Positive Atheism

Bayle, Meslier, d’Holbach, Diderot

Charles Devellennes (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

240 Seiten

2022
Edinburgh University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4744-7844-1 (ISBN)

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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.

Charles Devellennes is Senior Lecturer in Political and Social Thought at the University of Kent. He has written extensively on the history of political thought, including on d'Holbach and Meslier, as well as on atheism both in its historical context and contemporary expressions. His recent works include critiques of the new materialism, as well as a rethinking of the social contract for the Gilets Jaunes movement in France.

1. The Birth of Positive Atheism; 2. Bayle and Virtuous Atheism; 3. Meslier the First Atheist; 4. D’Holbach’s Systematic Materialist Ontology; 5. Diderot the Metatheist; 6. The State of Atheism in France, 1789; Bibliography.

Erscheinungsdatum	02.12.2022
Verlagsort	Edinburgh
Sprache	englisch
Maße	138 x 216 mm
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie
ISBN-10	1-4744-7844-1 / 1474478441
ISBN-13	978-1-4744-7844-1 / 9781474478441
Zustand	Neuware