Abstract: This article looks at atheism in the libertinage érudit movement and extends the analysis to the positions taken by Campanella, the libertines’ interlocutor. Examining the written work enables us to identify a political, moral, rationalist, and anthropological atheism. The origins and strength of religion lie in the passions that give rise to beliefs relating to the supersensible, but just as important are the mechanisms through which these persuasions spread, propagating through contagion and conformism.
