Pierre Bayle and his reception in early eighteenth-century England: toleration in the Pensées Diverses and the Commentaire Philosophique

This thesis offers an original interpretation of Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) and new insights into his reception in England after the Glorious Revolution (1688). Bayle was one of the most influential figures of the Enlightenment who formulated some of the first arguments for a universal toleration that extended even to atheists. Scholars usually speak of Bayle’s conception of toleration as if it were a singular theory. This thesis, however, contends that Bayle’s two most famous treatises on toleration, his Pensées diverses (1682) and his Commentaire philosophique (1686), introduced two notably different justifications for religious toleration. The Pensées used Calvinist resources to inspire a radically universal theory of toleration by arguing that due to original sin, individuals were self-interested and irrational, and since the church was a small remnant of predestined believers, an absolutist state (rather than religious uniformity) was needed to secure social harmony. In contrast, Bayle’s Commentaire argued that toleration was a universal matter of natural law, proven by innate axioms of reason. When Bayle wrote the Commentaire, he sought to appeal to a cross-confessional audience, avoiding doctrines such as predestination and original sin. He now depicted individuals as rational, the church as visible, and the state as limited by the rights of conscience. Bayle knew the Commentaire would not be read positively in his French Reformed community which stressed the weakness of human reason and volition, so he hid its authorship, unlike the Pensées which he had circulated amongst Calvinist ministers.
This thesis also contends that Bayle’s variegated and diverse arguments for toleration allowed him to influence several different reading communities in early eighteenth-century England, which led to very different interpretations of Bayle himself. It explores the influence of Bayle’s two treatises after they were translated into English in 1708 and argues that the translators adapted Bayle in substantial ways. It reveals that Bayle’s Commentaire was used constructively by Protestant Whigs and supporters of Bishop Hoadly during the Bangorian controversy (1716-1721). These readers depicted a sincerely ‘Protestant Bayle’ and used his arguments from natural law to justify toleration while cutting across doctrinal divides. Readers who supported religious uniformity used Bayle’s predestinarian arguments in the Pensées as a foil, showing how toleration undermined the rational truth of religion and the role of the church in society. Ironically, the Pensées, which Bayle had considered his most orthodox treatise, was now used as evidence that he was an outright atheist. In documenting the positive reception of the Commentaire and severe criticism of the Pensées, I demonstrate how deeply a focus on reason and freewill had penetrated the English Church by the early eighteenth century. Finally, Bayle’s diverse arguments also influenced both Neo-Epicureans and Neo-Stoics in the early modern debates on sociability. Neo-Epicureans used Bayle to craft a case for the origin of society arising from self-centered individuals, while neo-Stoics used Bayle to argue that social bonds came from individuals naturally practicing virtue. Previous scholarship has stressed Bayle’s role in influencing Epicureanism in the Enlightenment, but I demonstrate that his diverse arguments also influenced Stoic thinkers. Moreover, in the sociability debate, the ambiguous image of Bayle as either an atheist or a sincere Protestant once again emerged. The reception of Bayle in early eighteenth-century England thus illustrates that the enigma of Bayle’s religious views dates to his first English readers. It also shows that Bayle made a significant impact on the English debates on toleration, and that he deserves a place alongside John Locke and Thomas Hobbes as an important figure in the history of toleration in England.

Keywords: Mary Astell
Calvinism
Natural Law
Richard Fiddes
Malebranche
Samuel Parker
Tory
Richard Blackmore
Court and Country
Pensées Diverses
Henry Stebbing
Augustinianism
Claudius Rey
William Law
Sociability
Michel de la Roche
Whig
Thomas Herne
Toleration
François de la Pillonnière
Church of England
Reformed
Bangorian Controversy
Pierre Bayle
Commentaire Philosophique
Advisor: Apetrei, S
Mortimer, S