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An Essay on Taste

Montesquieu

Thomas Nugent (1777)

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.

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Contents

1. Of the Pleasures of the Soul.
2. Of the Pleasures of Order.
3. Of the Pleasures of Variety.
4. Of the Pleasures of Symmetry.
5. Of the Pleasures of Surprize.
6. Of the Je Ne Scais Quoi.