Philosophy

=The Philosophy of Montesquieu=

Montesquieu had many ideas about philosophy, but his main idea was that "government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another". Most of his philosophy is based around this. He speculates which governments could do this best and how these governments could do well. Montesquieu's philosophy was not that of an optimist or a pessimist on the part of humanity. He had very clear ideas on what kinds of governments would do certain things for its people, and he thought that a government that would promote freedom and equality in the eyes of the law would be a good one. Montesquieu had ideas about how different climates could have different effects on people in a society, for instance, he thought that hotter climates produced lazier, more relaxed people, while colder climates, produced rugged, serious people. The reason for this was because producing food and sustaining life in general was more difficult to do in colder climates, forcing people to work hard and waste less. He did not think that people were generally evil or generally good, but he reasoned on the basis that people wanted to survive happily and and free, and he understood that different people had a different idea of happiness. Montesquieu also reasoned that governments used propaganda not to alter what people want, but to make people think that if they do things the way that the government tells them to than the people will get what they want.