âThe Effect in Turn Became the Causeâ: Determinism and Causal Feedback Loops in Montesquieuâs Explanations for the Military Rise and Fall of Rome

Paul Schuurman

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Chapter 3 âThe Effect in Turn Became the Causeâ: Determinism and Causal Feedback Loops in Montesquieuâs Explanations for the Military Rise and Fall of Rome

In: Concepts of War, 1650-1900

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Paul Schuurman

Paul Schuurman
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 59â81

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004536678_005

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Abstract

Montesquieuâs Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and Their Decline (1733/1734) is a methodological exercise in causal explanation on the meso-level applied to the subject of the military rise and fall of Rome. Rome is described as a system with contingent initial conditions that have a strong path-determining effect. Contingent and plastic initial configurations become highly determining in their subsequent operation thanks to self-reinforcing feedback loops. Montesquieuâs method was influenced by the ruthless commitment to efficient causality and the reductionism of seventeenth-century mechanicist philosophers; but in contract to these predecessors he was more interested in dynamic processes than in unchangeable substances. His use of efficient causality in the context of a system approach implied a form of holism that was lacking in his predecessors. Moreover, his aversion from final causality set him apart from the belief in providence of his predecessors and the enlightened optimism of his successors.

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Concepts of War, 1650-1900

From Free-Rider Strategies to Survival of the Fittest

Series:Â Value Inquiry Book Series, Volume: 383Â andÂ Studies in the History of Western Philosophy, Volume: 383

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004536678

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 11 Feb 2023

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- History
  - History of Warfare
- Philosophy

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Chapter 3 âThe Effect in Turn Became the Causeâ: Determinism and Causal Feedback Loops in Montesquieuâs Explanations for the Military Rise and Fall of Rome

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Concepts of War, 1650-1900

From Free-Rider Strategies to Survival of the Fittest

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Chapter 3 âThe Effect in Turn Became the Causeâ: Determinism and Causal Feedback Loops in Montesquieuâs Explanations for the Military Rise and Fall of Rome