Montesquieu’s<i>Dur-Commerce</i>thesis

Brennan, Timothy A

doi:10.1080/01916599.2020.1809490

History of European Ideas

2020

DOI: 10.1080/01916599.2020.1809490

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Montesquieu’sDur-Commercethesis

Timothy A Brennan

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“…Albert O. Hirschman famously described these individuals as theorists of doux commerce. On the other were the critics of Montesquieu, such as Rousseau, who often spoke in the language of civic virtue and denounced the selfishness and inequality that accompanied the rise of commercial society (Brennan 2021;Hirschman 2013;Mendham 2010;Rosenblatt 2007, chap. 2). 3 However, as I argue, even many of those who believed that commerce had a civilizing effect were far less optimistic about it than today's interpretations-which largely follow Hirschman's lead-suggest.…”

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Oriental Despotism and the Limits of Doux Commerce, from Montesquieu to Raynal

Yoon

2022

Political Theory

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According to one interpretation, Montesquieu believed that laws should be suited to the particular physical and moral characteristics of a nation, and that political change should not be abruptly imposed. However, as Montesquieu nonetheless condemned despotism, he argued that change in despotic regimes should happen gradually through the noncoercive alternative of doux commerce. My aim is to challenge this interpretation of Montesquieu in two ways. First of all, Montesquieu was far more skeptical about the possibility of political change; so strong was his physical determinism that Montesquieu himself thought that despotic states could not be reformed, even through commerce. Second, even though successors of Montesquieu—such as the Abbé Raynal—did view the use of force in reforming despotic states as futile and preferred commerce as a benign alternative, they had to acknowledge that even commerce could not take root in those supposedly despotic states without coercion. The two most representative doux commerce theorists of the eighteenth century, when confronted with the prevailing trope of Oriental despotism, were far less optimistic about the civilizing effect of commerce than today’s interpretations suggest. My reading of The Spirit of the Laws and The History of the Two Indies suggests the limits of turning to eighteenth-century doux commerce ideals to theorize political reform in so-called despotic governments today.

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Oriental Despotism and the Limits of Doux Commerce, from Montesquieu to Raynal

Yoon

2022

Political Theory

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The Role of Philosophy in Hume’s Critique of Empire

Zeng

2023

International Journal of Philosophical Studies

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Montesquieu’sDur-Commercethesis

Cited by 2 publications

References 28 publications

Oriental Despotism and the Limits of Doux Commerce, from Montesquieu to Raynal

Oriental Despotism and the Limits of Doux Commerce, from Montesquieu to Raynal

The Role of Philosophy in Hume’s Critique of Empire

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