POL 2108 Lecture Notes - Montesquieu, Determinism
27 Mar 2014
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Pol 2108 a - modern political thought i - guy c t - 21 mar. Says that our personalities are derived from our social climates, environments, Human nature is determined: he talks about 3 different regimes, each with their pros & cons, republic (democracy/aristocracy) To him, democracy does not exactly mean that everyone participates in politics, but love of the republic. To be able to participate in this democracy, it depends on what you own and your virtue (love of republic). Virtue is attained by education, which will teach you to love your country and its laws, patriotism. He thinks that if democracy was open to everyone, it could lead to mediocrity, since not everyone is good in politics. To him, the basis of a democracy is the nearly equal distribution of money. Since everyone"s equal, everyone shares interests and goals, and he characterizes democracy as an elimination of individual interests, that everyone works for the state.
