Discerning Spirits (of the Laws): Moderation and the Case of Egypt

• In Event: Reading Montesquieu

Abstract

In this paper, I contend that while despotic formulations remain the most alarming kinds of domination for Montesquieu, he demonstrates (sometimes implicitly) that such forms of domination can be effectively resisted through contextualized forms of moderation. Such contextualized moderations speak to the dynamism of various “spirits” of the laws and the protean forms of despotism with which they must do battle. Crucially, the moderation of tendencies toward despotism in a given location requires knowing what to preserve and what to change or innovate with respect to that context’s inherited ecology & institutions. The spirits of the laws, like moderation, are not uniform for every political community; resisting despotism requires different balances based on context, hence the need for multiple approaches to despotic threats and mitigations. And notably, this goes beyond mere regime pluralism; one model cannot be used for every context. I focus on Montesquieu's discussion of Egypt, in particular.

Author

• Alex Haskins, Wheaton College