Jean Meslier’s Radical Atheism Cover Image

Radikalni ateizam Jeana Mesliera
Jean Meslier’s Radical Atheism

Author(s): Marko Škorić
Subject(s): Metaphysics, Early Modern Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
Published by: Hrvatsko Filozofsko Društvo
Keywords: Jean Meslier; atheism; materialism; Enlightenment; clandestine literature;

Summary/Abstract: During the end of the 17th century, more and more “radical thinkers” began to speak about how common understanding of god was being incoherent, childish, and anthropomorphic. Because of that, their contemporaries saw them as atheists, although today probably nobody would characterize them as such. One thing is for certain – the definition of atheist had different meanings in different times. We know that many authors published their works anonymously or after their death, and one of those writers was Jean Meslier. He was a priest who wrote a book titled Testament, in which he developed a thorough materialistic and atheistic worldview. Besides that, he attacked the Church, Christianity, Jesus, God, aristocracy, monarchy, “ancient regime” etc. The paper analyses historical context in which Meslier lived, his biography, and his thoughts on politics, Church, ethics, materialism, and atheism.

  • Issue Year: 36/2016
  • Issue No: 02/142
  • Page Range: 311-326
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Croatian