Pierre Bayle (French:[pjɛʁbɛl]; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706)[3] was a French philosopher, author, andlexicographer. He is best known for hisHistorical and Critical Dictionary, whose publication began in 1697.[3] Many of the more controversial ideas in the book were hidden away in the voluminousfootnotes, or they were slipped into articles on seemingly uncontroversial topics. Bayle is commonly regarded as a forerunner of theEncyclopédistes of the mid-18th century.
Bayle was born atCarla-le-Comte[3] (later renamedCarla-Bayle in his honour), nearPamiers,Ariège, France. He was educated by his father, aCalvinist minister, and at an academy atPuylaurens. In 1669, he entered aJesuit college atToulouse and became aRoman Catholic a month later. After seventeen months, he returned to Calvinism and fled toGeneva, where he learned about the teachings ofRené Descartes. He returned to France and went toParis, 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 ProtestantAcademy of Sedan.[3] In 1681, the university atSedan was suppressed by the government in action against Protestants.
Just before that event, Bayle had fled to theDutch Republic, where he almost immediately was appointed professor of philosophy and history at the École Illustre inRotterdam.[3] 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.[3] He was buried in Rotterdam in theWalloon church, wherePierre Jurieu would also be buried seven years later. After the demolition of this church in 1922, the graves were relocated to theCrooswijk General Cemetery in Rotterdam. A memorial stone shows that Pierre Bayle is in these graves.
Memorial stone for the Walloon graves on the General Cemetery in Crooswijk. Among them, Pierre Bayle.
At Rotterdam, Bayle published his famousReflections on the Comet [fr] in 1682, as well as his critique ofLouis Maimbourg's work on the history of Calvinism. The reputation achieved by this critique stirred the envy ofPierre 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 hisNouvelles de la république des lettres, a journal ofliterary criticism. In 1686, Bayle published the first two volumes ofPhilosophical 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 entitledAvis 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 massiveDictionnaire Historique et Critique (Historical and Critical Dictionary), which effectively constituted one of the firstencyclopaedias (before the term had come into wide circulation) of ideas and their originators. In theDictionary, Bayle expressed his view that much that was considered to be "truth" was actually just opinion, and that gullibility and stubbornness were prevalent. TheDictionary would remain an important scholarly work for several generations after its publication.[5]
The remaining years of Bayle's life were devoted to miscellaneous writings; in many cases, he was responding to criticisms made of hisDictionary.
TheNouvelles de la république des lettres was the first thoroughgoing attempt to popularise literature, and it was eminently successful. His multi-volumeHistorical and Critical Dictionary constitutes Bayle's masterpiece. The English translation ofThe Dictionary, by Bayle's fellow Huguenot exilePierre des Maizeaux, was identified by American PresidentThomas Jefferson to be among the one hundred foundational texts to form the first collection of theLibrary of Congress.
Bayle advanced arguments forreligious toleration in hisDictionnaire historique et critique andCommentaire 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."[6]
It [reason] is 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.[7][8]
Bayle is particularly famous for addressing the problem of evil in philosophy and theology. He demonstrated that rational theology is incapable of justifying the existence of evil in a world created by a benevolent God. In this debate, he revived Persian theology (such asZoroastrianism andManichaeism) to critique the very essence ofChristian theology by utilizing the concept of contrasting forces of good and evil in creation. Marta García-Alonso, in her article "Persian theology and the checkmate of Christian theology: Bayle and the problem of evil," reveals the ways in which Persian thought, through the use of Pierre Bayle's texts on the problem of evil, influenced theological and philosophical debates in Europe. García-Alonso shows how Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism were appropriated and utilized by this eminent voice of the early Enlightenment.[9]
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)
Pensées Diverses sur l'Occasion de la Comète, (1682) translated asVarious Thoughts on the Occasion of a Comet (2000) by Robert C. Bartlett, SUNY Press.
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.ISBN978-0-87220-103-3.
^Bayle, Pierre (1820) [1697]."Acosta".Dictionnaire historique et critique (in French). Paris: Desoer. p. 191.
^García-Alonso, Marta (2021)."Persian theology and the checkmate of Christian theology: Bayle and the problem of evil." In "Persia and the Enlightenment", edited by Cyrus Masroori, Whitney Mannies, and John Christian Laursen. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. pp. 75–100.
Sally Jenkinson, (dir.),Bayle: Political Writings, Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Sally Jenkinson, Reflections on Pierre Bayle and Elizabeth Labrousse, and their Huguenot critique of intolerance, Proc. Huguenot Soc., 27: 325–334, 2000.
Elisabeth Labrousse,Pierre Bayle, La Haye: Martinus Nijhoff, 1963–4 (2 volumes).(in French)
Elisabeth Labrousse,Bayle, translated by Denys Potts, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Thomas M. Lennon,Reading Bayle, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.
Todd Ryan,Pierre Bayle's Cartesian Metaphysics: Rediscovering Early Modern Philosophy, New York: Routledge, 2009.
