Philosophes versus antiphilosophes La mise en litterature de debat religieux au XVIIIe siecle

This dissertation investigates the literary strategies that were used in the religious debates between the philosophes of eighteenth-century France and their adversaries, the anti-philosophes. While historians agree that the French Enlightenment encompasses the abundant and often powerful writings of anti-philosophes, studies that consider these writings from a literary perspective remain scarce. The main purpose of this dissertation is to show that one reaches a clearer understanding of this period's religious debates and their impact on contemporary literature and society by considering the work of philosophes and anti-philosophes side by side. History itself has largely favored the philosophes, whose contribution to the development of French culture is undeniable. However, the real impact of their writings becomes clearer if we take full account of the strong opposition they had to face in literary as well as political terms. Their adversaries, whose objective was to defend religion in a society defined by Christian traditions and beliefs, represented an important component of eighteenth-century French culture and society. Analyzing these two groups of writers in tandem elucidates the ways in which the writings of each group influenced the cultural landscape of their time, while also transforming our perception as modern readers of the philosophes in relation to their adversaries.;The first part of this dissertation consists of two chapters that provide a historical framework for the literary works examined in detail in the second part. Part One traces the historical evolution of the relationship between persuasion, Christianity and truth, as a means of understanding how those elements were deployed by both sides of the "philosophe/anti philosophe" controversy. Focusing particularly on literary works by Diderot and Baculard d'Arnaud, these chapters examine the persuasive techniques used respectively by philosophes and Christian apologists, while also establishing the idea that the latter group of writers were equally convincing and appealing to the contemporary public as their "philosophical" counterparts. The four chapters that make up Part Two offer a series of close literary analyses of works by Voltaire and Rousseau, read in tandem with critiques of those works by opponents such as Chaudon and Formey.