Early Enlightenment Lectures
2019-2020
Lucy van Eck
1
,Lecture 1
The concept of Enlightenment
- European historians address the late 17th and 18th century
- Philosophers use Enlightenment as a concept; being much more than just a period in
time
- During the 18th century, Enlightenment grew into a social-political movement with
protagonists all over Europe
o A social-cultural movement which during the last quarter of the 18 th century
acquired a political edge
First important political revolution is in 1776, the American
Revolution. Thereafter followed the Batavian Revolution in the 1780’s
and the French Revolution in 1789
- It’s a mistake to see these revolutions as the product or outcome of Enlightenment
o They were never the goals of Enlightenment
o Revolutionaries hijacked 18th century philosophy to justify their deeds and
executions (e.g. Robespierre quotes Rousseau day and night)
Famous philosophers and Robespierre were buried in the Pantheon to
demonstrate they acted on behalf of philosophy
Conceptual problems with Enlightenment
- It’s both a period in time (from Bayle to Kant) as a social-cultural movement
- Unity of the Enlightenment
o It’s not clear that there’s just one thing such as the European Enlightenment
o It makes much more sense to distinguish between different kinds of
Enlightenment on behalf of:
National differences
Sciecle de Lumiere is not the same as die Aufklarung
Material differences
Moderate vs. Radical Enlightenment
o Many books present it as a materialist and atheist
movement, but this is not the case
o There was even a bigger counter Enlightenment
- The word Enlightenment is often used as a summary of modernity, calling it ‘the
project of Enlightenment’ as a synonym for the modern world
o Now it seems as though you can just argue against it but the 18 th century
philosophers were already fully aware they were living in the Enlightenment
- Chronology
o Difference between early and high Enlightenment lies in (French) context
before and after 1750, why?
Temperature rises and French censorship starts failing
Voltaire gets angry
L’homme machine is published (a materialist work, all there is is
matter in motion)
The Encyclopedie was published
2
, Philosophers are getting a higher status and taking over the public
domain
Pierre Bayle
- Inaugurator of the Siecle de Lumiere
- Why do we start with looking at the French Enlightenment?
o French language was the most civilized language in Europe
Education in early modern Europe was in Latin, but French was the
language of civilization
- Bayle spent most of his academic career in Rotterdam
o He arrived here in 1681 because he was a protestant and they had a very
difficult position in France
In 1685 King Louis XIV revokes the edict of Nantes. All protestants had
to chose either to leave France or leave their religion
Bayle left earlier because he’d been a professor in philosphhy at a
protestant university which was closed down in 1681 and a Dutch
student of his tells his uncle Adriaan Paets (mayor of Rotterdam) to
hire Bayle at an illustrious school
o Upon his arrival in Rotterdam he was not much more than a ‘promising
nobody’
- He became the unofficial president of the Republic of Lettres, a large informal
community of scholars keeping each other up to date
o His publisher was Reinier Leers, a book seller and publisher who produced
and supported his work
- In 1691 orthodox protestants within the French reformed community of Rotterdam
made up a list of complaints about Bayle’s views and sent it to the new mayor of
Rotterdam to get him suspendes and they succeeded
o One advantage of this is that he now had more time to write
Pierre Bayle’s works
- 1682: Lettre sur les cometes
o Goes against the widely-held beliefs that comets were ‘messengers from
above’
o In 1681 a comet had appeared and people thought it would predict doom.
Bayle wanted to study the history of comets and tries to link them with
catostrophies
o He finds no connection
- 1684: Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres
o One of the first scientific journals
o Contains short reviews of books
- 1687: Commentaire philosophique
o Published two years after the Edict of Nantes
o In favour of religious tolerance
- 1697: Dictionaire historique et critique
o An example for the Encyclopedie written in the 18th century
3
, o Crucial entries on Phyrro (skepticism), Spinoza (atheism) and Manichaeism
(evil)
What made Bayle such a special figure?
- Arguments in favour of religious tolerance
o A radical plea such as this one in 1687 was highly unusual
Bayle’s worldview included Catholics and atheists
You could not before that not tolerate a Catholic because you
could not trust a Catholic who obeys two princes (Jesus and the
pope)
You could not before that tolerate an atheist because they had
no morals, no judgement would be called upon them
These were both statements according to Locke
o Personal reason for this as well, since his brother died in prison under
‘suspicious circumstances’ and Bayle felt guilty about this
- Bayle was a pacifist, adopted his views from Erasmus
- He defines one of the elements of an enlightened philosopher
o Religious tolerance is from now on indispensable for an enlightened
philosopher
- Bayle’s skepticism from the Commentaire Philosophique grew more and more
powerful, this is also evident in his Dictionaires Philosophiques
o Human reason is unable to reach firm conclusions on the major issues it
wants to address that’s why we have to suspend judgement (Phyrro)
o Example from the Dictionaire -> Evil
Scholars and theologists denied its existence or evasively called it a
subjective affair
Bayle says evil presents our world and thinking a problem because
God created the world and God is all good, then how can bad things
happen to good people?
Bayle associated evil with the history of Christianity
The problem of evil demonstrates that we have to be sceptics and
suspend judgement; it demonstrates the limits of rationality
- Main reason for his suspension can be found in Lettres sur les cometes; ‘atheists can
be moral’
o He launches the idea that there is something as virtuous atheism. A society of
atheists is perfectly imaginable
o People act on behalf of instincts and interests and habits; not reason
o The history of philosophy does not contain of answers, but of questions
How does Bayle argue in favour of religious tolerance?
- Picks up an often-quoted phrase from the New Testament usually used against
religious tolerance
o ‘Compel them to come in so that my house may be filled’
o Bayle argued that this could not mean forcefully converting pagans, because
converting someone who does not want to be converted is a crime. It will
4
2019-2020
Lucy van Eck
1
,Lecture 1
The concept of Enlightenment
- European historians address the late 17th and 18th century
- Philosophers use Enlightenment as a concept; being much more than just a period in
time
- During the 18th century, Enlightenment grew into a social-political movement with
protagonists all over Europe
o A social-cultural movement which during the last quarter of the 18 th century
acquired a political edge
First important political revolution is in 1776, the American
Revolution. Thereafter followed the Batavian Revolution in the 1780’s
and the French Revolution in 1789
- It’s a mistake to see these revolutions as the product or outcome of Enlightenment
o They were never the goals of Enlightenment
o Revolutionaries hijacked 18th century philosophy to justify their deeds and
executions (e.g. Robespierre quotes Rousseau day and night)
Famous philosophers and Robespierre were buried in the Pantheon to
demonstrate they acted on behalf of philosophy
Conceptual problems with Enlightenment
- It’s both a period in time (from Bayle to Kant) as a social-cultural movement
- Unity of the Enlightenment
o It’s not clear that there’s just one thing such as the European Enlightenment
o It makes much more sense to distinguish between different kinds of
Enlightenment on behalf of:
National differences
Sciecle de Lumiere is not the same as die Aufklarung
Material differences
Moderate vs. Radical Enlightenment
o Many books present it as a materialist and atheist
movement, but this is not the case
o There was even a bigger counter Enlightenment
- The word Enlightenment is often used as a summary of modernity, calling it ‘the
project of Enlightenment’ as a synonym for the modern world
o Now it seems as though you can just argue against it but the 18 th century
philosophers were already fully aware they were living in the Enlightenment
- Chronology
o Difference between early and high Enlightenment lies in (French) context
before and after 1750, why?
Temperature rises and French censorship starts failing
Voltaire gets angry
L’homme machine is published (a materialist work, all there is is
matter in motion)
The Encyclopedie was published
2
, Philosophers are getting a higher status and taking over the public
domain
Pierre Bayle
- Inaugurator of the Siecle de Lumiere
- Why do we start with looking at the French Enlightenment?
o French language was the most civilized language in Europe
Education in early modern Europe was in Latin, but French was the
language of civilization
- Bayle spent most of his academic career in Rotterdam
o He arrived here in 1681 because he was a protestant and they had a very
difficult position in France
In 1685 King Louis XIV revokes the edict of Nantes. All protestants had
to chose either to leave France or leave their religion
Bayle left earlier because he’d been a professor in philosphhy at a
protestant university which was closed down in 1681 and a Dutch
student of his tells his uncle Adriaan Paets (mayor of Rotterdam) to
hire Bayle at an illustrious school
o Upon his arrival in Rotterdam he was not much more than a ‘promising
nobody’
- He became the unofficial president of the Republic of Lettres, a large informal
community of scholars keeping each other up to date
o His publisher was Reinier Leers, a book seller and publisher who produced
and supported his work
- In 1691 orthodox protestants within the French reformed community of Rotterdam
made up a list of complaints about Bayle’s views and sent it to the new mayor of
Rotterdam to get him suspendes and they succeeded
o One advantage of this is that he now had more time to write
Pierre Bayle’s works
- 1682: Lettre sur les cometes
o Goes against the widely-held beliefs that comets were ‘messengers from
above’
o In 1681 a comet had appeared and people thought it would predict doom.
Bayle wanted to study the history of comets and tries to link them with
catostrophies
o He finds no connection
- 1684: Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres
o One of the first scientific journals
o Contains short reviews of books
- 1687: Commentaire philosophique
o Published two years after the Edict of Nantes
o In favour of religious tolerance
- 1697: Dictionaire historique et critique
o An example for the Encyclopedie written in the 18th century
3
, o Crucial entries on Phyrro (skepticism), Spinoza (atheism) and Manichaeism
(evil)
What made Bayle such a special figure?
- Arguments in favour of religious tolerance
o A radical plea such as this one in 1687 was highly unusual
Bayle’s worldview included Catholics and atheists
You could not before that not tolerate a Catholic because you
could not trust a Catholic who obeys two princes (Jesus and the
pope)
You could not before that tolerate an atheist because they had
no morals, no judgement would be called upon them
These were both statements according to Locke
o Personal reason for this as well, since his brother died in prison under
‘suspicious circumstances’ and Bayle felt guilty about this
- Bayle was a pacifist, adopted his views from Erasmus
- He defines one of the elements of an enlightened philosopher
o Religious tolerance is from now on indispensable for an enlightened
philosopher
- Bayle’s skepticism from the Commentaire Philosophique grew more and more
powerful, this is also evident in his Dictionaires Philosophiques
o Human reason is unable to reach firm conclusions on the major issues it
wants to address that’s why we have to suspend judgement (Phyrro)
o Example from the Dictionaire -> Evil
Scholars and theologists denied its existence or evasively called it a
subjective affair
Bayle says evil presents our world and thinking a problem because
God created the world and God is all good, then how can bad things
happen to good people?
Bayle associated evil with the history of Christianity
The problem of evil demonstrates that we have to be sceptics and
suspend judgement; it demonstrates the limits of rationality
- Main reason for his suspension can be found in Lettres sur les cometes; ‘atheists can
be moral’
o He launches the idea that there is something as virtuous atheism. A society of
atheists is perfectly imaginable
o People act on behalf of instincts and interests and habits; not reason
o The history of philosophy does not contain of answers, but of questions
How does Bayle argue in favour of religious tolerance?
- Picks up an often-quoted phrase from the New Testament usually used against
religious tolerance
o ‘Compel them to come in so that my house may be filled’
o Bayle argued that this could not mean forcefully converting pagans, because
converting someone who does not want to be converted is a crime. It will
4
