@article{ART001272734},
author={EungJong Kim},
title={The Ideas of Toleration of John Locke and Pierre Bayle: From ‘Toleration’ to the Liberty of Conscience},
journal={Korean Review of French History},
issn={1229-702X},
year={2008},
number={19},
pages={105-128}
TY - JOUR
AU - EungJong Kim
TI - The Ideas of Toleration of John Locke and Pierre Bayle: From ‘Toleration’ to the Liberty of Conscience
JO - Korean Review of French History
PY - 2008
VL - null
IS - 19
PB - KOREAN SOCIETY FOR FRENCH HISTORY
SP - 105
EP - 128
SN - 1229-702X
AB - The original meaning of the word ‘toleration’ is to grant temporarily the religious liberty for the purpose of restoring the public order troubled by the religious war. With the sufficient power to do it, the magistrate would withdraw the toleration and return to the ancient policy of “one religion”. By the toleration the magistrate meant to tolerate for the time being the different religion. The toleration wasn’t the recognition of the liberty and the right to believe it. John Locke and Pierre Bayle made an epoch in the history of the idea of toleration by asserting that to believe the different religion is not the favor of the magistrate but the individual liberty, which is for Locke the natural right, and for Bayle the voice of the god.
However, Locke and Bayle didn’t advocate the absolute religious liberty. Their argument is based on the separation of the politics and the religion. Everyone has the right to choose his own religion because he has the liberty of conscience. But this argumentation runs the risk of endangering the religious liberty. For the magistrate has the right to limit the religious right in case that the religion invades into the proper territory of the politics, so as to intimidate the public peace. Locke excluded the catholics and the atheists from the toleration for this reason. It is true that Bayle claimed broader toleration including the atheists. But, he also conceded that the cause of the social peace could justify the limitation of the civil toleration. What made the difference of these two apologists of toleration? Locke was a conformist, more precisely a latitudinarian. He claimed so broad toleration for his time that he was under suspicion of a socinian who denied the trinity. It is evident that Locke was a true believer. He considered the toleration to be the essence of the christianism. On the other hand, Bayle was under suspicion of the atheist in spite of his assertion that he was a calvinist. The atheists of the times of Enlightenment classified him among their predecessors. He thought that the intolerance was born with the christianism, and, what is worse its essence. He is pessimistic compared with Locke who is optimistic. Bayle was a victim of the persecution not only of the catholicism but also of the protestantism, and passed away as a christian philosopher in the extreme poverty. The reason why Bayle claimed the toleration more large and more profound than Locke can be explained in part by this existential condition that he was the religious and politic persecuted.
KW - John Locke;Pierre Bayle;Toleration;Liberty of Conscience;Atheism
DO -
UR -
ER -
EungJong Kim. (2008). The Ideas of Toleration of John Locke and Pierre Bayle: From ‘Toleration’ to the Liberty of Conscience. Korean Review of French History, 19, 105-128.
EungJong Kim. 2008, "The Ideas of Toleration of John Locke and Pierre Bayle: From ‘Toleration’ to the Liberty of Conscience", Korean Review of French History, no.19, pp.105-128.
EungJong Kim "The Ideas of Toleration of John Locke and Pierre Bayle: From ‘Toleration’ to the Liberty of Conscience" Korean Review of French History 19 pp.105-128 (2008) : 105.
EungJong Kim. The Ideas of Toleration of John Locke and Pierre Bayle: From ‘Toleration’ to the Liberty of Conscience. 2008; 19 : 105-128.
EungJong Kim. "The Ideas of Toleration of John Locke and Pierre Bayle: From ‘Toleration’ to the Liberty of Conscience" Korean Review of French History no.19(2008) : 105-128.
EungJong Kim. The Ideas of Toleration of John Locke and Pierre Bayle: From ‘Toleration’ to the Liberty of Conscience. Korean Review of French History, 19, 105-128.
EungJong Kim. The Ideas of Toleration of John Locke and Pierre Bayle: From ‘Toleration’ to the Liberty of Conscience. Korean Review of French History. 2008; 19 105-128.
EungJong Kim. The Ideas of Toleration of John Locke and Pierre Bayle: From ‘Toleration’ to the Liberty of Conscience. 2008; 19 : 105-128.
EungJong Kim. "The Ideas of Toleration of John Locke and Pierre Bayle: From ‘Toleration’ to the Liberty of Conscience" Korean Review of French History no.19(2008) : 105-128.
