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Atheism in the Renaissance

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Abstract

Atheism was not a philosophical position in the European Renaissance. No university hosted a disputation on the question an sit Deus. Nevertheless, atheism was a widely described and decried phenomenon in sixteenth-century Europe, especially in the context of confessional strife and religious civil war. Atheism can best be understood for this period as an experience of social ostracism that continues to elude historians and philosophers alike.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. French and Italian, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Eric MacPhail

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  1. Eric MacPhail
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Correspondence to Eric MacPhail .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Venezia, Italy

    Marco Sgarbi

Section Editor information

  1. Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Anna Laura Puliafito

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MacPhail, E. (2020). Atheism in the Renaissance. In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_991-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_991-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

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