← All works

An unfinished essay written for Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie and published posthumously in 1757, Montesquieu's Essay on Taste examines the sources of aesthetic pleasure—curiosity, order, variety, symmetry, surprise, and the elusive je ne sais quoi. Turning from law and politics to the psychology of beauty, it is an early contribution to modern aesthetics.

Sign in to readBrowse the library