Charles de Secondat, Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu was born in 1689 to a French noble family. "His family tree could be traced 350 years, which in his view made its name neither good nor bad." The Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, p. 68 Montesquieu"s views started to be shaped at a very early age. A beggar was chosen to be his godfather to remind him of his obligations to the poor. Montesquieu"s education started at the age of 11 when he was sent to Juilly, a school maintained by the Congregation of the Oratory. From 1705 to 1709...
be remembered.

Montesquieu can easily be considered a model Enlightment figure. His ideas produce a mild paradox. He wanted change for the better without crushing the current government. He wanted to educate the people of a country, but was not a radical, and therefore didn"t include the peasants. He respected reason, and used it to help the mankind by creating an idle society. He critisised religion, and yet had faith in God. As a whole he tried to improve things without turning the world upside down. He was the model figure for the steady advancement of the human civilization.