| Montesquieu was a famous enlightenment thinker of France in the 18th century. Montesquieu lived in an era when French autocratic monarchy developed into the highest peak and turned to decline sharply. The ancient regime was facing its overall crisis in France. Meanwhile, the brand-new capitalist system had been established in England. Moreover, because of the achievements of natural science, the whole Europe, especially France was covered in the atmosphere of rationalism. As those who were at the same stage with him, Montesquieu stood at the frontier of his age to criticize the autocracy, the superstition of the church and religious fanatical atrocities with reason. However, he didn't be infected completely with the rising atmosphere of rationalism in this course, and his thoughts deviated a little from reason. The study of Montesquieu's thoughts concentrated more on the rational side of his theory about political freedom, the division of power, with its checks and balances and objection to the church, nevertheless, less on his deviating from the rational side. This paper attempts to recommend, explain and refine Montesquieu's enlightenment thoughts from two aspects of reason and its deviation. And the paper has investigated how these two aspects run through all the fields of Montesquieu's thoughts such as his politic thoughts, law thoughts, religion thoughts and historical thoughts, so as to grasp Montesquieu's enlightenment thoughts in an all-round way, avoiding understanding and explaining them summarily. |
