Thursday, June 27, 2013
5.55 (PC Hoofthuis)
“Europe, Montesquieu writes in his Esprit des Lois, is separated by the rest of the world by religion”; then in a note he adds: “Mahometan countries surround it almost on every side”. For the great philosophe, literally, Europe is defined by Islam. It is at once a geographical as much as a cultural delimitation. Much has been written on the contrast between Europe and Asia and between Europe and the Islamic world in Montesquieu’s writings. In the face of oriental despotism, Europe is depicted as a space of moderation and political liberty. While this is often related to climatic or geographical differences – in the writings of the Baron de la Brède an important factor in shaping cultural differences – an important cause lies also in religious differences, in the opposition between Christianity and Islam. While in fact Christianity is considered by Montesquieu a religion prone to moderation and one open to toleration, on the contrary the main trait of Islam is its intolerance. Of course the ideas expounded by Montesquieu on this issue are a simplification and, at times, are downright wrong – and against his ideas already in 1778 Anquetil-Duperron wrote his Législation orientale – but the opposition remains nonetheless and it did have a great impact on the way Europe imagined itself in contrast to the Islamic ‘other’. One important aspect of Montesquieu’s dichotomy, one unduly neglect until recent, is precisely his view on tolerance. The opposition this paper will focus on is the one between a Europe as the space of tolerance or on the path of freeing itself from intolerance – with the exception of Spain and Portugal – and an intolerant Islam, stressing the consequences such view had on Montesquieu’s political vision of Europe.
