Paganism and Barbarism in the French Philosophy of the Eighteenth Century (Montesquieu, Diderot, Voltaire and Rousseau)

The present study attempts to show in which cases the barbarism discussed and sometimes openly advocated by the French philosophers of the 18th century (Montesquieu, Diderot, Voltaire and Rousseau) relates back to some pagan habits and realities for mystically-romantic and for nostalgically-instinctual reasons and in which cases it has to do with rudimentary and bloodthirsty uses of reason. As these thinkers ignited the first precious and powerful sparks in the direction of a historical recuperation of the phenomenological and aesthetic roots of man, our material represents an attempt to explain the political and historical phenomenon which brought back to the table the discussion concerning the cultural origins of Europe and which resurrected the pagan fascinations and fears within the cultural imaginary of the coming epochs.