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Classiques Garnier

Pierre Bayle’s Society of Atheists - A Thought Experiment?

  • Journal: Éthique, politique, religions
    2022 – 1, n° 20    . Émergence du libéralisme, transformations du républicanisme : xviie-xviiie siècles
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  • Abstract: Is Pierre Bayle’s conjecture of an atheist society a liberal thought experiment, aiming at severing politics from religion? Such an interpretation might rely on a certain resemblance with Mandeville’s Fable of the Bees. But this interpretation is misleading: Bayle’s conjecture is based on a skeptical, historical, and critical method, which contests the very principle of thought experiments. The separation of politics from religion does not rely on a liberal argumentation either.
  • Number of pages: 185
  • ISBN: 978-2-406-13308-7
  • ISSN: 2271-7234
  • DOI: 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-13308-7.p.0159
  • Publisher: Classiques Garnier
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  • Keyword: political atheism, skepticism, liberalism, historical and critical method, Pierre Bayle, Bernard Mandeville, Fable of the Bees
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