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Ma celino Rod íguez Donís, Ma e ialismo y a eísmo. La iloso ía de un
libe ino del siglo XVII, Se illa, Sec e a iado de Publicaciones de la
Uni e sidad de Se illa, 2008.
Mo e han six y yea s ago, Lucien Feb e w o e ha o ask i anyone in he
six een h cen u y was an a heis was “une ques ion mal posée”.1 Wha he
mean was ha people in ha cen u y did no ha e he wo ds, syn ax, and
pe spec i e o gi e he ques ion meaning. I was an age in which people
wan ed so much o belie e ha hey could no disbelie e, he w o e. And he
was su ely a leas pa ly igh : we, oo, canno e en imagine some hings ha
migh become common knowledge in he u u e. Un o una ely, Feb e’s
no ion became he o hodoxy o many decades, and spilled o e in o in e -
p e a ions o he se en een h cen u y. Bu by he se en een h cen u y, i was
alse. Too many schola s do no ca ch he change, because hey limi hem-
sel es o he published ex s o he pe iod. Bu hey a e only he ip o he ice-
be g.
This olume b ings back o ou philosophical a en ion one o he g ea
a heis ical manusc ip s o he se en een h cen u y, i led Theoph as us edi i-
us. No hing is known abou he au ho . The ex was w i en in La in in
1659, and he e a e only ou known manusc ip s. The i s mode n edi ion
was published in 1981, bu i has no been widely ead because he e is no
comple e ansla ion in o a e nacula Eu opean language.2 The ex ensi e
pa aph asing in his olume will make i s con en accessible o many mo e
1 Lucien Feb e, La P oblème de l’inc oyance au XVIe siècle: le eligion de Rabelais (Pa is: Albin
Michel, 1942, 1968).
2 Theoph as us edi i us, eds. Guido Canziani and Gianni Paganini (Fi enze: La Nuo a
I alia, 1981). The e is an impo an p elimina y eading o he cosmology o he manusc ip in
Miguel Bení ez, La Face cachée des Lumiè es (Pa is: Uni e si as, 1996), 421-431.
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eade s han e e be o e, and he co e announces ha a ansla ion in o
Spanish is o hcoming. The c i ical analysis in his olume b ings ou i s im-
po ance o ea ly mode n philosophy.
I used o be ano he o hodoxy ha any ea ly mode n philosophe wo h
his sal was a Pla onis , an A is o elian, a S oic, o an Epicu ean. Bu his
judgmen es s on a e y enden ious idea ha hose schools a e na u al kinds,
essen ials ound in he wo ld, and ha philosophy mus ep oduce hem ex-
clusi ely. Bu wha e idence do we ha e o ha ? Rod íguez Donís’s wo k
shows us ha ou anonymous au ho d ew on he skep ics and he cynics,
oo. And he was no alone: Gianni Paganini has e y ecen ly edi ed a jou nal
issue wi h a icles on he con empo a y implica ions o each o S oicism, Epi-
cu eanism, skep icism, and cynicism.3
D awing hea ily on Sex us Empi icus, Lucian (which b ings ou he impo -
ance o humo in philosophy), Machia elli, Bodin, Pomponazzi, Vanini, and
o he s, he anonymous au ho o his ex was e y eclec ic. Some philoso-
phe s ha e hough ha his mus ep esen muddled hinking, and ha any-
one who hinks like his is simply no a good philosophe . Bu Michael
Alb ech has shown ha he e we e many good philosophe s o eclec ic as es
om ancien G eek imes on, wi h s ong ep esen a ion in he se en een h
cen u y.4 The o iginal G eek Theoph as us has a place in his his o y,5 bu
Theoph as us edi i us does no , al hough Rod íguez Donís’s analysis sugges s
ha i should. Wha i he bes philosophy o li e is eclec icism? Ou anony-
mous au ho migh come ou p e y well i he s anda d o philosophy is
aken o be i s abili y o help us li e a good li e, as ecen philosophe s such as
Pie e Hado and Alexande Nehamas ha e insis ed.6 The las book o he
manusc ip is a p esc ip ion o li ing acco ding o na u e, and much o i is
inspi ed by he ancien cynics.7
E en i he migh be igh abou how o li e, he anonymous au ho is no
always ully consis en no igh abou his philosophy. Rod íguez Donís sup-
3 Gianni Paganini, ed., Special Issue on Hellenis ic philosophy, I ide 56, 2009.
4 Michael Alb ech , Eklek ik: eine Beg i sgeschich e mi hinweisen au die Philosophie- und Wis-
senscha sgeschich e (S u ga : F ommann-Holzboog, 1994).
5 Alb ech , Eklek ik, 77, 120, 244, 698.
6 Alexande Nehamas, The A o Li ing (Be keley: Uni e si y o Cali o nia P ess, 1998); Pi-
e e Hado , Qu’es -ce que la philosophie an ique? (Pa is: Gallima d, 1995).
7 On he cynics, see William Desmond, The G eek P aise o Po e y (No e Dame: No e
Dame Uni e si y P ess, 2006).
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plies a c i ical analysis ha b ings ou many an apo ia in his a gumen . Bu we
can o en lea n as much om a philosophe ’s mis akes as om his successes.
This ex belongs in he cen e o he ongoing ee alua ion o he de el-
opmen o philosophy in he se en een h cen u y. I was a pi o al ex in lib-
e ine and a heis cul u e. I con ibu ed o a sea change in a ailable men al
u ni u e in se en een h cen u y philosophy and in ellec ual his o y ha is
only ecen ly coming o ligh . We used o ead Moliè e as a Ch is ian, bu
now we can ead him as a libe ine.8 Some o he oo s o Ma in Mulsow’s
adical ea ly enligh enmen in Ge many may be ound he e: wo o he ou
manusc ip s we ha e a e ound oday in Wien, and all o hem seem o be
de i ed om a copy collec ed o P ince Eugene by Ba on Hohendo .9
Win ied Sch oede ’s majo wo k on a heism o eg ounds he Theoph as us
edi i us.10 Gianluca Mo i’s con incing claim ha Pie e Bayle was a philoso-
phical a heis , e en i he migh ha e been a sen imen al Cal inis , d ew on his
ex .11 Bu whe e Bayle hinks ha a heis s could make up a h i ing epublic,
he anonymous au ho hinks ha widesp ead a heism would lead o ana chy.
Finally, Gianni Paganini’s mas e ul philosophical analysis o se en een h-
cen u y skep icism, well awa e o he Theoph as us edi i us, has gi en us a
new iew o he de elopmen o such skep icism ha changes ou iew o
Desca es.12
Jona han Is ael did no men ion Theoph as us edi i us in he i s olume o
his massi e ein e p e a ion o he adical Enligh enmen as s emming in all
impo an espec s om Spinoza, e en hough i alls wi hin he da es 1650-
1750 ha he claims o co e .13 The ac ha i was w i en be o e Spinoza pub-
lished any hing unde mines he claim ha Spinoza was so uniquely impo -
an . In he second olume o his ongoing p ojec Is ael ci es Theoph as us edi-
i us a ew imes as ep esen a i e o I alian na u alism – he school o Pom-
8 An ony McKenna, Moliè e d ama u ge libe ine (Pa is: Champion, 2005).
9 Ma in Mulsow, Mode ne aus dem Un e g und: adikale F ühau klä ung in Deu schland, 1680-
1720 (Hambu g: Meine , 2002), 3, 21, 25, 215.
10 Win ied Sch öde , U sp unge des A heismus: Un e suchungen zu Me aphysik- und Religion-
sk i ik des 17. und 18. Jah hunde s (S u ga : F ommann-Holzboog, 1998), 22, 28, 76, 120, 144,
151, 180, 193, 218-232, 246-247, 273-278, 297-298, 404-407, e c.
11 Gianluca Mo i, Bayle philosophe (Pa is: Champion, 1999), 221.
12 Gianni Paganini, Skepsis: Le Déba des mode nes su le scep icisme (Pa is: V in, 2008); see
also Gianni Paganini, Les Philosophies clandes ines à l’age classique (Pa is: P esses uni e si ai es
de F ance, 2005).
13 Jona han Is ael, Radical Enligh enmen : Philosophy and he Making o Mode ni y 1650-1750
(Ox o d Uni e si y P ess, 2001).
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ponazzi, Ca dano, B uno, and Vanini– bu claims ha Spinoza wen beyond
i .14 He poin s ou ha Pie e Bayle conside ed Theoph as us edi i us pa o
he chain ha connec ed he ma e ialis philosophy o ancien G eece wi h his
own age.15
This wo k is e y impo an o he his o y o poli ical philosophy because
i b ings oge he many o he a gumen s o he heo y ha eligion is he
p oduc o poli ical manipula ion, om euheme ism o Machia ellianism. I is
also impo an o see ha he philosophically adical au ho o his ex was
no poli ically adical. Like many libe ines o he se en een h cen u y adi-
ion, as o Richa d Ro y in ou day, philosophy is some hing o he eli e o
keep a home while he masses a e augh pious lies o keep hem in line.
The o egoing a emp o si ua e his new book in he g owing li e a u e
on clandes ine philosophy in he se en een h cen u y could no do jus ice o
he ichness, nuance, and de ail o his book. I any o hese opics ha e piqued
he eade ’s in e es , he eade is ad ised o pick up his book and ead i .
John Ch is ian Lau sen
Uni e si y o Cali o nia, Ri e side
14 Jona han Is ael, Enligh enmen Con es ed: Philosophy, Mode ni y, and he Emancipa ion o
Man 1670-1750 (Ox o d Uni e si y P ess, 2006), 481, 625.
15 Is ael, Enligh enmen Con es ed, 628.