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Collecting to the Core-Pierre Bayle's Historical and Critical Dictionary Matthew Olsen Millikin University, [email protected]

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Collecting to the Core-Pierre Bayle's Historical and Critical Dictionary Matthew Olsen Millikin University, Molsen@Millikin.Edu Against the Grain Volume 29 | Issue 3 Article 51 June 2017 Collecting to the Core-Pierre Bayle's Historical and Critical Dictionary Matthew Olsen Millikin University, [email protected] Anne Doherty CHOICE/ACRL, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/atg Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Olsen, Matthew and Doherty, Anne (2017) "Collecting to the Core-Pierre Bayle's Historical and Critical Dictionary," Against the Grain: Vol. 29: Iss. 3, Article 51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/2380-176X.7790 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Collecting to the Core — Pierre Bayle’s Historical and Critical Dictionary by Dr. Matthew Olsen (Assistant Professor, Staley Library, Millikin University; Philosophy Subject Editor, Resources for College Libraries) <[email protected]> Column Editor: Anne Doherty (Resources for College Libraries Project Editor, CHOICE/ACRL) <[email protected]> Column Editor’s Note: The “Collecting a journal of book reviews called the News of brief because “I already have more copy than to the Core” column highlights monographic the Republic of Letters, which brought him into one is required to complete this volume.”7 His works that are essential to the academic li- contact with many of the most important think- brief note then goes on for several pages and brary within a particular discipline, inspired ers of the period. During this hundreds of words. Bayle’s by the Resources for College Libraries bib- time, he was also writing writing can also be somewhat liography (online at http://www.rclweb.net). short works largely argu- risqué. At numerous points, In each essay, subject specialists introduce ing for religious tolerance, he discusses prostitutes, and explain the classic titles and topics that which led to condemnation sex, excessive drinking, etc. continue to remain relevant to the undergrad- by French religious author- These bawdy descriptions uate curriculum and library collection. Dis- ities and may have resulted and stories got him into some ciplinary trends may shift, but some classics in the imprisonment and trouble with the local reli- never go out of style. — AD eventual death of his broth- gious authorities, and in the er Jacob — an event that second edition of the work he profoundly affected Bayle. issued four “Clarifications,” he field of philosophy benefits from a Drawing on an extensive one of which addresses the rich body of reference works, both online knowledge of the thought work’s obscenities (the oth- and in print. While in graduate school and writings of many of his ers address more philosoph- T ical and theological topics studying philosophy, the Routledge Encyclope- European contemporaries, dia of Philosophy, then available only in print, Bayle began publishing his Historical and such as his position on atheists, the problem was an invaluable resource for me, providing Critical Dictionary in 1697. The work was of evil, and skepticism). critical details of a philosopher’s positions an immediate success, and it established his The complete Dictionary was translated or a brief overview of an unfamiliar theory.1 reputation across Europe. Upon its comple- into English in the 1730s in a five-volume Newer, online reference works such as the tion, he began work on a second edition, and work by Pierre Desmaizeaux, but the best Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the he continued to work on the Dictionary and to contemporary translation is Richard Popkin’s Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy are excel- engage in written debates with contemporaries Historical and Critical Dictionary: Selec- lent sources of philosophical information and until his death in 1706. tions.8-9 Popkin does an admirable job using heralded as leading examples of authoritative To say that the Historical and Critical different font sizes and text placement, as well 2-3 information on the internet. Yet their acclaim Dictionary is a unique reference work is an as ellipses and marks, to help guide the reader and reach pales in comparison to a much older understatement. Ostensibly, the work provides through Bayle’s writing in a standard-sized philosophical reference work. Pierre Bayle’s information on individuals of significance. volume. He also provides his own comments Historical and Critical Dictionary was one The entries range from Old Testament figures to clarify points for the reader or to explain of the most popular works of the 1700s, and (David) to Greek gods (Jupiter), and from ma- references to entries that are not included in was found in “more private libraries than any jor philosophers (Spinoza) to minor thinkers his selections. By Popkin’s own admission, 4 other single work in the century.” While who are completely unknown today (Giacomo much was left out during the selection process, today it is rarely known outside of specialists Bonfadius). However, the choice of entries but he focuses on entries that are of particular in early modern philosophy, i.e., European is seemingly haphazard and there are some philosophical importance or that were espe- philosophy of the 17th century, it was read by surprising omissions; for example, there is no cially controversial. Popkin’s translation also contemporaries such as Gottfried Wilhelm entry on Plato, but, here again, a historical includes the four “Clarifications” and a useful Leibniz and John Locke, it influenced later analysis is helpful. A quarter century before the index of names. philosophers like Bishop George Berkeley Dictionary, a Catholic priest from Lyon named There are many famous, and in some cases and David Hume, and it was well regarded Moréri had published a Historical Dictionary. infamous, entries in the Dictionary such as outside of philosophical circles by the likes of Bayle considered his Critical Dictionary an ex- “Manicheans,” “Pyrrho,” and “Spinoza,” Thomas Jefferson, Herman Melville, and tension of this work, thus there was no need for but looking more closely at the “Rorarius” Voltaire. This essay asserts that Bayle’s His- entries on topics that Bayle thought had been entry gives us a better sense of Bayle’s style torical and Critical Dictionary is a philosoph- sufficiently covered by Moréri.5 While the and approach. As he explains, Hieronymus ical reference work with continuing relevance entries in Bayle’s work are relatively succinct, Rorarius was a nuncio of Pope Clement VII not only because it brings readers into contact each one includes extensive footnotes and in who wrote a book on the rationality of animals with many of the major figures and theories of some cases footnotes to the footnotes that often that “deserves to be read.”10 After a relatively the time, but also because it is an exemplar of wander broadly from the original subject mat- short and straightforward entry on Rorarius, philosophical inquiry. ter. In fact, as much as 95 percent of the more Bayle launches into several long footnotes dis- To fully understand his Dictionary, it is than 6-million word text may be found in these cussing René Descartes’s position that animals worthwhile briefly considering Bayle’s bi- footnotes.6 The work was originally presented are machines devoid of souls and without the ography, since the details of his life strongly in a folio format, which allowed the entry and capacity to think. Bayle canvasses Descartes’s influenced the direction of his thought. Pierre notes to be displayed on one page. The writing position and then raises numerous objections, Bayle was born in 1647 in Southern France. is surprisingly conversational, often verbose, many of which involve stories of animals Born a Huguenot (French Protestant), his fam- and is, at times, quite humorous. For example, acting intelligently that he had read and heard. ily was subject to persecution by the Catholic in his entry on “Takiddin” (Ibn Taymiyyah, a This subsequently leads to a discussion of the majority. He fled France as a young man and medieval Muslim theologian), “a Mohammed- views of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and his eventually settled in Rotterdam, where he spent an author,” in the note he explains that while a theory of the pre-established harmony, or the the remainder of his life in the relative toler- lot could be said about the topic of introducing idea that the mind and body do not interact, ance of Holland. In the 1680s, Bayle edited “philosophical studies” into religion, he will be continued on page 36 34 Against the Grain / June 2017 <http://www.against-the-grain.com> and major issues in metaphysics (mind-body for those interested in the history of philosophy, Collecting to the Core dualism, causation, and mechanism), with the but the Dictionary’s value for students — es- from page 34 hope of arriving at a “satisfying interpretation pecially undergraduate students — lies in the of Bayle’s thought as a whole.”17 Walter Rex’s strength of Bayle’s arguments, his wit, and the but have been set in perfect alignment by God. Essays on Pierre Bayle and Religious Contro- approachable style of his writing.20 His method Bayle provides eight numbered objections to versy focuses on Bayle’s views on religion and of taking arguments on their own terms and the theory, each of which is several paragraphs examines three of his writings, including the then examining them from within is a model in length, yet he concludes with his typical controversial Dictionary entry
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