Thought experiments are ubiquitous in science and especially prominent in domains in which experimental and observational evidence is scarce. One such domain is the causal analysis of singular events in history. A long‐standing tradition that goes back to Max Weber addresses the issue by means of ‘what‐if’ counterfactuals. In this paper I give a descriptive account of this widely used method and argue that historians following it examine difference makers rather than causes in the philosopher’s sense. While difference making is (...) neither necessary nor sufficient for causation, to establish difference makers is more consistent with the historians’ more ultimate purposes. †To contact the author, please write to: Department of Philosophy, Erasmus University, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands; e‐mail: [email protected]. (shrink)

A prominent historiographic theme in the past decade has been a movement away from causal explanation of large-scale processes and outcomes and toward narrative interpretation of singular historical processes. This article argues for the continued vitality of large-scale historical inquiry and surveys the historiographic issues that arise in large-scale historical explanation. The article proceeds through an examination of several important recent examples of large-scale history: comparative history of Europe and China, the history of alternative forms of industrial organization, and the (...) history of technology. These three cases provide the basis for a conception of what may be called "conjunctural contingent meso-level" explanations: explanations that identify intermediate-level structures and processes and highlight both the structural factors that govern change and the multiple pathways that change can take. (shrink)

This fresh examination of the works of Montesquieu seeks to understand the shortcomings of the modern democratic state in light of this great political thinker’s insightful critique of commercial republicanism. The western democracies’ muted response to victory in the Cold War signaled the presence of a pervasive discontent, a sense that despite this victory liberal democracy itself was deeply flawed. Paul A. Rahe argues that to understand this phenomenon we must re-examine—starting with Montesquieu—the nature of liberal democracy, its character, and (...) its propensities. In a brilliant exposition of the works of Montesquieu Rahe identifies the profound sense of uneasiness fostered by the modern republic as a source of weakness and as the principal cause of the present discontents. (shrink)

To give a causal explanation is to give information about causal history. But a vast amount of causal history lies behind anything that happens, far too much to be included in any intelligible explanation. This is the Problem of Limitation for explanatory information. To cope with this problem, explanations must select for what is relevant to and adequate for answering particular inquiries. In the present paper this idea is used in order to distinguish two kinds of causal explanation, on the (...) grounds of systematic differences in their conditions of relevance and adequacy. It is further argued that these two forms of causal explanation are interdependent and their interaction provides an instrument through which causal knowledge is acquired and enhanced. What we understand causation in the world to be is neither unconditioned regularity, nor counterfactual dependence, but the sum of correct answers to explanatory inquiries of these two interdependent kinds. (shrink)

A combination of process and counterfactual theories of causation is proposed with the aim of preserving the strengths of each of the approaches while avoiding their shortcomings. The basis for the combination, or hybrid, view is the need, common to both accounts, of imposing a stability requirement on the causal relation.

On the face of it, Montesquieu's Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline would appear to be a work of erudition and a philosophical history, and as such it has generally been read. It was never, however, intended to stand alone. It was composed as part of a larger, polemical work, akin in purpose to the Philosophical Letters of Voltaire, and it should be read in light of the other components of that work - (...) Montesquieu's Reflections on Universal Monarchy in Europe and his Constitution of England. Had Montesquieu not been forced by fear of the censor to suppress the book he at first intended to publish, we would not now have difficulty in recognizing his little tract on the Romans as a meditation on the significance of the Duke of Marlborough's victories over Louis XIV in the War of the Spanish Succession. (shrink)

Sciences politiques, économie politique.

Cette édition numérique a été réalisée à partir d'un support physique, parfois ancien, conservé au sein du dépôt légal de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, conformément à la loi n° 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative à l'exploitation des Livres indisponibles du XXe siècle. Pages de début Introduction Première partie? La généralité de la loi Lois générales et sens général de la loi Origine, cause et rapport De la fatalité à la nécessité Deuxième partie? La rationalité de la loi Raison (...) primitive et raison humaine Rationalités diverses des êtres et anthropologie Équité et justice En quel sens la rationalité de l'état de nature est-elle historique? Troisième partie? La particularité de la loi Présentation Droit naturel de l'état de nature et droit naturel dans la société Principe, pratique et politique du droit des gens Du particulier dans la société auparticulier de la société Conclusion Pages de fin. (shrink)

En quel sens Montesquieu est-il, au-delà de son art d'écrire, un philosophe de la liberté? Telle est la question qui traverse cet ouvrage destiné à montrer comment le juridisme de l'auteur de L'Esprit des lois trouve sa signification philosophique dans ses racines métajuridiques. Le modèle constitutionnel que caractérise l'équilibre des pouvoirs dans l'Etat trouve sa fondation métaphysique dans le rapport entre liberté et nature. L'idée de liberté, opposée dans l'ordre politique à ce qui est contre nature, implique référence à " (...) la nature des choses " ; loin de consister en une affirmation conquérante de l'homme, elle ne trouve sa vérité qu'en se rapportant à l'ordre naturel. Quant aux lois civiles et politiques, elles médiatisent la liberté des hommes dans l'exacte mesure où la relativité de leurs maximes positives respecte l'universalité de la loi naturelle. La pensée de Montesquieu est ici reconstruite à travers l'étude des héritages antiques et modernes que véhicule l'œuvre et qui en dessinent la figure singulière. (shrink)

Die Studie "Montesquieu und die Philosophie der Geschichte" beschaftigt sich mit der spezifischen Rolle des franzosischen Staatstheoretikers und Vordenkers der demokratischen Gewaltenteilung Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu (1689-1755) innerhalb einer illustren Reihe abendlandischer Geschichtsphilosophen - von Giambattista Vico bis Arnold Joseph Toynbee. In den Mittelpunkt seiner Uberlegungen zu Montesquieu als einem der bedeutendsten Vorbereiter des -Historismus- ruckt der Autor, Octavian Vuia, dabei Montesquieus "Considerations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur (...) decadence" (dt. Betrachtungen uber die Ursachen von Grosse und Niedergang der Romer) sowie dessen Hauptwerk "De l'esprit des lois" (dt. Vom Geist der Gesetze). Mit dieser Untersuchung uber das moderne Geschichtsdenken des Klassikers Montesquieu leistet Vuia einen wichtigen Beitrag zur nach wie vor uberraschend sparlichen deutschsprachigen Montesquieu-Forschung.". (shrink)