trol and manipulate fate.
ferentiated polity.
politv ^
He ^ •
Of differentiation:
'growth and nature .
•
Growth in-
volves the historical
development of life within .
social
corporations. The primacy of
the family leads directly
to village life and then
to the polis, the final
stage
Which represents the culmination
of temporal association
for the individual. Yet in the second order
of differ-
entiation, nature, the polls
is the primary sphere
of
individual action. mterms of 'nature' the order
of
primacy is reversed from that
order dictated by moral
growth.^ The polls is the crown
of man's existence;
he cannot complete his inner
nature without political
action. In this sense the polls is prior
to man. Men
create it but without it they do not
exist as men; just
as, "if the whole body be destroyed,
there will not be
a foot or a hand."^ The polls is an end of man's life
in two senses. it is the final temporal stage of
his
concrete growth, and it is the purpose
toward which his
nature directs his action.
?
considerations; and our fi-
rlr^t^^i
nal definitions will accordingly be:
who envoys the right of sharing (1) 'he
in delibera-
or:n?ixld1'%\"'-°"'r
or Per?^?%'Led
unfixed] attains thereby the status
citizen of his state,' and (2) 'a of a
Its simplest terms, is a body state, in
of such persons
adequate in number for achieving a
ficient existence. 17 (m, i, 12) self-suf-
'
of f ice
common interest." 24
good
rules
If I speak of myself in
different ways, that
IS because I look at myself
in different wa^s.
"^^^ in me by some
til.r
twist and m some fashion .
to say about myself absolutely,
i have nothina
. .
the erudite knowledge that takes men away from the ade-
"In all things and all places my own eyes are enough to
of particular circumstances.
What seems to be virtuous
and manly action on the
outside may actually be a reck-
less cruelty based upon false
judgment: " . when we
. .
live really alone and to live that way at our ease" (p.
moral
quality than the ideal must be entered
into "bridle in
hand, with prudence and precaution. " ^°
Therefore, men
should both follow society but reserve
themselves from
it. They should follow its customs and fashions
but
"the wise man should withdraw his soul
within, out of
the crowd, and keep it in freedom and power to
judge
things freely. There is an 'inside' and an 'out-
side' to men which must be kept counterposed to
one
another. This is the essence of the struggle that de-
. . .
,
" but we owe esteem and affection only to virtuous
152
be changed
general admonition
to^all'. Ll^nt consider what are the true
ends ofi I
l^r^t knowledge, and that they
either for pleasure of the mind, seek it not
or for pro-
tit, or fame, or power, or any
of these infer-
ior things; but for the benefit
and use of
^^^^ perfect and govern it in
chfrity?72''^^''
edge .
variety of matter . . ,
159
of nature:
assume that the other will not perform the promised ac-
bit further.
for the fact that men do not readily accept this and why
it must be confessed
tLt°?t'^t^'
that It IS not possible to
divorce ourselves
from these fallacies and false
appearances
inseparable from'^^ur nature
InlT"^^]^^^
and condition of life; so
yet never the less
the causation of them doth
extremelv import
the true conduct of human
judgment .104
had done for the theory of the self : to map out the
173
174
of fiction.
pleasure:
of yourselves "'"^
. As for Rousseau later in the cen-
and philosophy.
more closely.
they derive not from mere desire or whim, but from rea-
nomic meaning. 27
tance.
more fully than does Usbek, adopting its dress and some
the sultans:
ual i rony
198
dest ruct i ve
your master and mine, and I make use of the power he has
granted me over you." He continues by legitimizing his
only the arm of the master. "^^ His nature has not
I hoped to be delivered
from the seizure of
love by my impotence to satisfy it.
me. Alas for
The effect of passion was snuffed
me without extinguishing the cause, out in
and far
from being comforted, I found myself
ed by objects that provoked my
surround-
passion without
cease . . The same women whom I was tempted
.
tion :
Like the chief black eunuch and his teacher, Jaron feels
interpretation.
selves
women from their own nature. Usbek ' s wives are faithful
emphasis
i shed
215
punishment
Zelis, not Usbek, has won —the slave has freed herself,
and the punishment inflicted on the master is greater
slaves
natural self. She has indeed abjured Usbek ' s (and des-
221
222
foundation of society.
implica-
tion of the principle of a government is that it allows
for discussion about the liberty of the citizen in
a way
that does not undermine the security of the state.
The
principle allows Montesquieu to describe how states re-
tain a coherent identity and stability over time by
able .
ly constructed in order to
protect individual integrity,
both physical and intellectual. The overall interpre-
tive principle of clarity and fairness
in punishment
which guides Montesquieu here has become
the foundation
of theories of punishment in the modern
state:
are different.
men act on the same power drive, men must address each
power is not.
of government.
ate greater wealth for the state while giving all the
quieu writes:
nates, luxury can have its full effects; the most impor-
eral is law.
261
of interlocking parts:
able :
264
polit ic
torical fact.
sharply on history.
allows him to
fuse together in a traditional ideology what
later the-
ory would say were irreconcilable.
man and his world. In order for this to happen 1 ' esprit
circumstances
from
be evolutionary, not revolutionary, and must result
general if it is
a rational understanding of 1' esprit
right of
to have any hope of success, there is no real
at a particular point.
276
spirit of women.
sets for life and how one relates to fellow human beings
interest.
citizens to realize.
283
284
self-interest.
never accept.
tices .
citizenship.
294
pant s
future
FOOTNOTES
INTRODUCTION
o? iiber;iisrara
K.J.
e^ansm° Vn^^^^^^^^f Documents Melhuish, Western Lib -
From L ock e to Croce
iult ZIl f.^.^^^^y ^"^^
'^°^^"'^?
J L ''^'''^
}!oo 1578) pp. xvii-xxii and pp.
'capitalism' in a similar fashion
Lff; ^ P^^ticular orientation toward economic ac-to
ttliL ? ^^"^^ w^ic^ the term
nt^i^^* .l^""
nineteenth applies to ore-
century Europe see Fernand Braudel'
Cap?ta^!
1400-1800 trans. Miri;m^iS
\Te.TorT^%i^' ^^^"^ ^""^
,
306
307
2 Ibid. , p. 24.
^ Ibid.
nf -^ n.L!^'
edited volume. The Politi cal Philosophy
e^' Univeisity Pr LI, 1977r:h2 n;;er
pos^^bl
selection,
"
in'thf cases of
sefeoMo^ the ^translations passages
f not in Richter's
are my own. The edition I
have most often used is the Pleiade
edition of Montes-
quieu's Oeuvres__Con^^ (Paris:
Gallimard, 1949-5?)
edited by Roger Callois. I have also used the
of De L' Esprit des Ln^ critical
by jean Brethe de la
Gressaye, 4 vols. (Paris, 1950-61) and I
all quotations against the original in
have checked
the Masson edi-
tion of Montesquieu's works.
(hereafter Seirit in
Richter uIjI^'^p^ P,o'^^ )
10 Ibid., p. 53.
11 Ibid., p. 60.
308
Fritz ^ A
~
i-.uLiiin 11 Enliqhtenmeni- trans.
17 Ibid., p. 1.
1
interesting to note that Montesquieu
^^1^
felt ambivalent towards Parisian
society, loving it al-
addiction while recognizing its decadence
^nf
and the need to flee from it in
order to think, write
and enDoy the calm tradition of the
life of the landed
critique of city life which I discuss
m t^^ below.
?n Chapter Five
21 Ibid., p. 58.
(1972)
28
p|?^3. ^™
29 joi^n Plamenatz, Man and
Socie ty. 2 vols.
^ London: Longman's, 1963) 1: 274.
30 Spirit, Richter, p. 174.
Also see the note
on page 321 where Richter explains that
use of the state of nature was an analytic Montesquieu's
,
concept not a
temporal one. It is in no way meant to imply an
tance of the language of contract theory. accep-
4^ Ibid., p. 611.
"^"7
Hugo Grot i us. The La w of War and P&^nt^
59 Ibid. , p. 94.
64 Ibid.,
p. 63.
^5 Ibid.
10 XX, 1, 590.
18 XX, 4, 587-8.
19 In Chapter Five
below I will show how central
the commerce of luxury is to the coherence and stability
of monarchy.
20 Montesquieu's
strongest denunciation of Law's
system is in Book II, Chapter 4, p. 248, where he says
that the System threatened to plunge the French monarchy
into despotism. In Book XXII, Chapter 10 he also criti-
cizes it for creating severe imbalances in trade, threat-
ening the value of French money (p. 666).
21 XII, 2, 459-60.
22 XII, 2, 459.
23 XX, 4, p. 588.
313
act^r" Witf^""^
acter. ''"^ ^° ?herf Lwo?thin: o^ch::.
With regard to workers, although
about them, and nothing about
them
develop some perceptive critiques as
The sairi ii?r?
'cLss' he did
of the capitalist
market. See Chapter Five, below. capitaUst
f
^!
the importance of contract law for develop-
ment^ of f?""
„.
the rise of
^ig--
Lew Law and the Rise o f Capitalism (New M^eieLe
R L^^- ^''"^^^^
M*
Monthly Review Press, 1977) York:
-^ui^K.
.
26 XX, 2, 585.
XXI, 5, 604.
32 IX, 2, 371.
33 IX, 1, 370.
34 IX, 1, 369.
35 IX, 3, 371-2.
36 X, 5, 382.
37 See Chapter One
above.
38 Montesquieu cites Spain
opt imum size. IX, 6, 374.
IX, 6, 374.
314
X, 9, 384.
X, 9, 385.
45 X, 1, 377.
47 X, 2, 377.
51 X, 2, 378.
52 Ibid.
54 X, 4, 380.
55 X, 11, 385.
56 X, 4, 381.
57 Again,
the practice of slavery in
must carefully follow the laws and spirit this case
of the inter-
national community. It must be undertaken only when
the alternative is anarchy, and then only for
duration until the population has been brought tolimited
a
Montesquieu gives the not very convincing example order.
barbarian treatment of the Romans in the provinces of the
the collapse of the western empire as a justifiable after
instance. X, 3, 380.
^2 Ibid., p. 197.
^3 Ibid., p. 199.
y^o^n?
\1960;
12 I , xi i , 2
13 I xi i 7
, i ,
16 I, ii, 13.
18 I, ii, 8.
317
III, iv.
2^ III, iv, 5.
22
D>,,-i
discussion in Nannerl O. Keohane
Philosophy and the St^t ^ in France (Prinr^o^S A
Prince-
ton University Press, 1980). "
I, iv, 14.
I, vi, 18.
26 I, viii, 25.
I, i, 2.
22 I, i, 5.
2^ I, vi, 20-1.
"^^
..^^ ^ later essay, "A Custom of the Island of
Cea, Montaigne justifies the suicide chosen by an old
woman who believed that the only point to continued
would be a more painful death. life
II, 3, pp. 261-2. All
references to Montaigne are to The Complete Essays
of
Montaigne, trans. Donald Frame (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1965). References are to book, essay
and page.
31 Essays I,
; 25,
32 I, 25, 103.
33 I, 14, 39.
34 II, 1, 243.
35 For a study oflie development of skepticism
trom Montaigne to Descartes see Richard H. Popkin, The
History of Skepticism from Erasmus to Descartes 2nd ,
I, 21, 75.
^"^
I, 14, 42.
44 I, 23, 79.
45 Ibid.
Ibid . 175.
52 Ibid. 176.
It
E
•ly ag(
55 Ibid.
56 Ill, 3, 623.
57 Ibid .
58 I, 13, 33.
59 I, 28, 136.
60 I, 28, 140.
61 1, 23, 86.
62 1, 42, 193.
63 1. 42, 196.
64 Montaigne asserts
public life even more strongly in the "Apology for Ray-
mond Sebond" where he asserts the similarity of the
motivations and passions of princes and private men (p.
350). Later in the "Apology" he asserts the virtue of
the apolitical nature (almost anti-political) of socie-
ties in the new world to show the powerlessness of po-
litical knowledge (and knowledge in general) to produce
goodness (p. 367).
65 1, 3, 9.
I, 23, 88.
I, 23, 90.
70 I have called this theory
'absolutist' in part
because it is developed initially hy secular
of the absolutist state, as well as in theorists
part because it
postulates an absolute separation between the
of citizenship and the knowledge of rule.
knowledqe
"71
See Francis Bacon, Works, ed Ellis and
.
85 III, 268-70.
86 III, 270-3.
87 III, 272-4.
321
89 III. 302-314.
90 Ill, 302.
91 Ibid.
92 III, 314-19.
Leviathan, p. 62.
De Cive , p. 217.
-"^^ Leviathan , p. 45.
103 I don't believe that Hobbes' theory of the
self can accomodate a view of reason that will allow men
to make such judgments. Hence, he can never account for
the legitimacy of public decisions except to say that
they are legitimate because the sovereign made them.
In Hobbes' society there can be no discourse about the
public good, for there is no way to determine whether a
law is in the public interest or merely the particular
interest of the sovereign. See Leviathan p. 41. ,
I,
p. 47. All references are by letter and
^^^.^^^^fl^tion by J. Robert Loy (New York:
Me^^diar 1963) unless otherwise noted. I
Meridian,
have occa-
to an entire letter in which case I
hav^ ? '^l^^'^^^ page reference.
^^no.r
importance of vision f My discussion of the
m
Montesquieu's work is indebted
to Jean Starobinski, Montesquieu par Lu
i-meme (Paris-
^ vt-aris.
Editions du Seuil, 1953T:
2 IX, 55.
3 XLVII.
4 LXIII, 134.
5 XXXII, 89-90.
6 XXIII, 76.
"7
XXXI, 89.
8 X, 58.
Puf endorf
14 XII, p. 62.
18 XCIV, 179.
Hirschman, p. 32.
23 LXXXIII, 165-6.
24 XCV, 180.
28 XIV, 66.
324
'
'° translation of the
Persian Itt.^l 1 .Zlf^^^"
30 The unpublished completion
of the storv is in
Loy's translation, p. 284.
Pleiade, I, p. 1616.) —
(Also in Mes t-ensees
pJnsKs ,
"'^^'^ °^ disadvantaged,
n^.^.^^i^/''^^''^^^^''^
particularly in light of Montesquieu's liberal
^«=i.ax
economics.
32 XLVIII, 108.
33 XXXV, 92-3.
34 XLVIII, 108.
35 VIII, 54.
36 XVII, 68.
37 XXXV, 93.
43 CLV, 274.
44 LXIV, 135.
45 IX, 55-6.
325
XV, 67.
47 LXIV, 136.
48 XXI, 74-5.
49 IX, 55-6.
50 II, 47-8.
51 IX, 57.
52 VII, 52.
53 IX, 56.
54 XX, 73.
56 LXIII, 134.
57 XXXVIII.
5 V, 6, 280.
326
7 IV, 1, 261.
8 IV, 2, 262.
9 IV, 2, 262-3.
10 IV, 3, 265.
11 IV, 6, 266-7.
12 See Lettres Persanes,
13 I am following Melvin
of this phrase.
18 XII, 2, 431.
19 XI, 4, 395.
20 Ibid.
24 XIX, 4, 558.
25 Ibid
32 V, 19, 304.
38 XXIX, 1, 865.
39 XI, 6, 397.
40 XI, 3, 395.
44 See above, p. 7.
46 XIX, 8, 560.
49 VII, 9, 341.
52 Ibid.
_
56 Montesquieu develops a principle of class di-
vision here which is 'Marxian- in its general
character,
The principle is that classes are differentiated
their place in the system of production. by
Hence, there
are workers who produce commodities through
their own
labor, and an unproductive class which lives
off the
surplus of the workers.
57 VII, 1, 335.
58 Montesquieu cites
Mandeville's Fable of the
B^Qs as a source of this argument. VII, 1, p. 333,
not e 6
59 VII, 2, 335.
60 VII, 1, 334.
61 I, 3, 237.
62 I, 3, 238.
63 V, 1, 273.
64 Ill, 5, 255.
65 VI, 1, 307.
66 VI, 3, 311.
67 XIX, 5, 559.
69 Ibid.
"71
V, 7, 283.
330
"72
XXIX, 16, 881.
73 VI,
10, 319.
74
"^^^^ "^^^^ adequate descriptions of
^ .
debate.
ir.
See Elie Carcassonne's classic this
Montes quieu et le P r oblem e de l a account in
Constitutinn v.^:!....^
^P^^"^' -^^27) and F ranz Neumann's
i
liant summary m bril
his introduction to the Hafner edition
-
2: 385ff.
331
12 Kelly (1979)
I. Primary
332
333
(Manchester, 1956)1
Inc., 1960).
1945) .
'
On the Commonwealth trans. George Sabine and
,
1925).
Press, 1977).
Leviathan ed
, , . Michael Oakeshott (New York:
Macmillan, 1962)
1894)
1951)
337
II. Secondary
1. Works on Montesquieu
rw— ;
Oxford
Montesquieu; a Critic al Biography
University Press, 1963). —
(London:
1963) .
344
Press, 1950).
Problemes
Concernant la Monarchie Absolue, " in 10th Conqresso
Internaz ionale di Scienze Stor iche. Relazion IV
~
(1955) 1-55. :
Kurt
Oxford University Press, 1971). Wolff
''""''!n:;
UNew Toll' H.
lorK. ^Stord^n
Ideology and Utnpi . (New York:
'
son,
"""""^^on' llTo^liT, r^'
1660-1685
3^^i^^P^ Of science .n. ....
(New York; Harper and Row, 1953).
Europe of the Ancien Reain^ e, 1715-1783
^^li^' Harper and Row, 1965),
York: (New
York^'^ig'Sl)!"
TT To Siecle
au XVIIIe Qi 1 ^ _
(Paris:
/ r-* iqqc;)
MarrPi ai^i-^,
. -,
, —t
Press, 1978).