Skeptical arguments for tolerance during the Early Modern period - Bayle and Locke.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7984.2025.e101297Keywords:
Pierre Bayle, John Locke, Tolerância, CeticismoAbstract
The goal of this paper is to analyze the arguments brought forward in two of the most influential texts written in the early efforts for religious tolerance, John Locke's "Letter on Toleration" and "Philosophical Arguments", by Pierre Bayle, in search of shared patterns of argumentation in both texts. Both Bayle and Locke put side-by-side arguments of different nature, but bring them in reciprocal tension, as in the case of skeptical and theological arguments. Against the thesis that 17th Century Tolerantism is mainly theological and bears a hidden evangelical strategy, the paper defends the idea that the plea for multiple reasons expresses a common intention by Locke and Bayle of addressing different publics, thus displacing the problem from the theological into the properly political sphere.
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