Montesquieu et le langage républicain: l'argumentaire de l'Esprit des Lois

International audienceDe l'Esprit des lois Montesquieu's magnum opus was immediately held in Europe as a summa of social, political and legal science and widely distributed throughout Europe. Its influence on the political thought of eighteenth century, the number and variety of critical comments up to this day, all testify to the richness of its concepts in the way to conceive politics. Its reception ties up with the methodological relativism of its conception, since the purpose was to account for the complexity of relationships and establishment processes of political institutions, which are always reduced to their relative nature under the sign of a nation's history and general spirit. The contribution will focus on the ideological context of the formulation of l'Esprit des lois, particularly on republicanism according to its English variation, in order to understand the rhetorical function of the typology, principles and use of republican language in Montesquieu's political argumentation