Whilst speaking of the French, I was engaged in a discussion of Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws (an important work that had profound influence on the US Constitution’s system of separation of powers and checks and balances) where the author discusses why we have society, and he notes:
Fear, I have observed, would induce men to shun one another; but the marks of this fear being reciprocal, would soon engage them to associate.
In other words, peace and human relations arise, at least partially, out of the mutual fear humans feel for one another. This particular philosophical point of view (which differs radically from Hobbes) struck me as amusing in the current conversation of French diplomacy, and their historical propensities to surrender and appease.
I am not acussing Montesquieu of being the Father of French Diplomacy, but nonetheless thought the passage ironic and highly entertaining.
August 10th, 2024 at 10:35 am