Abstract
This chapter analyses the use by Caveirac, a notorious reactionary who had defended the St. Bartholomewe Day's massacre and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, of language characteristic of the Enlightenment discourse of toleration. It also considers similar usage, including terms like 'droits humains', in official documents of the 1760s dealing with French Protestants, whose religion was still legally banned in France. I argue that this illustrates how, as in every era, a rising or dominant discourse imposes its own terms and vocabulary on even those who oppose its values and seek to react against it.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Voltaire and the 1760s: Essays for John Renwick |
| Editors | NIcholas Cronk |
| Place of Publication | Oxford |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Pages | 123-132 |
| Volume | SVEC 2 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978 0 7294 0949 0 |
| Publication status | Published - 2008 |
Bibliographical note
Reference text: Jean Balcou, Freron contre les philosophes (Geneva, 1975)Jean Balcou, Le Dossier Freron (Geneva, 1975)
Claude Lauriol, La Baumelle: un protestant cevennol entre Montesquieu et Voltaire (Geneva, 1978)
Geoffrey Adams, The Huguenots and French opinion 1685-1787; the Enlightenment debate on toleration (Waterloo, Ontario, 1991)
William Everdell, Christian apologetics in France, 1730-1790: the roots of Romantic religion (Lewiston, Queenston, 1987)
Keywords
- Voltaire
- Caveirac
- toleration
- France
- religion
- Enlightenment. 1760s
- dominant discourse