The nature of things: concept and prejudice in the century of light

Abstract

The object of our investigation is the notion of the nature of things (nature des choses), a notion that appears in the work of Baron de Montesquieu, very consonant with the idea of nature and science in the century of lights. Our focus will be on the theory of climates and their influence on the character of peoples, a thesis present in O Espírito das Leis (1748). With this, it is intended to show how the use of a supposedly scientific concept (that is, the nature des choses), so widespread in the illustrated society of the eighteenth century in France, could serve, even in the twilight of its ideas, as a contribution to the spread of ethnic-racial prejudice.