(Un)Common Reads: The Case for Conscience

Toleration, freedom of conscience, and liberty are foundational values in contemporary society. However, only a few centuries ago these concepts were controversial and widely rejected. Why was there once such a fear of these revolutionary ideals? What arguments were given to defend them? When answering these questions, scholars often turn to the Enlightenment philosopher John Locke as the forefather of toleration. However, three years before Locke’s famous Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), a French Protestant by the name of Pierre Bayle had already published most of the same arguments in his Commentaire Philosophique (1686), translated into English as the Philosophical Commentary (1708). Unlike Locke, whose concept of toleration excluded Catholics and atheists, Bayle applied his theory of toleration universally to include any citizen, regardless of their beliefs. In his day, Bayle was a leading figure of the Enlightenment, renowned for his encyclopedic knowledge and penetrating skills in critical reasoning. Unfortunately, today, almost no one has heard of Bayle and his defense of liberty, freedom, and tolerance. In this class, students will engage in an ‘uncommon read’ of a great and influential of figure, through a critical examination of the English translation of Bayle’s Philosophical Commentary in its historical and intellectual context.

James Hooks is Assistant Director and Lecturer for the Hamilton School. His research explores the relationship between religious thought and political ideas in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. He is also interested in applying these early modern concepts to contemporary debates in political philosophy about civility, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and toleration. His doctoral thesis at the University of Oxford argued that the Huguenot philosopher Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) significantly influenced the debates on religious toleration in early eighteenth-century England. His dissertation was funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. At Oxford, he was a founding member and editor of the Journal of the Oxford Graduate Theological Society, the President of the Oxford Graduate Theological Society, and a tutor for the Faculty of Theology and Religion. Publications: “Pierre Bayle and Richard Simon: Toleration, Natural Law, and the Old Testament in Bayle’s Commentaire Philosophique,” History of European Ideas (2022). “Le christianisme laïc de Pierre Bayle.” Dossiers des annales de droit (2021). For his next publication, he is undergoing a research project exploring the newly discovered marginalia in the Mary Astell collection in Pepys Library in Cambridge University, looking at Astell’s engagement with early modern French Cartesianism. https://hamilton.ufl.edu/people/center-based-faculty/james-hooks/