The Virtuous Atheism: Bayle and Diderot

Abstract

The article considers the character of the virtuous atheist as found in Bayle’s Pensées diverses sur la comète and Diderot’s Entretien d’un philosophe avec Madame la Maréchale de ***. While Bayle argues in favor of the possibility of the existence of a society of atheists, Diderot argues against the viability of a society of Christians. In his dialogue, Diderot shows that the morality derived from The Sermon on the Mount is, in most cases, impracticable, or that acting in the spirit of gospel is only possible in special, extreme cases.