Early Modern Skepticism and the Origins of Toleration

by Levine, Alan; Gillespie, Michael; Horowitz, Maryanne Cline; Houston, Alan Craig; Letwin, Shirley; Mitchell, Joshua; Riley, Patrick; Schaub, Diana J.; Smith, Steven B.; Tarcov, Nathan; Weinstein, Kenneth R.

• ISBN13: 9780739100240
• ISBN10: 0739100246
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-04-15
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

This collection of original essays by the nation's leading political theorists examines the origins of modernity, and considers the question of tolerance as a product of early modern religious skepticism. Rather than approaching the problem with a purely historical lens, the authors actively demonstrate the significance of these issues to contemporary debates in political philosophy and public policy. The contributors to Early Modern Skepticism raise and address questions of the utmost significance: Is religious faith necessary for ethical behavior? Is skepticism a fruitful ground from which to argue for toleration? This book will be of interest to historians, philosophers, religious scholars, and political theorists -- anyone concerned about the tensions between private beliefs and public behavior.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction: The Prehistory of Toleration and Varieties of Skepticism	1	(20)
Alan Levine
Through a Glass Darkly: Luther and Calvin and the Limits of Reason	21	(30)
Joshua Mitchell
Skepticism, Self, and Toleration in Montaigne's Political Thought	51	(26)
Alan Levine
French Free-Thinkers in the First Decades of the Edict of Nantes	77	(26)
Maryanne Cline Horowitz
Descartes and the Question of Toleration	103	(24)
Michael Gillepsie
Toleration and the Skepticism of Religion in Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus	127	(20)
Steven B. Smith
Monopolizing Faith: The Levellers, Rights, and Religious Toleration	147	(18)
Alan Houston
Skepticism and Toleration in Hobbes' Political Thought	165	(14)
Shirley Letwin
John Locke and the Foundations of Toleration	179	(18)
Nathan Tarcov
Pierre Bayle's Atheist Politics	197	(28)
Kenneth R. Weinstein
Of Believers and Barbarians: Montesquieu's Enlightened Toleration	225	(24)
Diana Schaub
The Tolerant Skepticism of Voltaire and Diderot: Against Leibnizian Optimism and ``Wise Charity''	249	(22)
Patrick Riley
Index	271	(10)
About the Contributors	281