#montesquieu — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #montesquieu, aggregated by home.social.
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I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished.
[J’ai la maladie de faire des livres et d’en être honteux quand je les ai faits.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 83 / 837 (1720-1755)More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/83690/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #author #dissatisfaction #selfcontempt #selfcriticism #selfdeprecation #selfdoubt #selfjudgment #selfloathing #selfperception #shame #writer #writing
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I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished.
[J’ai la maladie de faire des livres et d’en être honteux quand je les ai faits.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 83 / 837 (1720-1755)More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/83690/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #author #dissatisfaction #selfcontempt #selfcriticism #selfdeprecation #selfdoubt #selfjudgment #selfloathing #selfperception #shame #writer #writing
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I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished.
[J’ai la maladie de faire des livres et d’en être honteux quand je les ai faits.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 83 / 837 (1720-1755)More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/83690/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #author #dissatisfaction #selfcontempt #selfcriticism #selfdeprecation #selfdoubt #selfjudgment #selfloathing #selfperception #shame #writer #writing
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I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished.
[J’ai la maladie de faire des livres et d’en être honteux quand je les ai faits.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 83 / 837 (1720-1755)More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/83690/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #author #dissatisfaction #selfcontempt #selfcriticism #selfdeprecation #selfdoubt #selfjudgment #selfloathing #selfperception #shame #writer #writing
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I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished.
[J’ai la maladie de faire des livres et d’en être honteux quand je les ai faits.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 83 / 837 (1720-1755)More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/83690/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #author #dissatisfaction #selfcontempt #selfcriticism #selfdeprecation #selfdoubt #selfjudgment #selfloathing #selfperception #shame #writer #writing
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It has eternally been observed that any man who has power is led to abuse it; he continues until he finds limits.
[C’est une expérience éternelle, que tout homme qui a du pouvoir est porté à en abuser; il va jusqu’à ce qu’il trouve des limites.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 11, ch. 4 (11.4) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/83499/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #absolutepower #abuseofauthority #abuseofpower #authority #corruption #history #power
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It has eternally been observed that any man who has power is led to abuse it; he continues until he finds limits.
[C’est une expérience éternelle, que tout homme qui a du pouvoir est porté à en abuser; il va jusqu’à ce qu’il trouve des limites.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 11, ch. 4 (11.4) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/83499/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #absolutepower #abuseofauthority #abuseofpower #authority #corruption #history #power
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It has eternally been observed that any man who has power is led to abuse it; he continues until he finds limits.
[C’est une expérience éternelle, que tout homme qui a du pouvoir est porté à en abuser; il va jusqu’à ce qu’il trouve des limites.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 11, ch. 4 (11.4) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/83499/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #absolutepower #abuseofauthority #abuseofpower #authority #corruption #history #power
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It has eternally been observed that any man who has power is led to abuse it; he continues until he finds limits.
[C’est une expérience éternelle, que tout homme qui a du pouvoir est porté à en abuser; il va jusqu’à ce qu’il trouve des limites.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 11, ch. 4 (11.4) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/83499/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #absolutepower #abuseofauthority #abuseofpower #authority #corruption #history #power
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It has eternally been observed that any man who has power is led to abuse it; he continues until he finds limits.
[C’est une expérience éternelle, que tout homme qui a du pouvoir est porté à en abuser; il va jusqu’à ce qu’il trouve des limites.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 11, ch. 4 (11.4) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/83499/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #absolutepower #abuseofauthority #abuseofpower #authority #corruption #history #power
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Suite 1689 https://mastodon.social/@cobrate/115714847296033910
(2/2) ... huguenots #religion #politique car catastrophe économique -> re-pas entendu par la Cour (cf 1686 1687) + #femmes interdites sur les navires du Roi #misogynie (cf 1766) + naissance de #Montesquieu (cf 1721 1734 1748 1755).
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"1h de #lecture est le souverain remède contre les dégoûts de la #vie"
- #Montesquieu -
For it is clear that in a monarchy, where the person who executes the laws holds himself above them, less virtue is required than in a popular government, where the person who executes the laws is aware that he himself is subject to them and that he will feel their weight.
[Car il est clair que, dans une monarchie, où celui qui fait exécuter les loix se juge au-dessus des loix, on a besoin de moins de vertu que dans un gouvernement populaire, où celui qui fait exécuter les loix, sent qu’il y est soumis lui-même, & qu’il en portera le poids.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 3, ch. 3 (3.3) (1748) [tr. Stewart (2018)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/83090/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #Montesquieu #abovethelaw #autocracy #democracy #equalprotectionunderthelaw #equalrights #immunity #law #monarchy #populargovernment #power #republic #subject #virtue
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When virtue is banished, ambition invades the hearts of those who are disposed to receive it, and avarice possesses the whole community.
[Lorsque cette vertu cesse, l’ambition entre dans les cœurs qui peuvent la recevoir, & l’avarice entre dans tous.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 3, ch. 3 (3.3) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82760/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #ambition #avarice #civicvirtue #community #democracy #equality #greed #nation #patriotism #politicalvirtue #republic #selfcenteredness #selfishness #virtue
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When virtue is banished, ambition invades the hearts of those who are disposed to receive it, and avarice possesses the whole community.
[Lorsque cette vertu cesse, l’ambition entre dans les cœurs qui peuvent la recevoir, & l’avarice entre dans tous.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 3, ch. 3 (3.3) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82760/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #ambition #avarice #civicvirtue #community #democracy #equality #greed #nation #patriotism #politicalvirtue #republic #selfcenteredness #selfishness #virtue
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When virtue is banished, ambition invades the hearts of those who are disposed to receive it, and avarice possesses the whole community.
[Lorsque cette vertu cesse, l’ambition entre dans les cœurs qui peuvent la recevoir, & l’avarice entre dans tous.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 3, ch. 3 (3.3) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82760/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #ambition #avarice #civicvirtue #community #democracy #equality #greed #nation #patriotism #politicalvirtue #republic #selfcenteredness #selfishness #virtue
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When virtue is banished, ambition invades the hearts of those who are disposed to receive it, and avarice possesses the whole community.
[Lorsque cette vertu cesse, l’ambition entre dans les cœurs qui peuvent la recevoir, & l’avarice entre dans tous.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 3, ch. 3 (3.3) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82760/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #ambition #avarice #civicvirtue #community #democracy #equality #greed #nation #patriotism #politicalvirtue #republic #selfcenteredness #selfishness #virtue
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When virtue is banished, ambition invades the hearts of those who are disposed to receive it, and avarice possesses the whole community.
[Lorsque cette vertu cesse, l’ambition entre dans les cœurs qui peuvent la recevoir, & l’avarice entre dans tous.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 3, ch. 3 (3.3) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82760/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #ambition #avarice #civicvirtue #community #democracy #equality #greed #nation #patriotism #politicalvirtue #republic #selfcenteredness #selfishness #virtue
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«Se eu soubesse de alguma coisa que me fosse útil e fosse prejudicial à minha família, expulsá-la-ia do meu espírito. Se soubesse de alguma coisa útil à minha família e que o não fosse à minha pátria, tentaria esquecê-la. Se soubesse de alguma coisa útil à minha pátria e que fosse prejudicial à Europa, ou que fosse útil à Europa e prejudicial ao género humano, considerá-la-ia um crime, porque sou homem necessariamente, ao passo que sou francês somente por acaso.»
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No word has received more different significations and has struck minds in so many ways as has liberty.
[Il n’y a point de mot qui ait reçu plus de différentes significations, & qui ait frappé les esprits de tant de manieres, que celui de liberté.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 11, ch. 2 (11.2) (1748) tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82621/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #freedom #interpretation #liberty #meaning #perspective #politicalscience
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Political virtue is a renunciation of oneself, which is always a very painful thing. One can define this virtue as love of the laws and the homeland. This love, requiring a continuous preference of the public interest over one’s own, produces all the individual virtues; they are only that preference.
[La vertu politique est un renoncement à soi-même, qui est toujours une chose très-pénible. On peut définir cette vertu, l’amour des loix & de la patrie. Cet amour, demandant une préférence continuelle de l’intérêt public au sien propre, donne toutes les vertus particulieres: elles ne sont que cette préférence.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 5 (4.5) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82465/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #Montesquieu #homeland #lawabiding #lawfulness #patriotism #politicalvirtue #privateinterest #publicinterest #renunciation #selfsacrifice #virtue
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There need not be much integrity for a monarchical or despotic government to maintain or sustain itself. The force of the laws in the one, and the prince’s ever-raised arm in the other, can rule or contain the whole. But in a popular state there must be an additional spring, which is VIRTUE.
[Il ne faut pas beaucoup de probité, pour qu’un gouvernement monarchique, ou un gouvernement despotique, se maintiennent ou se soutiennent. La force des loix dans l’un, le bras du prince toujours levé dans l’autre, reglent ou contiennent tout. Mais, dans un état populaire, il faut un ressort de plus, qui est la VERTU.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 3, ch. 3 (3.3) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82282/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #civicvirtue #democracy #equality #patriotism #populargovernment #republic #virtue
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When the savages of Louisiana want some fruit, they cut down the tree at the base and gather the fruit. That is how a despotic government works.
[Quand les sauvages de la Louisiane veulent avoir du fruit, ils coupent l’arbre au pied, & cueillent le fruit. Voilà le gouvernement despotique.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 5, ch. 13 (5.13) (1748) [tr. Stewart (2018)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82151/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #spoils #autocracy #despotism #destruction #devastation #exploitation #inefficiency #pillage #taking #thoughtlessness #tyranny #unsustainability
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When the savages of Louisiana want some fruit, they cut down the tree at the base and gather the fruit. That is how a despotic government works.
[Quand les sauvages de la Louisiane veulent avoir du fruit, ils coupent l’arbre au pied, & cueillent le fruit. Voilà le gouvernement despotique.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 5, ch. 13 (5.13) (1748) [tr. Stewart (2018)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82151/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #spoils #autocracy #despotism #destruction #devastation #exploitation #inefficiency #pillage #taking #thoughtlessness #tyranny #unsustainability
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When the savages of Louisiana want some fruit, they cut down the tree at the base and gather the fruit. That is how a despotic government works.
[Quand les sauvages de la Louisiane veulent avoir du fruit, ils coupent l’arbre au pied, & cueillent le fruit. Voilà le gouvernement despotique.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 5, ch. 13 (5.13) (1748) [tr. Stewart (2018)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82151/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #spoils #autocracy #despotism #destruction #devastation #exploitation #inefficiency #pillage #taking #thoughtlessness #tyranny #unsustainability
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When the savages of Louisiana want some fruit, they cut down the tree at the base and gather the fruit. That is how a despotic government works.
[Quand les sauvages de la Louisiane veulent avoir du fruit, ils coupent l’arbre au pied, & cueillent le fruit. Voilà le gouvernement despotique.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 5, ch. 13 (5.13) (1748) [tr. Stewart (2018)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82151/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #spoils #autocracy #despotism #destruction #devastation #exploitation #inefficiency #pillage #taking #thoughtlessness #tyranny #unsustainability
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When the savages of Louisiana want some fruit, they cut down the tree at the base and gather the fruit. That is how a despotic government works.
[Quand les sauvages de la Louisiane veulent avoir du fruit, ils coupent l’arbre au pied, & cueillent le fruit. Voilà le gouvernement despotique.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 5, ch. 13 (5.13) (1748) [tr. Stewart (2018)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/82151/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #spoils #autocracy #despotism #destruction #devastation #exploitation #inefficiency #pillage #taking #thoughtlessness #tyranny #unsustainability
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Extreme obedience assumes ignorance in the one who obeys; it assumes ignorance even in the one who commands; he does not have to deliberate, to doubt, or to reason; he has only to want.
[L’extrême obéissance suppose de l’ignorance dans celui qui obéit; elle en suppose même dans celui qui commande: il n’a point à délibérer, à douter, ni à raisonner; il n’a qu’à vouloir.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 3 (4.3) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81939/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #autocracy #autocrat #command #consideration #deliberation #despot #dictator #ignorance #obedience #reason #servility #tyranny #tyrant #want #will
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Extreme obedience assumes ignorance in the one who obeys; it assumes ignorance even in the one who commands; he does not have to deliberate, to doubt, or to reason; he has only to want.
[L’extrême obéissance suppose de l’ignorance dans celui qui obéit; elle en suppose même dans celui qui commande: il n’a point à délibérer, à douter, ni à raisonner; il n’a qu’à vouloir.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 3 (4.3) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81939/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #autocracy #autocrat #command #consideration #deliberation #despot #dictator #ignorance #obedience #reason #servility #tyranny #tyrant #want #will
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Extreme obedience assumes ignorance in the one who obeys; it assumes ignorance even in the one who commands; he does not have to deliberate, to doubt, or to reason; he has only to want.
[L’extrême obéissance suppose de l’ignorance dans celui qui obéit; elle en suppose même dans celui qui commande: il n’a point à délibérer, à douter, ni à raisonner; il n’a qu’à vouloir.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 3 (4.3) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81939/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #autocracy #autocrat #command #consideration #deliberation #despot #dictator #ignorance #obedience #reason #servility #tyranny #tyrant #want #will
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Extreme obedience assumes ignorance in the one who obeys; it assumes ignorance even in the one who commands; he does not have to deliberate, to doubt, or to reason; he has only to want.
[L’extrême obéissance suppose de l’ignorance dans celui qui obéit; elle en suppose même dans celui qui commande: il n’a point à délibérer, à douter, ni à raisonner; il n’a qu’à vouloir.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 3 (4.3) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81939/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #autocracy #autocrat #command #consideration #deliberation #despot #dictator #ignorance #obedience #reason #servility #tyranny #tyrant #want #will
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It is not the young people that degenerate: they are not spoilt till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption.
[Ce n’est point le peuple naissant qui dégénere ; il ne se perd que lorsque les hommes faits sont déja corrompus.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 5 (4.5) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81784/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #adults #corruption #degeneration #generationgap #teenager #youngadult #youth
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It is not the young people that degenerate: they are not spoilt till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption.
[Ce n’est point le peuple naissant qui dégénere ; il ne se perd que lorsque les hommes faits sont déja corrompus.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 5 (4.5) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81784/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #adults #corruption #degeneration #generationgap #teenager #youngadult #youth
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It is not the young people that degenerate: they are not spoilt till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption.
[Ce n’est point le peuple naissant qui dégénere ; il ne se perd que lorsque les hommes faits sont déja corrompus.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 5 (4.5) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81784/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #adults #corruption #degeneration #generationgap #teenager #youngadult #youth
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It is not the young people that degenerate: they are not spoilt till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption.
[Ce n’est point le peuple naissant qui dégénere ; il ne se perd que lorsque les hommes faits sont déja corrompus.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 5 (4.5) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81784/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #adults #corruption #degeneration #generationgap #teenager #youngadult #youth
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It is not the young people that degenerate: they are not spoilt till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption.
[Ce n’est point le peuple naissant qui dégénere ; il ne se perd que lorsque les hommes faits sont déja corrompus.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 5 (4.5) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81784/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #adults #corruption #degeneration #generationgap #teenager #youngadult #youth
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“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana”*…
Detail from Adams Synchronological Chart of Universal History created by Sebastian C Adams in 1881, a visual representation of world history, spanning from 4004 BCE to 1881 CE (the David Rumsey Map Collection)A companion of a sort to last Friday’s post: In the 19th century, the linear idea of time became dominant. As Emily Thomas explains, that has had profound implications for how we experience the world…
‘It’s natural,’ says the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ‘to think that time can be represented by a line.’ We imagine the past stretching in a line behind us, the future stretching in an unseen line ahead. We ride an ever-moving arrow – the present. However, this picture of time is not natural. Its roots stretch only to the 18th century, yet this notion has now entrenched itself so deeply in Western thought that it’s difficult to imagine time as anything else. And this new representation of time has affected all kinds of things, from our understanding of history to time travel.
Let’s journey back to ancient Greece. Amid rolls of papyrus and purplish figs, philosophers like Plato looked up into the night. His creation myth, Timaeus, connected time with the movements of celestial bodies. The god ‘brought into being’ the sun, moon and other stars, for the ‘begetting of time’. They trace circles in the sky, creating days, months, years. The ‘wanderings’ of other, ‘bewilderingly numerous’ celestial bodies also make time. When all their wanderings are ‘completed together’, they achieve ‘consummation’ in a ‘perfect year’. At the end of this ‘Great Year’, all the heavenly bodies will have completed their cycles, returning to where they started. Taking millennia, this will complete one cycle of the universe. As ancient Greek philosophy spread through Europe, these ideas of time spread too. For instance, Greek and Roman Stoics connected time with their doctrine of ‘Eternal Recurrence’: the universe undergoes infinite cycles, ending and restarting in fire.
Such views of time are cyclical: time comprises a repeating cycle, as events occur, pass, and occur again. They echo processes in nature. Day and night. Summer to winter. As the historian Stephen Jay Gould explains in Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle (1987), within the West, cyclical conceptions dominated ancient thought. It’s even hinted at in the Bible. For example, Ecclesiastes proclaims: ‘What has been will be again … there is nothing new under the sun.’ Yet, Gould writes, the Bible also contains a linear conception of time: time comprises a one-way sequence of unrepeatable events. Take Biblical history: ‘God creates the earth once, instructs Noah to ride out a unique flood in a singular ark.’ Gould describes this linear understanding of history as an ‘important and distinctive’ contribution of Jewish thought. Biblical history helped power linear ideas of time.
Cyclical and linear conceptions of time thrived side by side for centuries, sometimes blurring into one another. After all, we live through natural, cyclical seasons and unrepeatable events – birth, first marriage, death. Importantly, medievals and early moderns didn’t literally see cyclical time as a circle, or linear time as a line. Yet in the 19th-century world of frock coats, petticoats and suet puddings, change was afoot. Gradually, the linear model of time gained ground, and thinkers literally began drawing time as a line…
[Thomas explores four key developments that fueled the shift, chronography (the development of timelines), Darwin and the emergence of the concept of evolution, chronophotography, and theories in math and physics of a “fourth dimension” (then explored by Einstein and Bergson, Mary Calkins and Victoria Welby, Bertrand Russell, H. G. Wells, and so many others…]
… Today, conceiving of time as a line remains widespread. Timelines are everywhere: in the history of evolution, the history of video games, and the history of chocolate. There’s even a timeline of timelines. And the effects of this line of thought (pun intended) are still with us. Philosophers continue to debate the reality of past and future: just check out this bumper encyclopaedia article on ‘Presentism’, ‘the view that only present things exist’. Time-travel stories run rife. Back to the Future. Groundhog Day. The Time Traveler’s Wife. Historians have largely dropped Victorian faith in the progress of humanity, yet progress stories about particular areas remain. For example, take this timeline: it straightforwardly depicts technological progress over time. All these ideas are powered by the notion that time is a line. Were we to reshape our idea of time, perhaps these other ideas would also find themselves bent into new forms…
“The Shape of Time,” from @aeon.co.
* Anthony Oettinger and separately, Susumu Kuno (though often mis-attributed to Groucho Marx)
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As we wonder at Yeat’s widening gyre, we might send echoing birthday greetings to Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu; he was born on this date in 1689. Better known simply as Montesquieu, he was a French judge, historian, and political philosopher.
Montesquieu is the principal source of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented (if not always observed) in many constitutions throughout the world. He is also known for doing more than any other author to secure the place of the word “despotism” in the political lexicon. His anonymously published The Spirit of Law (De l’esprit des lois, 1748; first translated into English in 1750) was received well in both Great Britain and the American colonies, and influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States in drafting the U.S. Constitution.
#art #culture #despotism #history #literature #Montesquieu #philosophy #politicalPhilosophy #politics #Psychology #Science #separationOfPowers #Technology #time #timeline #timelines -
“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana”*…
Detail from Adams Synchronological Chart of Universal History created by Sebastian C Adams in 1881, a visual representation of world history, spanning from 4004 BCE to 1881 CE (the David Rumsey Map Collection)A companion of a sort to last Friday’s post: In the 19th century, the linear idea of time became dominant. As Emily Thomas explains, that has had profound implications for how we experience the world…
‘It’s natural,’ says the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ‘to think that time can be represented by a line.’ We imagine the past stretching in a line behind us, the future stretching in an unseen line ahead. We ride an ever-moving arrow – the present. However, this picture of time is not natural. Its roots stretch only to the 18th century, yet this notion has now entrenched itself so deeply in Western thought that it’s difficult to imagine time as anything else. And this new representation of time has affected all kinds of things, from our understanding of history to time travel.
Let’s journey back to ancient Greece. Amid rolls of papyrus and purplish figs, philosophers like Plato looked up into the night. His creation myth, Timaeus, connected time with the movements of celestial bodies. The god ‘brought into being’ the sun, moon and other stars, for the ‘begetting of time’. They trace circles in the sky, creating days, months, years. The ‘wanderings’ of other, ‘bewilderingly numerous’ celestial bodies also make time. When all their wanderings are ‘completed together’, they achieve ‘consummation’ in a ‘perfect year’. At the end of this ‘Great Year’, all the heavenly bodies will have completed their cycles, returning to where they started. Taking millennia, this will complete one cycle of the universe. As ancient Greek philosophy spread through Europe, these ideas of time spread too. For instance, Greek and Roman Stoics connected time with their doctrine of ‘Eternal Recurrence’: the universe undergoes infinite cycles, ending and restarting in fire.
Such views of time are cyclical: time comprises a repeating cycle, as events occur, pass, and occur again. They echo processes in nature. Day and night. Summer to winter. As the historian Stephen Jay Gould explains in Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle (1987), within the West, cyclical conceptions dominated ancient thought. It’s even hinted at in the Bible. For example, Ecclesiastes proclaims: ‘What has been will be again … there is nothing new under the sun.’ Yet, Gould writes, the Bible also contains a linear conception of time: time comprises a one-way sequence of unrepeatable events. Take Biblical history: ‘God creates the earth once, instructs Noah to ride out a unique flood in a singular ark.’ Gould describes this linear understanding of history as an ‘important and distinctive’ contribution of Jewish thought. Biblical history helped power linear ideas of time.
Cyclical and linear conceptions of time thrived side by side for centuries, sometimes blurring into one another. After all, we live through natural, cyclical seasons and unrepeatable events – birth, first marriage, death. Importantly, medievals and early moderns didn’t literally see cyclical time as a circle, or linear time as a line. Yet in the 19th-century world of frock coats, petticoats and suet puddings, change was afoot. Gradually, the linear model of time gained ground, and thinkers literally began drawing time as a line…
[Thomas explores four key developments that fueled the shift, chronography (the development of timelines), Darwin and the emergence of the concept of evolution, chronophotography, and theories in math and physics of a “fourth dimension” (then explored by Einstein and Bergson, Mary Calkins and Victoria Welby, Bertrand Russell, H. G. Wells, and so many others…]
… Today, conceiving of time as a line remains widespread. Timelines are everywhere: in the history of evolution, the history of video games, and the history of chocolate. There’s even a timeline of timelines. And the effects of this line of thought (pun intended) are still with us. Philosophers continue to debate the reality of past and future: just check out this bumper encyclopaedia article on ‘Presentism’, ‘the view that only present things exist’. Time-travel stories run rife. Back to the Future. Groundhog Day. The Time Traveler’s Wife. Historians have largely dropped Victorian faith in the progress of humanity, yet progress stories about particular areas remain. For example, take this timeline: it straightforwardly depicts technological progress over time. All these ideas are powered by the notion that time is a line. Were we to reshape our idea of time, perhaps these other ideas would also find themselves bent into new forms…
“The Shape of Time,” from @aeon.co.
* Anthony Oettinger and separately, Susumu Kuno (though often mis-attributed to Groucho Marx)
###
As we wonder at Yeat’s widening gyre, we might send echoing birthday greetings to Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu; he was born on this date in 1689. Better known simply as Montesquieu, he was a French judge, historian, and political philosopher.
Montesquieu is the principal source of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented (if not always observed) in many constitutions throughout the world. He is also known for doing more than any other author to secure the place of the word “despotism” in the political lexicon. His anonymously published The Spirit of Law (De l’esprit des lois, 1748; first translated into English in 1750) was received well in both Great Britain and the American colonies, and influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States in drafting the U.S. Constitution.
#art #culture #despotism #history #literature #Montesquieu #philosophy #politicalPhilosophy #politics #Psychology #Science #separationOfPowers #Technology #time #timelineTimelines -
It is clear that the monarch who, through bad counsel or negligence, ceases to see that the laws are executed can easily repair the damage: he has only to get a new counsellor, or correct his own negligence. But when, in a popular government, the laws have ceased to be executed, since this can result only from corruption of the republic, the state is already undone.
[Il est clair encore que le monarque qui, par mauvais conseil ou par négligence, cesse de faire exécuter les loix, peut aisément réparer le mal ; il n’a qu’à changer de conseil, ou se corriger de cette négligence même. Mais lorsque, dans un gouvernement populaire, les loix ont cessé d’être exécutées, comme cela ne peut venir que de la corruption de la république, l’état est déja perdu.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 3, ch. 3 (1748) [tr. Stewart (2018)]More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81324/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #corruption #democracy #enforcement #justicesystem #lawenforcement #laws
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As useless laws weaken necessary laws, those that can be evaded weaken legislation.
[Comme les lois inutiles affaiblissent les lois nécessaires, celles qu’on peut éluder affaiblissent la législation.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 29, ch. 16 (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/2895/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #evasion #law #legislation #mockery #perception #utility
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When legislative power is united with executive power in a single person or in a single body of the magistracy, there is no liberty, because one can fear that the same monarch or senate that makes tyrannical laws will execute them tyrannically.
Nor is there liberty if the power of judging is not separate from legislative power and from executive power. If it were joined to legislative power, the power over the life and liberty of the citizens would be arbitrary, for the judge would be the legislator. If it were joined to executive power, the judge could have the force of an oppressor.
All would be lost if the same man or the same body of principal men, either of nobles, or of the people, exercised these three powers: that of making the laws, that of executing public resolutions, and that of judging the crimes or the disputes of individuals.
[Lorsque, dans la même personne ou dans le même corps de magistrature, la puissance législative est réunie à la puissance exécutrice, il n’y a point de liberté ; parce qu’on peut craindre que le même monarque ou le même sénat ne fasse des loix tyranniques, pour les exécuter tyranniquement.
Il n’y a point encore de liberté, si la puissance de juger n’est pas séparée de la puissance législative, & de l’exécutrice. Si elle étoit jointe à la puissance législative, le pouvoir sur la vie & la liberté des citoyens seroit arbitraire; car le juge seroit législateur. Si elle étoit jointe à la puissance exécutrice, le juge pourroit avoir la force d’un oppresseur.
Tout seroit perdu, si le même homme, ou le même corps des principaux, ou des nobles, ou du peuple, exerçoient ces trois pouvoirs; celui de faire des loix, celui d’exécuter les résolutions publiques, & celui de juger les crimes ou les différends des particuliers.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 11, ch. 6 (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/80796/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #checksandbalances #executive #judiciary #laws #legislature #separationofpowers #tyranny
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Political freedom in a citizen is the tranquility of mind that comes from the opinion each one has of his security; and for him to have this freedom, the government must be such that one citizen cannot fear another citizen.
[La liberté politique, dans un citoyen, est cette tranquillité d’esprit qui provient de l’opinion que chacun a de sa sûreté: &, pour qu’on ait cette liberté, il faut que le gouvernement soit tel, qu’un citoyen ne puisse pas craindre un autre citoyen.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 11, ch. 6 (1748) [tr. Stewart (2018)]More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/80520/
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The corruption of each government almost always begins with that of its principles.
[La corruption de chaque government commence presque toujours par celle des principes.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 8, ch. 1 (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/80449/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #corruption #decadence #decay #deterioration #government #politicalsystem #principle
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The corruption of each government almost always begins with that of its principles.
[La corruption de chaque government commence presque toujours par celle des principes.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 8, ch. 1 (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/80449/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #corruption #decadence #decay #deterioration #government #politicalsystem #principle
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The corruption of each government almost always begins with that of its principles.
[La corruption de chaque government commence presque toujours par celle des principes.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 8, ch. 1 (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/80449/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #corruption #decadence #decay #deterioration #government #politicalsystem #principle
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The corruption of each government almost always begins with that of its principles.
[La corruption de chaque government commence presque toujours par celle des principes.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 8, ch. 1 (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/80449/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #corruption #decadence #decay #deterioration #government #politicalsystem #principle
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The corruption of each government almost always begins with that of its principles.
[La corruption de chaque government commence presque toujours par celle des principes.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 8, ch. 1 (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/80449/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #corruption #decadence #decay #deterioration #government #politicalsystem #principle
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A kingdom is not brought nearer to ruin by the tyranny of the sovereign than is a republic by indifference to the common welfare.
[La tyrannie d’un prince ne met pas un État plus près de sa ruine que l’indifférence pour le bien commun n’y met une république.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline [Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence], ch. 4 (1734, 1748 ed.) [tr. Baker (1882)]More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/2897/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #apathy #commongood #commonwealth #democracy #destruction #generalwelfare #indifference #republic #ruin
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No tyranny is more cruel than the one practiced in the shadow of the laws and under color of justice — when, so to speak, one proceeds to drown the unfortunate on the very plank by which they had saved themselves.
[Il n’y a point de plus cruelle tyrannie que celle que l’on exerce à l’ombre des lois et avec les couleurs de la justice, lorsqu’on va, pour ainsi dire, noyer des malheureux sur la planche même sur laquelle ils s’étaient sauvés.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline [Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence], ch. 14 “Tiberius” (1734, 1748 ed.) [tr. Lowenthal (1965)]More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/79852/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #despotism #injustice #justicesystem #laws #legalsystem #tyranny #weaponized #cruelty
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Autour des soubresauts de la politique française, Céline Spector, professeure de philosophie (Sorbonne Université, Collège Européen de Bruges), oriente vers une crise plus large, celle de la démocratie libérale, en s'appuyant, entre autres, sur la pensée de Montesquieu.
Reste à mettre en oeuvre les voies de sortie..."[Les] erreurs politiques du président et les pirouettes pathétiques de partis aux abois ne suffisent pas à rendre raison de la gravité de la crise. A l’évidence, celle-ci n’est pas spécifiquement française : il s’agit d’une crise de la démocratie européenne et plus largement de la démocratie libérale à l’époque d’un capitalisme mondialisé, financiarisé et concentré, inapte à maîtriser l’explosion des inégalités".
#polfr #politique #crise #democratie #democratieliberale #montesquieu #philosophiepolitique