In 17th-century Europe, as religious wars consumed the continent, Pierre Bayle sat in exile in Rotterdam writing dangerous footnotes. A Huguenot refugee whose brother died in a French prison, Bayle watched certainty---religious, political, absolute---justify unspeakable violence. His response wasn't to offer better certainties, but to question certainty itself. Through his massive Historical and Critical Dictionary, he introduced philosophical skepticism as a spiritual practice: the humility to recognize that human reason has limits, that conscience matters more than tribal loyalty, and that we're never certain enough to justify treating those who disagree as less than human. Today, in a world fractured by tribal certainties, algorithmic echo chambers, and the exile of anyone who questions the package, Bayle's uncomfortable question remains: what if the problem isn't that we believe the wrong things, but that we're too sure we believe the right things?
Transcript available at: https://harmonia.email/podcast-episode/pierre-bayle
View comments on this podcast: https://harmonia.email/podcast-comments?field_podcast_feed_value=the_golden_thread&from_node=189
