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Two thinkers, side by side

Life

Portrait of Montesquieu
Montesquieu

1689 CE – 1755 CE

EnlightenmentFrench

Born Bordeaux

He studied laws the way others studied nature, and gave the modern world the separation of powers.

Portrait of Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte

1798 CE – 1857 CE

PositivistFrench

Born Montpellier

He argued that human thought passes through three ages (the religious, the philosophical, and the scientific) and tried to found a new science, and eventually a new religion, for the last one.

Connection

Montesquieu society as something with laws of its own Auguste Comte — Comte's claim that social life can be studied scientifically follows the path Montesquieu opened when he treated laws as arising from climate, commerce and custom rather than from a legislator's will.

Shared Places

ParisParis

Ideas

Natural LawJusticeTolerance
ProgressReason

Words

“Constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it.”

— Montesquieu

“Savoir pour prévoir, prévoir pour pouvoir.”

— Auguste Comte

“Love as a principle, order as a basis, progress as a goal.”

— Auguste Comte

Key Moments

1689 CE

Born near Bordeaux

1721 CE

Persian Letters

1748 CE

The Spirit of the Laws

1755 CE

Death in Bordeaux

1824

Breaks with Saint-Simon

1851

Founds the Religion of Humanity

Works

The Spirit of the Laws

Course of Positive Philosophy

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Volume I · Ancient Greece · 624-262 BCE