تحلیل و نقد تفسیر کاسیرر از معرفت‌شناسی فرهنگ تاریخی و انتقادی پی‌یر بیل

This article analyzes and critiques Cassirer’s interpretation of Pierre Bayle’s epistemic positions in his Dictionnaire Historique et Critique. Cassirer presupposes that Bayle, like other Enlightenment encyclopedists, employs critical scrutiny in examining historical narratives in order to facilitate detachment from external authorities that obstruct human autonomy in rationally understanding historical facts. Cassirer attempts, at all costs, to justify Bayle’s inclusion within the Enlightenment; however, a logical analysis of his claims reveals a series of logically inconsistent, contradictory, and anachronistic assertions, including references to positivism, a Copernican revolution in history, a critique of historical reason, and others. However, by considering Bayle’s work, particularly the structure of the Dictionnaire, within its historical and theological context, we find that particular historical events do not possess intrinsic research value but are instead parts of a broader web that leads to universal problems that reason alone cannot resolve. The suspension of judgment resulting from Bayle’s epistemic skepticism is not a defect to be overcome by establishing an affirmative foundation; rather, it serves precisely the fideism that Cassirer overlooked.