Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T08:27:32.330Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Montesquieu's Teaching on the Dangers of Extreme Corrections: Japan, the Catholic Inquisition, and Moderation in The Spirit of the Laws

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2017

NATHANIEL GILMORE  and
VICKIE B. SULLIVAN
NATHANIEL GILMORE*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
VICKIE B. SULLIVAN*
Affiliation:
Tufts University
*
Nathaniel Gilmore is Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, Sidney Smith Hall, Room 3018, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3 (NGilmore17@gmail.com). Phone: 647-229-3867; Fax: 207-363-6401.
Vickie B. Sullivan is Cornelia M. Jackson Professor, Department of Political Science, Packard Hall, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155 (vickie.sullivan@tufts.edu). Phone: 617-627-2328; Fax: 617-627-3660.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Explicitly and implicitly in The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu binds together the Japanese who persecute Christians and the Inquisitors of Catholicism who persecute heretics. In seeking purity, both sets of vehement reformers impose atrocious punishments. In so binding the abuses of the East and West together, the work is an expression neither of Orientalism nor of Eurocentrism as conventionally understood. Although Montesquieu thus offers a critical approach to Europe's vulnerability to reformers who go to extremes, whether pious zealots who seek to perpetuate Christianity or zealous Enlightenment philosophes who would seek to eradicate it, many commentators have focused on the work's apparent neutrality with regard to the various cultural phenomena it examines. The key to understanding Montesquieu's reserved tone lies in his commitment to moderation. Given the West's continuing vulnerability to extremism of various types, Montesquieu's moderate teaching on the need for moderation in corrections remains pressingly relevant.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 111 , Issue 3 , August 2017 , pp. 460 - 470
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

An earlier version of this article was presented at the American Political Science Association convention in 2015 in San Francisco. We thank our respondent at that presentation Khalil Habib as well as Robert Devigne and Dennis Rasmussen for their helpful comments on earlier drafts. Our argument benefitted from the advice and suggestions of the reviewers and editors of the APSR. We are also grateful to Deborah Schildkraut and Samuel R. Sommers for offering insights from their respective areas of expertise. Finally, we thank Alexander Trubowitz for his editorial assistance.

References

REFERENCES

Althusser, Louis. [1972] 2007. Politics and History: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Marx. Trans. Ben Brewster. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Ansart, Guillaume. 2009. “Variations on Montesquieu: Raynal and Diderot's Histoire des deux Indes and the American Revolution.” Journal of the History of Ideas 70:3 (July): 399–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arendt, Hannah. [1951] 1966. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.Google Scholar
Aron, Raymond. 1968. Main Currents in Sociological Thought. Trans. Richard Howard and Helen Weaver. 2 vols. New York: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Bartlett, Robert C. 2001. “On the Politics of Faith and Reason: The Project of Enlightenment in Pierre Bayle and Montesquieu.” The Journal of Politics 63:1 (February): 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beiner, Ronald. 2010. Civil Religion: A Dialogue in the History of Political Thought. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binoche, Bertrand. 1998. Introduction à “De l'esprit des lois” de Montesquieu. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Carrese, Paul O. 2003. The Cloaking of Power: Montesquieu, Blackstone, and the Rise of Judicial Activism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrese, Paul O. 2016. Democracy in Moderation: Montesquieu, Tocqueville, and Sustainable Liberalism. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrithers, David W. 1998. “Montesquieu's Philosophy of Punishment.” History of Political Thought 19:2 (Summer): 213–40.Google Scholar
Carrithers, David W. 2001. “Montesquieu and the Liberal Philosophy of Jurisprudence.” In Montesquieu's Science of Politics: Essays on “The Spirit of Laws,” eds. Carrithers, David W., Mosher, Michael A., and Rahe, Paul A.. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 291–334.Google Scholar
Craiutu, Aurelian. 2012. A Virtue for Courageous Minds: Moderation in French Political Thought, 1748–1830. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Curtis, Michael. 2009. Orientalism and Islam: European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Dijn, Annelien. 2014. “Was Montesquieu a Liberal Republican?” Review of Politics 76:1 (Winter): 21–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodds, Muriel. 1929. Les récits de voyages: Sources de L'Esprit des Lois de Montesquieu. Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honoré Champion.Google Scholar
Euben, Roxanne L. 2006. Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fletcher, F. T. H. 1933. “Montesquieu's Influence on Anti-Slavery Opinion in England.” The Journal of Negro History 18:4 (October): 414–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gargett, Graham. 1994. Jacob Vernet, Geneva, and the “Philosophes.” Oxford: Voltaire Foundation.Google Scholar
Gay, Peter. 1959. Voltaire's Politics: The Poet as Realist. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gibbon, Edward. [1776–88] 1994. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 2. New York: Everyman's Library.Google Scholar
Gottheil, Richard and Kayserling, Meyer. 1906. “Inquisition.” In Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Vol. 6. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 587–603.Google Scholar
Hegghammer, Thomas. 2013. “Should I Stay or Should I Go?: Explaining Variation in Western Jihadists’ Choice between Domestic and Foreign Fighting.” The American Political Science Review 107:1 (February): 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hobson, John M. 2012. The Eurocentric Conception of World Politics: Western International Theory, 1760–2010. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulliung, Mark. 1976. Montesquieu and the Old Regime. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelley, Donald R. 1990. The Human Measure: Social Thought in the Western Legal Tradition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keohane, Nannerl O. 1972. “Virtuous Republics and Glorious Monarchies: Two Models in Montesquieu's Political Thought.” Political Studies 22:4 (December): 383–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingston, Rebecca E. 2001. “Montesquieu on Religion and on the Question of Toleration.” In Montesquieu's Science of Politics: Essays on ‘The Spirit of Laws,'” eds. Carrithers, David W., Mosher, Michael A., and Rahe, Paul A.. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 375–408.Google Scholar
Koebner, R. 1951. “Despot and Despotism: Vicissitudes of a Political Term.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 14:3–4: 275–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krause, Sharon. 2000. “The Spirit of Separate Powers in Montesquieu.” Review of Politics 62:2 (Spring): 231–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krause, Sharon. 2001. “Despotism in Spirit of Laws .” In Montesquieu's Science of Politics: Essays on “The Spirit of Laws,” eds. Carrithers, David W., Mosher, Michael A., and Rahe, Paul A.. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 231–71.Google Scholar
La Roche, Abbé Jacques Fontaine. [1749] 1878. “Examen Critique de l'Esprit des Lois.” In Œuvres Complètes de Montesquieu, ed. Édouard, Laboulaye. Vol. 6. Paris: Garnier Frères, 115–37.Google Scholar
Lowe, Lisa. 1990. “Rereadings in Orientalism: Oriental Inventions and Inventions of the Orient in Montesquieu's Lettres Persanes .” Cultural Critique 15 (Spring): 115–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowenthal, David. 1970. “The Design of Montesquieu's Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline .” Interpretation 1:2 (Winter): 144–68.Google Scholar
Midlarsky, Manus I. 2011. Origins of Political Extremism: Mass Violence in the Twentieth Century and Beyond. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minuti, Rolando. 2013. “Japan.” Trans. Philip Stewart. In Dictionnaire Montesquieu, ed. Catherine Volpilhac-Auger. Lyon: ENS. Retrieved January 17, 2017. (http://dictionnaire-montesquieu.ens-lyon.fr/en/article/1377668415/en/)Google Scholar
Montesquieu. 1949–51. Œuvres complètes, ed. Caillois, Roger. 2 vols. Paris: Gallimard, Pléiade.Google Scholar
Montesquieu. 1989. The Spirit of the Laws. Trans. Anne M. Cohler, Basia C. Miller, and Harold S. Stone. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Montesquieu. 1993. The Persian Letters. Trans. C. J. Betts. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Montesquieu. 2008. De l'esprit des lois, Manuscrits . Vols. 3 and 4 of Œuvres complètes de Montesquieu, ed. Catherine Volpilhac-Auger. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation.Google Scholar
Mosher, Michael A. 2001. “Monarchy's Paradox: Honor in the Face of Sovereign Power.” In Montesquieu's Science of Politics: Essays on ‘The Spirit of Laws,'” eds. Carrithers, David W., Mosher, Michael A., and Rahe, Paul A.. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 159–229.Google Scholar
Orwin, Clifford. 2010. “‘For Which Human Nature Can Never Be Too Grateful’: Montesquieu as the Heir of Christianity.” In Recovering Reason: Essays in Honor of Thomas L. Pangle, ed. Burns, Timothy. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 269–82.Google Scholar
Pangle, Thomas L. 1973. Montesquieu's Philosophy of Liberalism: A Commentary on “The Spirit of the Laws.” Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pangle, Thomas L. 2010. The Theological Basis of Liberal Modernity in Montesquieu's “Spirit of the Laws.” Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Plesse, Père. [1749]1878. “Lettre au P.B.J. sur le Intitulé: L'Esprit des Lois .” In Œuvres Complètes de Montesquieu, ed. Édouard, Laboulaye. Vol. 6. Paris: Garnier Frères, 101–13.Google Scholar
Rahe, Paul A. 2009. Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty: War, Religion, Commerce, Climate, Terrain, Technology, Uneasiness of Mind, the Spirit of Political Vigilance, and the Foundations of the Modern Republic. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, Dennis C. 2014. The Pragmatic Enlightenment: Recovering the Liberalism of Hume, Smith, Montesquieu, and Voltaire. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Renneville, Constantin de. 1725. Recueil des voiages qui ont servi à l'établissement & aux progrès de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales, formée dans les Provinces-Unies des Païs-Bas: Seconde Edition revue et augmemntée de plusieurs pieces curieuses. 7 vols. Amsterdam: J. F. Bernard.Google Scholar
Richter, Melvin. 1973. “Despotism.” In Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas, ed. Philip, P. Wiener. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1–18.Google Scholar
Richter, Melvin. 1995. “Montesquieu's Comparative Analysis of Europe and Asia: Intended and Unintended Consequences.” In l'Europe de Montesquieu, eds. Postigliola, Alberto and Paulumbo, Maria Grazis Bottaro. Naples: Liguori, 317–36.Google Scholar
Rossides, Daniel W. 1998. Social Theory: Its Origins, History, and Contemporary Relevance. Dix Hills, NY: General Hall.Google Scholar
Rubiés, Joan-Pau. 2005. “Oriental Despotism and European Orientalism: Botero to Montesquieu.” Journal of Early Modern History 9 (1): 109–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Said, Edward W. 1979. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Schaub, Diana J. 1995. Erotic Liberalism: Women and Revolution in Montesquieu's “Persian Letters.” Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Schaub, Diana. 1999. “Of Believers and Barbarians: Montesquieu's Enlightened Toleration.” In Early Modern Skepticism and the Origins of Toleration, ed. Levine, Alan. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 225–47.Google Scholar
Shackleton, Robert. 1961. Montesquieu: A Critical Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Vickie. 2013. “Criminal Procedure as the Most Important Knowledge and the Distinction between Human and Divine Justice in Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws .” In Natural Right and Political Philosophy: Essays in Honor of Catherine Zuckert and Michael Zuckert, eds. Ann and Lee Ward. Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 153–73.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Vickie B. 2017. Montesquieu and the Despotic Ideas of Europe: An Interpretation of “The Spirit of the Laws.” Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, Henry Ashby Jr. 1972. “Fascism and Modernization.” World Politics 24:4 (July): 547–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, Jonathan H., , Leonard Beeghley, and Powers, Charles H.. 2012. The Emergence of Sociological Theory. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Vile, M. J. C. [1967]2009. “Montesquieu.” In Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, ed. Carrithers, David. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 419–42.Google Scholar
Waddicor, Mark H. 1970. Montesquieu and the Philosophy of Natural Law. The Hague: Martinus Nijhhoff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, George. 1760. A System of the Principles of the Law of Scotland. Edinburgh: G. Hamilton and J. Balfour.Google Scholar
White, Hayden V. 1967. Introduction to The Fascist Tradition: Radical Right-Wing Extremism in Modern Europe by Weiss, John. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Zuckert, Michael. 2004. “Natural Rights and Modern Constitutionalism.” Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights 2:1 (Spring): 42–66.Google Scholar