Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws

  • Thread starter Thread starter thementalwombat
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

thementalwombat

Guest
(I’m not sure if this is the right forum to put this in, but Montesquieu was a philosopher of sorts as one of the philosophes, so I thought I’d try here.)

I have a question regarding Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws (or De l’esprit des lois for the snobs out there). I have read from numerous sources this book was placed on the Vaticans list of banned books at the time, but I have not been able to find out why. The little I have been able to find out about the work itself has given me no indication as to why the Catholic Church might object to this work. (No I have not read it, otherwise I probably would not need to ask about it.)

I know that his Persian Letters (*Lettres persanes *) satirized elements of the Catholic Church, but I am unsure what objectionable ideas he might have put forward in The Spirit of the Laws. Does anyone have any idea why the Catholic Church banned this book?
 
Just a guess that maybe all the writer’s works were banned since his Lettres Persanes was. That is, Montesquieu himself was on the list of banned writers.
 
They probably didn’t get around to actually reading it too. The colour of the book cover, perhaps?
 
Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut. I’ll try those sources.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top