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Secondary sourceBook1907

The Aesthetic Doctrine of Montesquieu

Edwin Preston Dargan · 1907

A 1907 scholarly dissertation examining Montesquieu's ideas on aesthetics in his writings.

This later dissertation analyzes Montesquieu's own writings to study his ideas on aesthetics.

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The Aesthetic Doctrine of MontesquieuPDF · 228 pages
Edwin Preston Dargan, The Aesthetic Doctrine of Montesquieu, Its Application in His Writings. Baltimore: J. H. Furst Company, 1907.

About this source

What it is

This is a 1907 academic dissertation by Edwin Preston Dargan, submitted to Johns Hopkins University, studying the ideas about beauty and taste found in Montesquieu's writings.

Why it matters

Written over 150 years after Montesquieu's death, this book shows how later scholars continued to study his thought long after his lifetime, looking beyond his political ideas to his views on art and aesthetics. It reflects how universities built academic study of Enlightenment thinkers.

Look closer

  • Why might a scholar in 1907 America be interested in a French thinker from the 1700s?
  • What is the difference between reading Montesquieu's own words and reading someone else's analysis of them?
  • What clues in the title page (university, degree, date) tell you about who produced this book and why?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Baron de Montesquieu on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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