Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. He is best known for his '' Historical and Critical Dictionary'', whose publication began in 1697. Many of the more controversial ideas in the book were hidden away in the voluminous footnotes, or they were slipped into articles on seemingly uncontroversial topics. Bayle is commonly regarded as a forerunner of the '' Encyclopédistes'' of the mid-18th century. A Huguenot, Bayle fled to the Dutch Republic in 1681 because of

religious persecution Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within soc ...

in France. Bayle was a notable advocate of religious toleration, and his skeptical philosophy had a significant influence on the subsequent growth and development of the European Age of Enlightenment. Leibniz's theodicy was formed in response to Bayle.

Biography

Bayle was born at Carla-le-Comte (later renamed Carla-Bayle in his honour), near Pamiers, Ariège, France. He was educated by his father, a Calvinist minister, and at an academy at Puylaurens. In 1669, he entered a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

college at Toulouse and became a Roman Catholic a month later. After seventeen months, he returned to Calvinism and fled to Geneva, where he learned about the teachings of René Descartes. He returned to France and went to Paris, where for some years he worked under the name of Bèle as a tutor for various families. In 1675, he was appointed to the chair of philosophy at the Protestant

Academy of Sedan The Academy of Sedan ( Fr.: ''Académie de Sedan'') was a Huguenot academy in Sedan in the Principality of Sedan, founded in 1579 and suppressed in 1681. It was one of the main centres for the production of Reformed pastors in France for a hundred ...

. In 1681, the university at Sedan was suppressed by the government in action against Protestants. Just before that event, Bayle had fled to the Dutch Republic, where he almost immediately was appointed professor of philosophy and history at the École Illustre in Rotterdam. He taught for many years but became embroiled in a long, internal quarrel in the college that resulted in Bayle being deprived of his chair in 1693. Bayle remained in Rotterdam until his death on 28 December 1706. He was buried in Rotterdam in the Walloon church, where Pierre Jurieu would also be buried seven years later. After the demolition of this church in 1922, the graves were relocated to the

Crooswijk General Cemetery Crooswijk General Cemetery (Algemene Begraafplaats Crooswijk) is a cemetery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. History As in many countries, burial within city limits became illegal in Rotterdam in 1827. Crooswijk was taken into use in 1832, although ...

in Rotterdam. A memorial stone shows that Pierre Bayle is in these graves. Gedenksteen_Waalse_graven_Crooswijk

Writings

At Rotterdam, Bayle published his famous ' in 1682, as well as his critique of Louis Maimbourg's work on the history of Calvinism. The reputation achieved by this critique stirred the envy of Pierre Jurieu, Bayle's Calvinist colleague of both Sedan and Rotterdam, who had written a book on the same subject. Between 1684 and 1687, Bayle published his ''Nouvelles de la république des lettres'', a journal of

literary criticism Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

. In 1686, Bayle published the first two volumes of '' Philosophical Commentary'', an early plea for toleration in religious matters. This was followed by volumes three and four in 1687 and 1688. In 1690 there appeared a work entitled '' Avis important aux refugiés'', which Jurieu attributed to Bayle, whom he attacked with great animosity. After losing his chair, Bayle engaged in the preparation of his massive '' Dictionnaire Historique et Critique'' (''Historical and Critical Dictionary''), which effectively constituted one of the first encyclopaedias (before the term had come into wide circulation) of ideas and their originators. In the ''Dictionary'', Bayle expressed his view that much that was considered to be "truth" was actually just opinion, and that gullibility and stubbornness were prevalent. The ''Dictionary'' would remain an important scholarly work for several generations after its publication. The remaining years of Bayle's life were devoted to miscellaneous writings; in many cases, he was responding to criticisms made of his ''Dictionary''. Voltaire, in the prelude to his '' Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne'', calls Bayle "''le plus grand dialecticien qui ait jamais écrit''": the greatest

dialectician A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

to have ever written. The ''Nouvelles de la république des lettres'' was the first thorough-going attempt to popularise literature, and it was eminently successful. His multi-volume ''Historical and Critical Dictionary'' constitutes Bayle's masterpiece. The English translation of ''The Dictionary'', by Bayle's fellow Huguenot exile Pierre des Maizeaux, was identified by American President Thomas Jefferson to be among the one hundred foundational texts to form the first collection of the Library of Congress.

Views on toleration

Bayle advanced arguments for religious toleration in his ''Dictionnaire historique et critique'' and ''Commentaire Philosophique''. Bayle rejected the use of scripture to justify coercion and violence: "One must transcribe almost the whole New Testament to collect all the Proofs it affords us of that Gentleness and Long-suffering, which constitute the distinguishing and essential Character of the Gospel." He did not regard toleration as a danger to the state; on the contrary:

"If the Multiplicity of Religions prejudices the State, it proceeds from their not bearing with one another but on the contrary endeavouring each to crush and destroy the other by methods of Persecution. In a word, all the Mischief arises not from Toleration, but from the want of it."

Skepticism

Richard Popkin Richard Henry Popkin (December 27, 1923 – April 14, 2005) was an American academic philosopher who specialized in the history of enlightenment philosophy and early modern anti-dogmatism. His 1960 work ''The History of Scepticism from Erasmus to ...

has advanced the view that Pierre Bayle was a skeptic who used the '' Historical and Critical Dictionary'' to criticise all prior known theories and philosophies. In Bayle's view, humans were inherently incapable of achieving true knowledge. Because of the limitations of human reason, men should adhere instead to their conscience alone. Bayle was critical of many influential rationalists, such as René Descartes,

Baruch Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...

Nicolas Malebranche Nicolas Malebranche ( , ; 6 August 1638 – 13 October 1715) was a French Oratorian Catholic priest and rationalist philosopher. In his works, he sought to synthesize the thought of St. Augustine and Descartes, in order to demonstrate the ...

and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, as well as empiricists such as Thomas Hobbes,

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...

, and Isaac Newton. Popkin quotes the following passage as an example of Bayle's skeptical viewpoint:

It easonis a guide that leads one astray; and philosophy can be compared to some powders that are so corrosive that, after they have eaten away the infected flesh of a wound, they then devour the living flesh, rot the bones, and penetrate to the very marrow. Philosophy at first refutes errors. But if it is not stopped at this point, it goes on to attack truths. And when it is left on its own, it goes so far that it no longer knows where it is and can find no stopping place.

Legacy and honors

*In 1906 a statue in his honor was erected at Pamiers, ''la reparation d'un long oubli'' ("the reparation of a long neglect"). *In 1959 a street was named after him in Rotterdam. *In 2012 a bench (By Paul Cox) in tribute to Bayle, to reflect on the (hypothetical) philosophical exchange of thought between Bayle and Erasmus. (concept of thought: JW van den Blink)

Selected works

* ''Pensées Diverses sur l'Occasion de la Comète'', (1682) translated as ''Various Thoughts on the Occasion of a Comet'' (2000) by Robert C. Bartlett, SUNY Press. * '' Dictionnaire Historique et Critique'' (1695–1697; 1702, enlarged; best that of P. des Maizeaux, 4 vols., 1740) * ''Œuvres diverses'', 5 vols., The Hague, 1727–31; anastatic reprint: Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1964–68. * Selections in English: Pierre Bayle (Richard H. Popkin transl.), ''Historical and Critical Dictionary – Selections'', Indianapolis: Hackett, 1991. .

References

Citations

Sources

External links

* * * See '' Dictionnaire Historique et Critique'' for links to digital facsimiles of that work
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge
* ttp://emlo-portal.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections/?catalogue=pierre-bayle The Correspondence of Pierre Bayle i
EMLO

The Influence of Foreign Knowledge on 18th Century European Secularism - ''Brill'', Heiner Roetz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayle, Pierre 1647 births 1706 deaths 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed Christians 17th-century Dutch philosophers 17th-century Dutch historians 17th-century French male writers 17th-century French philosophers 17th-century French historians 17th-century lexicographers 18th-century Calvinist and Reformed Christians 18th-century Dutch philosophers 18th-century Dutch writers 18th-century French essayists 18th-century lexicographers Age of Enlightenment Alumni of Jesuit schools Calvinist and Reformed philosophers Catholic philosophers Christian philosophers Converts to Calvinism from Roman Catholicism Dutch essayists 18th-century Dutch historians Dutch literary critics 18th-century Dutch non-fiction writers Dutch Protestants Dutch encyclopedists Enlightenment philosophers French epistemologists Former Protestants French emigrants Immigrants to the Dutch Republic French literary critics French male non-fiction writers Huguenots Literacy and society theorists People from Ariège (department) French philosophers of culture French philosophers of education Philosophers of religion Philosophers of social science French philosophy academics Philosophy writers French political philosophers Writers about activism and social change Writers from Rotterdam 17th-century Dutch non-fiction writers 17th-century French essayists 18th-century French philosophers French sceptics