Balthasar Bekker and the decline of the Witch-Craze

The old demonology and the new philosophy

Datos Bibliográficos

ID23215971
AutoresRobin Attfield (0000-0002-3387-0251, a Department of Philosophy , University College , P.O. Box 78, Cardiff, CF1 1XL, U.K., autor de correspondencia)
Año1985
Volumen42
Número4
Páginas383-395
Fecha de publicación1985-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAnnals of Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0003-3790 • E-ISSN: 1464-505X
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00033798500200421
PMID11620703
OpenAlexW2032990383
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas5

The logical links between the Judaeo-Christian doctrine of creation and the practice of natural philosophy on the one hand, and the rejection of belief in demonic agency on the other, were made explicit in the seventeenth century by, among others, Balthasar Bekker (1634–98), whose ideas I argue to have been not without influence. In section 1, I present the accounts of three historians of the opposition to belief in witchcraft and of the decline of the witch-persecution, Hugh Trevor-Roper, Keith Thomas, and Brian Easlea. In section 2, I maintain that Bekker has been underestimated both by Trevor-Roper and by Easlea. In section 3, I investigate more generally some of the connections between the new natural philosophy and belief in supernatural interventions, cast doubt on the view that rejection of belief in witchcraft and the devil requires rejection of belief in creation, and thus supplement or qualify the accounts of Trevor-Roper, Thomas, and Easlea of why belief in witchcraft faded away.

Archaeology · Demonology · Doctrine · Epistemology · Natural (archaeology) · Natural Philosophy · Opposition (politics) · Persecution · Section (typography) · Theology · Witch · Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity