ABSTRACT
The original variety of alternatives is much more manifest in the writings of Baron de Montesquieu than in those of Locke. Indeed, it was largely against the doctrinaire, as well as the incendiary, character of Locked natural-rights teaching that The Spirit of the Laws contended. Montesquieu sought to complement the natural philosophies of Descartes and Newton with a political philosophy reviving the comprehensive variety and prudent flexibility of Aristotle. Montesquieu's statement on democracy consists of more than empirical observations. His principal aim is to delineate the best democracy–a regime combining features culled from both history and political writings. In The Spirit of the Laws, however, and, especially in the early books, he seems intent on showing the purely political or natural character of citizen morality and its independence of both Christianity and pagan religion. The contradiction of classical political philosophy on its own ground–the ground of the common good–will then be complete, and the people finally have received their due.
