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Philosophy Criticism

Reading Bayle

by (author) Thomas Lennon

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Aug 1999
Category
Criticism, Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Religious, Renaissance
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802082664
    Publish Date
    Aug 1999
    List Price
    $27.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802044884
    Publish Date
    Aug 1999
    List Price
    $82.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442679016
    Publish Date
    Jul 1999
    List Price
    $97.00

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Description

Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) has been described by Richard Popkin as the key intellectual figure at the outset of the eighteenth century. Examinations of libraries from the period show him to have been by far the most successful author of the century, and his Historical and Critical Dictionary is in fact the philosophy best-seller of all time. The concepts, distinctions, and arguments found in his work were so widely adopted by later authors that Bayle came to be known as the 'Arsenal of the Enlightenment'. Despite his universally acknowledged importance, however, there has been from his own time to the present much disagreement about how Bayle is to be interpreted.

 

The title of this work is deliberately ambiguous, reflecting the multiple levels on which its argument is conducted. One aim is to indicate how a reading of Bayle might be made possible – how the initial impenetrability of his writings and their world might be overcome. On another level, the book offers an interpretation of Bayle's writings. Finally, it is a record of the author's own thoughts upon reading Bayle – what he finds himself thinking about as he looks at Bayle and his world.

 

This work is a critical but sympathetic treatment of this neglected thinker. It will engage anyone interested in the history of modern philosophy, the history of ideas, literary criticism, and the history of seventeenth-century French culture.

About the author

Thomas M. Lennon is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario.

Thomas Lennon's profile page