Kenneth Novis

Thesis title: Spinoza and Bayle: The 'Virtuous Atheism Debate.'

Supervisors: A.W. Moore and Caroline Warman.

I am a DPhil candidate in Philosophy, researching the afterlife of Spinoza's philosophy in pre-revolutionary France through the arguments devised and propagated by the Huguenot philosopher Pierre Bayle. Through these figures, I focus on how early modern philosophers conceived of the relationship between morality, the passions, and religious belief. In this project, I hope to better understand what role Spinoza's philosophy played in the growth of modern atheism, as well as the 17th-century Augustinian revival, the Arnauld-Malebranche debate, and Enlightenment conceptions of toleration.

I have additional interests in the history of French philosophy up to the present day, and have previously worked on Simone Weil and Gilles Deleuze. Beyond philosophy, I have conducted research in social movement history, especially into Italy around the ‘hot autumn’ of 1969-70.

For a popular introduction to my research, see my article with Philosophy Now, titled ‘Was Spinoza Actually an Atheist?’ (https://philosophynow.org/issues/151/Was_Spinoza_Actually_An_Atheist).