Chapter XXI: Faith and Reason in France (1648 - 1715)

Part I: The Vicissitudes of Cartesianism

• doubt as the starting point of philosophy

Part II: Cyrano de Bergerac (1619 - 1655)

• published a comincal science fiction in which Cyrano takes rockets to the moon

Part III: Malebranche (1638 - 1715)

• his "Search for Truth" is a classic in French Philosophy
• we have perception of things, not knowledge of them
• physical explanation of habit, memory and ideas
• approached near to a materialist determinism

Part IV: Pierre Bayle (1647 - 1706)

• considered the "Father of the Enlightenment"
• sensitive youth, loved to be alone studying
• lived as foreigner in Dutch republic
• promoted freedom of worship
• challenged superstition with Newtonian explanation of comets
• attempted to derive an ethic from reason
  • observed similar moral conduct across many societies with different religious. Therefore, religion is not the critical ingredient for stability.
  • social pressure and fear keep the order
• Lost family member to religious persecution. In response to this, wrote "Philosophical Commentary on These Words of Jesus: 'Compel them to Come In'" – a classic of religious toleration
  • subjectivity of truth as reason for toleration
• His "Dictionnaire historique et Critique" is a fundamental text of Enlightenment thinking
• his method: gather authoritative texts, parse out the objective facts, explain various perspectives, follow reason to some conclusion
• reason is source of doubt, not action. Emotion drive action.
• best case for government is enough order and stability for people to live as they please
• high influential throughout 18th century

Part V: Fontenelle (1657 - 1757)

• frail man, always corteous, never rude or sarcastic, genial, lived to 100 years old
• explained myths in terms of human imanginative origins
• pointed out progressive nature of science and math vs static nature of art
• idea of stages of growth and decay of nations
• his theory of progress with unlimited potential continuation and perfectability of mankind was a major ideal of the 18th century thought
• attempted to popularize Copernican astronomy
• fear of dogmatism, ideology, and certainty