학술논문

Political Ontology and Institutional Design in Montesquieu and Rousseau
Document Type
redif-article
Source
John Wiley & Sons, American Journal of Political Science. 54(2):525-542
Subject
Language
English
Abstract
Historians of political thought have been puzzled by Montesquieu's simultaneous appeals to the diversity of human practices and eternal norms of justice. Isaiah Berlin famously referred to this as an impassable “contradiction” burdening his work. Careful examination of Rousseau's appropriations from and developments on Montesquieu, however, reveal that these observations are not merely reconcilable—they provide a fruitful way to approach legislation and constitution drafting. This is accomplished by understanding his employment of the principle of transcendent constrained indeterminacy.