The Politics of <i>esprit</i> in <i>De l’esprit des lois</i>

The concept of esprit is central to Montesquieu’s political philosophy. This essay investigates Montesquieu’s usage of the term, focusing on his magnum opus, De l’esprit des lois. Montesquieu shows that a multitude of variables in a society, including the laws, commerce, and religion, interact with one another to form (and in turn are formed by) the esprit or character of a society. Since each society has a distinct esprit that changes over time, Montesquieu is a proponent of a framework I call the ‘politics of place’