Positive Atheism: Bayle, Meslier, d'Holbach, Diderot

Charles Devellennes looks at the the religious, social and political thought of the first four thinkers of the French Enlightenment: Pierre Bayle, Jean Meslier, Paul-Henri Thiry d'Holbach and Denis Diderot to explicitly argue for atheism as a positive philosophy. He shows how atheism evolved considerably over the century that spans the works of these four authors: from the possibility of the virtuous atheist in the late 17th century, to a deeply rooted materialist philosophy with radical social and political consequences by the eve of the French revolution. The metamorphosis of atheism from a purely negative phenomenon to one that became self-aware had profound consequences for establishing an ethics without God and the rise of republicanism as a political philosophy.

Author: Charles Devellennes
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Published: 11/28/2022
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.62lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.51d
ISBN: 9781474478441