- Errors, False Opinions and Defective Knowledge in Early Modern Europe
- Marco Faini, Marco Sgarbi
The Notions of Erroneous Conscience in Pierre Bayle
- Jean-Pierre Cavaillé
- © 2023 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0266-4.08
This essay explores the reciprocal contamination of the notions of error and erring at the beginning of the early modern time in Latin and Romance languages, through the example of the concept of “erroneous conscience”. This concept, for Pierre Bayle and those who followed him at least on this point, allows for the decriminalization of religious beliefs, and even those that challenge religion(s), by recognizing the “rights of the erroneous conscience”. This right is a right to error and to erring/wandering limited to religious convictions and apparently aimed solely at “tolerance” (supporting and excusing erroneous/wandering opinions). However, it did not escape contemporaries that it radically challenged the very idea that a universal truth could be universally known and established in this field.
- Keywords:
- Erroneous conscience,
- pyrrhonism,
- moral rationalism,
- atheism,
- intolerance,
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales - EHESS, France - ORCID: 0000-0002-0528-5100
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Chapter Information
Chapter Title
The Notions of Erroneous Conscience in Pierre Bayle
Authors
Jean-Pierre Cavaillé
Language
Italian
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0266-4.08
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2023
Copyright Information
© 2023 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Bibliographic Information
Book Title
Errors, False Opinions and Defective Knowledge in Early Modern Europe
Authors
Marco Faini, Marco Sgarbi
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
145
Publication Year
2023
Copyright Information
© 2023 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0266-4
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0265-7
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0266-4
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-0267-1
Series Title
Knowledge and its Histories