Baron de Montesquieu Essay Example

Baron de Montesquieu was a French philosopher who lived around the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. This was before the French Revolution. He believed strongly in Thomas Locke, who was another French philosopher. Montesquieu also wrote many books that greatly influenced the society he was in at that time. Although Montesquieu was thought to be fair, he believed in slavery. Other ideas that he had were that women were not equal to men, but could still run government. He believed that women were too weak to be in control. Montesquieu thought since women were more calm and gentle that they would be helpful qualities in making decisions in government but not anything else. Montesquieu wrote three major books when he lived. His first published work was Lettres Persanes, or Persian Letters. This book deals with the criticism of the wealthy French lifestyle. The book is about two Persian’s who take a trip to Paris. Montesquieu ridicules the two people throughout the book. Montesquieu strongly disliked despotism. Despotism is a government run by a tyrant. In another book, Spirit Of The Laws, he uses despotism to tell about how the different governments get corrupt. He believed that the only reason a despotism starts is because of a corruption in a republican or monarchy government. Montesquieu believed that all things were made up of rules or laws that never changed. He set out to study these laws with the hope that knowledge of the laws of government would reduce the problems of society and improve human life. He was very active in his economy and had a joy for doing so. This made him a very influential person in his society. Despite Montesquieu’s belief in the principles of a democracy, he did not feel that all people were equal. Montesquieu approved of slavery. He also thought that women were weaker than men and that they had to obey the commands of their husband. However, he also felt that women did have the