The Structure and Form of the French Enlightenment: Volume I, Esprit Philosophique; Volume II, Esprit Révolutionnaire, by Ira O. Wade (original) (raw)

1978, Canadian Journal of History

HE position of religion in the first half of the Enlightenment in France (see A. Adam, Le Mouvement philosophique dans la premiere moitie du XVlIl" siecle, chap. V, "Le Probleme Religieux") was characterized chiefly by a strong display of disbelief which was evident from 1715 to 1750. It would be an error, however, to assume that this was new to the thought of the time. We have already seen in the Intellectual Origins of the French Enlightenment that the negative intellectual reactions to the dogma and doctrines of Christianity stood out as a menace to religion in the development of all French thought from Montaigne to Bayle. The antireligious trend of thought originated in the urban Italian universities of the early Renaissance due to the transformation in the natural sciences, the rise of humanism, and the struggle between the Catholics and the Protestants. More specifically, it was encouraged by a vast development of libertins, the introduction of ancient philosophical schools (Epicureanism and skepticism) and the wars of religion. All these currents united in the Essais of Montaigne and passed throughout the seventeenth century well integrated both in the thought of a whole magnificent group of excellent European philosophers and in that of a corresponding group of dynamic freethinkers. Contributing to the dissemination of this thought and freethinking at the beginning of the eighteenth century were the seventeenth-century quarrels between the Catholics and the Protestants; between Catholic groups, such as the Jansenists and the Jesuits; the fierce discussions between free-thinkers and orthodox believers; and the even fiercer quarrels between the higher clergy, such as Bossuet and Fenelon, over Quietism. The three historical events which made the position of religion rather critical during the last half of Louis XIVs reign were the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), the suppression of the Jansenists, as well as the condemnation of Quietism. What Louis XIV had in mind in these three moves was the reestablishment of religious harmony and unity in his kingdom. What he got was great disorder and increase in religious free-thinking. Both results served only to render the Church weaker and weaker in dogma, morality, and the policing of religion. Adam has quoted specifically from those who, during the last • 177 •