In existographies, Marquis of Argens (1704-1771) (RMS:24), aka “Boyer of Argens”, “Jean-Baptiste Boyer d’Argens” (Ѻ), “Jean Batiste de Boyer, Marquis d’ Argens” (Ѻ), oft-cited as “d’Argens” (in English), was a French anti-Christian philosopher noted for []
Overview
In 1736, d’Argens, in his The Philosophy of Good Sense, which was peer-reviewed by Voltaire, argued that we must continually revise our knowledge about things, and attacks scriptural authority, arguing, e.g., that there is not enough water on the globe to make possible a deluge (Noah’s flood) that would cover all the highest mountain tops of the world. [1]
In 1740, d’Argens, in his Chinese Letters, presented a dialogue on the subject of religious doubt, between an atheist and a deist, from the perceptive of a fictional Chinese narrator, who pretends to comment, as an outsider, on the activity, e.g. the crusades on the Muslims, of the Christian-based west. [2]
Beliefs
Argens has been labeled a deist, an atheist, a pyrrhonist, a philo-Protestant, an sceptic, a Spinozist, materialist, libertine and or an unoriginal mimic of greater minds.
Associations
Argens was an associate: Voltaire, Pierre Maupertuis, Leonhard Euler, Casanova, the irreligionist-theologian Jean-Martin de Prades (1720-1782) (Ѻ), and Moses Mendelssohn, and Frederick II, whose court he resided in for 25-years.
References
1. (b) Argens, Marquis. (1736). The Philosophy of Good Sense. Publisher.
(b) Gasper, Julia. (2013). The Marquis d’Argens: a Philosophical Life (pg. 100). Lexington Books.
2. (a) Argens, Marquis. (1740). Chinese Letters. Publisher.
(b) Hecht, Jennifer M. (2003). Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas (pg. 55). HarperOne.
3. Gasper, Julia. (2013). The Marquis d’Argens: a Philosophical Life (labels, pg. 5 + abs). Lexington Books.
External links
● Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d’Argens – Wikipedia.
● Jean-Baptiste Boyer d’Argens (French → English) – Wikipedia.
