Pierre Bayle: el mal, la razón y la fe cristiana

Abstract

El objetivo de este trabajo es reunir y ordenar los argumentos en torno al problema del mal que utilizó Pierre Bayle a comienzos del siglo XVIII para sostener que la fe en el Dios cristiano debe entenderse literalmente como una continua humillación de las luces naturales. Luego de presentar en general la posición que sostiene, se examinan tanto sus críticas a la ?enfermedad racional? como su concepción de la cura que ofrece la fe. Finalmente, se destacan las diferencias de interpretación que se han dado al respecto entre filósofos y especialistas, diferencias que, a nuestro juicio, apuntan a una tensión existente en el núcleo de la cultura occidental y que Pierre Bayle supo presentar en toda su crudeza.

The aim of this paper is to collect and put in order the arguments about the problem of evil that were built up by Pierre Bayle at the beginning of the 18th. Century in order to sustain that Christian faith must be literally understood as a continuous humiliation of natural reason. After describing Bayle's position in a general way, we examine his critics to "rational illness" as well as his conception of the therapy or cure offered by Christian faith. Finally, we emphazise the differences in intepretation of this topic among philosophers and specialists in Bayle's thought. These differences, in our opinion, are signs of a tension, basic to Western culture, that Pierre Bayle knew how to present in all its roughness.