Montesquieu: Let There Be Enlightenment

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Catherine Volpilhac-Auger (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Lyon) Philip Stewart (Duke University, North Carolina)

Montesquieu

Let There Be Enlightenment

Catherine Volpilhac-Auger (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Lyon), Philip Stewart (Duke University, North Carolina)

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English

Cambridge University Press
13 March 2025

Biography: general; Philosophy; Political science & theory

Since the last biography of Montesquieu in English (Shackleton, Oxford, 1961) Montesquieu scholarship has been entirely renewed, culminating in a critical edition of his complete works in twenty-two volumes that is nearing completion. Since 1998, this new edition of the complete works has considerably modified what was known about Montesquieu and his procedures, eliciting new translations and further studies. Additionally, several thousand manuscript pages were made public in 1994 and continue to generate further scholarly inquiry. The author of this compact biography, originally published by Gallimard 2017, is the director of the critical edition of the works and the most qualified scholar of Montesquieu. At once an introduction to Montesquieu's thought and a synthesis of current knowledge about his life and work, this book is full of insights and revised judgements about Montesquieu and how his political philosophy helped thrust Enlightenment onto the European agenda.

By: Catherine Volpilhac-Auger (Ecole Normale Supérieure Lyon)
Edited and translated by: Philip Stewart (Duke University North Carolina)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 423g
ISBN: 9781009249089
ISBN 10: 1009249088
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 13 March 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction; 1. Monsieur de La Brède (1689–1705); 2. From La brède to Secondat de Montesquieu (1705–1713); 3. From Secondat to Montesquieu (1713–1721); 4. Taking Wing (1722–1727); 5. Europe on the horizon (1728–1731); 6. A new departure (1731–1738); 7. 'A labor of twenty years' (1736–1748); 8. The march to glory (1749–1755); 9. The final battle.

Catherine Volpilhac-Auger is professor emerita at École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (Lyon) and is the president of the Montesquieu Society.

Reviews for Montesquieu: Let There Be Enlightenment

'As a biography, Catherine Volpilhac-Auger's Montesquieu is a fine specimen. As a work of history, however, it is even better. … What emerges from Volpilhac-Auger's well-documented work is a Montesquieu who is much diminished in his exceptionalism … And in writing what is ostensibly a biography, Volpilhac-Auger has managed far more: her Montesquieu throws new light on intellectual and cultural milieux one might have thought familiar, as well as puts others more decisively on the radar. Our map of the eighteenth century is far richer for it.' Shiru Shiru, Metascience 'Volpilhac-Auger's biography of Montesquieu reflects a seasoned scholar's work of more than 20 years that cannot be judged by a moment's reading. It should be approved or condemned as a whole, as Montesquieu would have it. To this reviewer, Volpilhac-Auger's biography will be as essential for this generation of Montesquieu scholars and generalists as Robert Shackleton's Montesquieu: A Critical Biography (1961) and Louis Desgraves's Montesquieu (1986) works were for previous generations. To this end, the chronology and selected bibliography serve as essential points de départ for any scholar looking to find (or revisit) the highest-quality French and English materials on Montesquieu.' Alex Haskins, Perspectives on Politics