Various Thoughts on the Occasion of a CometSUNY Press, 18. maí 2000 - 332 síður The appearance of this comet caused so many panicked inquiries to be made of Pierre Bayle, one of the Enlightenment's greatest thinkers, that he decided to formally respond to them, hence the present work, which first appeared in 1682. The book's principle task was to undermine the influence of "superstition" in political life, and it was here that Bayle made the notorious suggestion, unique in the history of political thought until then, that a decent society of atheists is possible in principle. There is no other English translation of this book in print -- the only other version was printed in 1708. This translation is based on a recently revised critical edition of the complete French text and includes a substantial interpretive essay that both elucidates the arguments of the work and indicates the importance of Bayle in the history of the modern Enlightenment. |
Efni
Introduction | xxiii |
VARIOUS THOUGHTS ON THE OCCASION OF A COMET | 1 |
NOTE TO THE READER 1682 | 3 |
PUBLISHER s NOTE TO THE READER 1683 | 11 |
NOTICE TO THE READER 1699 | 13 |
Occasion of the Work | 17 |
That the Presages of Comets Are Not Supported by Any Sound Reason | 18 |
Second Reason That if Comets Had the Capacity to Produce Something on Earth This Could Be as Much Good Fortune as Bad | 29 |
Second Proof Drawn from the Disorders of the Crusades | 173 |
Third Proof Drawn from the Conduct of Several Women | 175 |
What Principles Can Be Inferred from What Has Just Been Said | 178 |
That This Principle Is Not Corrected Any Better in Idolaters than in Atheists | 179 |
That Sound Theology Shows That the Corruption of Nature Is Not Corrected in Idolaters Better than in Atheists | 181 |
Fourth Proof Drawn from Demons and Sorcerers Who Make Clear That Those People Who Are Most Lost Remain Convinced of the Existence of God | 182 |
Sixth Proof Drawn from the Devotion Several Scoundrels Are Said to Have Had for the Blessed Virgin | 184 |
Reflection on a Work of Father Rapin | 185 |
Third Reason That Astrology Which Is the Foundation of the Particular Predictions Relating to Comets Is the Most Ridiculous Thing in the World | 30 |
On the Belief in Astrology among the Infidels of Today | 35 |
On the Belief in Astrology among Christians | 37 |
On The Belief in Astrology in France | 38 |
Fourth Reason That Even if It were True That Comets have Always Been Followed by Several Misfortunes There Would be No Reason to Say That T... | 40 |
How It Happens That Battles Are Won on Certain Affected Days | 44 |
To What Extent This Fifth Reason Is Decisive against the Presages of Comets | 48 |
Necessary Observations for Those Who Wish to Have This Fact Clarified | 50 |
Comparison of the Years Following the Comet of 1665 with the Years Preceding the Comet of 1652 | 51 |
War of the Spanish and the Portuguese | 52 |
War of the English and the Dutch | 53 |
War of the French and the Spanish | 54 |
Thar Spain Would Do Well to Abandon the Low Countries | 55 |
Good Fortune of the Year 1668 | 56 |
Pacification of the Dispute between the Jesuits and the Jansenists | 57 |
Consideration of the Misfortunes That Have Happened during the Seven Years Under Examination | 59 |
Misfortunes That Took Place in Europe from the Year 1645 to 1652 | 60 |
Sixth Reason That the General Conviction of Peoples Is of No Weight in Proving the Bad Influences of Comets | 63 |
Examples of Some General Opinions That Are False | 64 |
That One Should Not Judge in Philosophy by Means of the Plurality of Voices | 66 |
How Ridiculous It Is to Seek Out the Causes of What Is Not | 67 |
In What Sense a Natural Effect Is a Sign of Something | 72 |
Application to Comets of What Has Been Said Concerning Eclipses | 73 |
SEVENTH REASON DRAWN FROM THEOLOGY That if Comets Were a Presage of Misfortune God Would Have Performed Miracles in Order to ... | 75 |
That Comets Cannot Presage Evil Except in Their Capacity as Signs | 76 |
Demons Supported Superstitions by Producing Prodigies | 78 |
That the Pagans Did Nothing That Could Have Appeased the Anger of God When They Saw Prodigies | 79 |
Demons Caused Many Effects of Nature To Be Taken as Prodigies | 80 |
Whether I Take Advantage of the Testimony of Poets | 81 |
How Men Might by Themselves Take Certain Things as Prodigies | 82 |
What One Calls Prodigies Are Often as Natural as the Most Common Things | 83 |
The Demons Artifices Intended to Foment the Superstition of Pagans | 85 |
That the Pagans Attributed Their Misfortunes to the Neglect of Some Ceremony and Not to Their Vices | 86 |
Application of the Preceding Remarks to the Reason Drawn from Theology | 88 |
On the Horror God Has for Idolatry | 89 |
That the Reason Why Comets Could Not be Presages Before the Coming of Jesus Christ Still Persists | 90 |
On the Abominable Idolatry of Todays Pagans | 91 |
In What Sense One Can Say That God Threatens Those Whom He Does Not Wish to Strike | 93 |
That It Is False That People Who Enjoyed Good Fortune After the Appearance of Comets Merited This Distinction through Their Penitence | 94 |
That the Prayers of a Small Number of Good Souls in the True Religion Have No Efficacy amidst the False Religions | 95 |
A Necessary Digression | 97 |
That Statesmen Have Fomented the Superstition of Presages | 99 |
How Many Things the Same Comet Has Been Made to Serve | 103 |
Why Christians Have the Same Prejudice as Pagans on the Subject of Comets | 105 |
Introduction of Several Pagan Ceremonies into Christianity | 107 |
That the False Conversions of the Pagans Brought Many Errors into Christianity | 108 |
Proofs of the Fact of the Transplantion of the Errors of Paganism into Christianity | 113 |
Why the Holy Fathers Did Not Condemn Those Who Believed in the Presages of Comets | 115 |
In What Way Grace Corrects Nature | 117 |
To What Extent Historians Those of Charles V For Example Throw Themselves into the Marvelous | 119 |
Consequence of the Spanish Exaggerations in Praise of Charles V | 122 |
Note to the French Historians | 123 |
Refutation of the Historians of France Who Contended That There Were Presages of the Death of King Henri IV | 126 |
New Proofs of the Inclination Christians Have to Believe in Prodigies and Presages | 127 |
New Remark to Show That the Antiquity and Generality of an Opinion Is Not a Mark of Its Truth | 130 |
Convincing Proof of the Error Relating to Presages | 131 |
On the Prodigious Inclination of the Ancient Pagans to Multiply the Number of Gods | 137 |
The Effects of Nature Could Prevent Irreligion | 139 |
The Interest of the Priests Could Prevent It as Well | 140 |
To What Extent the People Liked to Believe That Prodigies Were Not Natural | 141 |
On the Care Taken to Punish Those Who Scorned Religion | 142 |
That Demons Prefer Idolatry to Atheism | 143 |
Fourth Response That Atheism Is Not a Greater Evil than Idolatry | 144 |
Second Proof Idolatry Is the Greatest of All Crimes According to the Fathers | 145 |
Third Proof Idolaters Have Been True Atheists in a Certain Sense | 146 |
Fourth Proof The Knowledge of God Serves Only to Make The Crimes of an Idolater More Atrocious | 147 |
Fifth Proof Idolatry Makes Men More Difficult to Convert than Does Atheism | 148 |
Comparisons That Prove This | 149 |
That It Is Difficult for Those Who Have Loved Something for a Long Time to Bring Themselves to Love the Opposite | 150 |
Sixth Proof Neither the Mind nor the Heart Is in a Better Condition in Idolaters than in Atheists | 151 |
Consideration of the Judgment the Pagans Made of God | 152 |
That the Pagan Religion Should Not Be Judged by What the Poets Have Said of It | 154 |
What the Public Worship Was among the Pagans and What Their Respect for the Tradition Is | 155 |
The Disposition of the Heart of Atheists as Compared to That of Idolaters | 159 |
That the Very Vicious among the Pagans Were Not Atheists | 160 |
What the Effect Is of the Knowledge of a God among Idolatrous Nations | 161 |
That Idolaters Have Surpassed Atheists in the Crime of Divine LeseMajesty | 163 |
Seventh Proof Atheism Does Not Necessarily Lead to the Corruption of Morals | 165 |
That Experience Combats the Reasoning Made to Prove That the Knowledge of a God Corrects the Vicious Inclinations of Men | 167 |
That Man Does Not Act According to His Principles | 168 |
Why Certain Ceremonies Are Regularly Observed | 169 |
An Example Proving That Opinions Are Not the Rule of Actions | 171 |
That One Cannot Say That Those Who Do Not Live According to the Maxims of Their Religion Do Not Believe There To Be a God First Proof of T... | 172 |
Whether It Is True That There Are Many Atheists at the Court of Princes | 187 |
That the Court Is No Guarantee against Either Superstition or Popular Errors | 190 |
On Alexanders Superstition | 191 |
Disorders and Zeal of the Court of France in the Most Recent Age | 193 |
Zeal of the Nobles of France against the Protestants | 195 |
Confirmation of the Same Thing103 | 197 |
That Those Who Attribute the Corruption of Morals to the Weakening of the Faith Extenuate the Crime Instead of Making It More Atrocious | 198 |
Conjectures on the Morals of a Society without Religion | 200 |
That Men Are More Sensitive to Honor than Women | 201 |
How Much Harm the Shamelessness That Reigns among Christians Does to the Christian Religion | 203 |
An Indication by Which One Can Know Whether One Does Something for the Love of God | 204 |
What the True Reason Is Why One Sin Is More Common than Another | 205 |
Reflection on the Habit of Lying and Slandering | 206 |
Whether Men Are Right To Believe That Shamelessness Is a Lesser Crime than Murder | 207 |
Reflection on the Malice Often Found in Slander | 208 |
Why Vengeance and Greed Are Such Common Passions | 209 |
Whether a Society of Atheists Would Make Laws for Itself Concerning Decency and Honor | 212 |
That the Opinion of the Mortality of the Soul Does Not Prevent One from Hoping for the Immortality of Ones Name | 213 |
Examples Showing That Atheists Are Not Distinguished by Impurity of Morals | 214 |
That Voluptuaries Hardly Trouble Themselves to Dogmatize against Religion | 217 |
That Man Does Not Regulate His Life On the Basis of His Opinions | 219 |
The Reason Why Atheists Are Represented as Extraordinarily Vicious | 220 |
Whether One Can Have an Idea of Decency without Believing That There Is A God | 221 |
That an Atheist Can Be Avid of Glory and Praise | 223 |
That the Example of Lucretia and Those Like Her Manifestly Proves That Religion Was Not the Cause of the Ideas of Decency Present among the Pa... | 224 |
New Remark to Show That Men Do Not Live According to Their Principles | 225 |
Atheisms Having Had Its Martyrs Is an Indubitable Indication That It Does Not Exclude The Ideas of Glory and Decency Reflection on the Conduct ... | 227 |
Examination of the Objection Based on the Difficulty There Is in Converting an Atheist | 229 |
On the Aversion of the Jews in Regard to Idolatry | 232 |
Whether There Is Some Other Cause of Incredulity than the Inclination toward Evil | 233 |
To What Extent the Pagan Religion Was Apt to Create Atheists | 234 |
Although Man Is Very Corrupt He Does Not Want Religion to Command Crime | 236 |
What the Reason Is for This | 237 |
Whether the Atheists Outward Profession of Religion Does Them Any Good | 238 |
Reflection on a Treatise of Plutarch Concerning Superstition | 239 |
Fifth Response That There Is No Example Proving That God Formed Prodigies in a Miraculous Manner for the Supposed Conversion of Anyone To ... | 241 |
Uselessness of the Conversion of an Epicurean to Idolatry | 242 |
Reflections on What Happened in the Matter of the SixtyFive Propositions Condemned by the Pope | 245 |
Reflection on the Various Ways in Which One Acts against Vice and Error | 246 |
That Some Errors Are Not Criminal | 248 |
What Makes One Error Worse than Another | 249 |
Second Objection Comets Are Produced without a Miracle God Can Create Miracles among Infidels God Wished to Make Himself Known to Men by... | 250 |
List of Several Hypotheses That Can Be Followed in Reasoning about Comets | 251 |
In What Sense Secondary Causes Are or Are Not Subordinate One to Another | 252 |
Clarification of This Doctrine | 254 |
Another Clarification by Means of the System of Occasional Causes | 255 |
Application of What Has Been Said Concerning the First Hypothesis to Three Others | 256 |
Confirmation of These Remarks by the Contingency of Mans Actions | 258 |
That Changes in the Greatest Events Depend on the Slightest Things | 259 |
A Way of Imagining That Comets Are a Presage without Their Being Miracles | 260 |
Second Response That if Comets Were Miracles They Would Be of a Kind God Has Never Performed in a Land of Infidels | 262 |
Third Response That It Is False That God Had It in Mind to Make Himself Known to the Gentiles as the True God by Having Them See Comets | 263 |
The Sight of a Comet Does Not Make Us More Suited to Know the Nature of God | 264 |
There Were Pagan Nations That Did Not Admit Foreign Religions | 265 |
Brief Presentation of What Can Be Inferred from the Preceding Remarks | 266 |
Whether It is Permissible to Deny That God Does a Thing When One Cannot See That It Is of Any Utility | 267 |
Reflection on the Maxim of Praetor Cassius cui bono | 268 |
Fourth Response That It Is False That the Gentiles Were Left without Excuse by Not Converting to the True God upon Seeing Comets | 269 |
Comets Are Not Capable of Leading Men to Knowledge of the True God | 270 |
Third Objection Comets Are a Natural Effect and the Natural Cause of the Misfortunes Suffered after Their Appearance | 271 |
That Nothing Is Worthier of the Greatness of God than the Maintenance of General Laws | 272 |
Reflection on the Injustice of Those Who Complain of the Prosperity of the Wicked | 273 |
On the Difference between Miracles and the Effects of Nature in Relation to Us | 274 |
Whether God Bestowed Goods and Evils on the Pagans in Order to Convert Them | 275 |
New Remarks Drawn from the Chance Vicissitudes of Human Things Proving That Comets Are Not the Cause of Evil to Come | 277 |
Examples of Some Statesmen Who Have Divined Certain Events | 282 |
Refutation of Pasquiers Presage | 284 |
It Was Easy to Foresee a Great War in Europe in the Year 1618 | 285 |
The Slowness and Bigotry of the Politics of the House of Austria | 286 |
That Conquerors Have Avoided the Reputation for Being Persecutors | 287 |
What Presages Are Talked About at Present Conditions Favorable to Frances Making Further Conquests | 289 |
Enumeration of the Circumstances Advantageous to France | 290 |
To What Extent the Peace of Nijmegen Was Advantageous to France | 295 |
Reflection on What Has Been Related Concerning Certain Prophecies Held to Be Advantageous to France | 302 |
Whether Europe Has More Reason to Enter into a League Now than It Did Previously | 306 |
Whether Leagues Are to Be Feared | 307 |
Considerable Effects of Some Leagues | 308 |
That One Should Not Be Too Certain Concerning the Present State of Things | 311 |
Abridgment of the Whole Work | 312 |
Biblical Passages Cited | 317 |
| 327 | |
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according admit altogether appears astrologers atheists Bayle's believe better body cause Christians church Cicero comets concerning contrary convinced crime death deny divine doubt earth eclipses emperor Epicurus error evil example fact fail faith false Fathers favor fear follow fortune France give glory gods Gospel happen heart heaven historians Holy honor Huguenots idolaters idolatry imagine infidels infinite number irreligion Jupiter king laws leagues Louis XI lumières maintain manner matter means mind miracles misfortunes Monsieur morals nature necessary never nonetheless one's opinion pagans Paris passions peace Peace of Nijmegen persons philosophers Pierre Bayle pleasure Plutarch Presages of Comets prince principles prodigies Proof prove punishment quam reason regard religion result Roman Rome sacrifice Sadducees seen sentiment shamelessness signs sort soul speaking Suetonius superstition things thought thousand tion Titus Livy true truth victory Whence whole wish worship zeal
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