Teologia e ceticismo na primeira modernidade: Montaigne, Descartes, Bayle

Abstract

In three letters written between April and May 1630, Descartes presents to Mersenne his theory of the "creation of eternal truths", that is, his theory that God is the creator of both the essence and the existence of His creatures. In 2004, Vincent Carraud recalled this Cartesian theory and assumed it as a key to the interpretation of Montaigne’s Apology for Raymond Sebond. For Carraud, Descartes had understood and confirmed metaphysically the key to the Apology, namely the incomprehensible character of divine omnipotence and, consequently, the impossibility of understanding God from the rationality that governs our world, or from what Montaigne called the "municipal laws" of truth. Following in Carraud´s footsteps (footsteps that had previously been hinted at, among others, by Jean-Luc Marion), our purpose in this paper is to reflect on the Descartes-Montaigne relationship and to incorporate another author whom we also consider decisive in this journey: Pierre Bayle.

KEY WORDS: Super-Pyrrhonism, God, truth, evidence, rationality, overdetermination.