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.
