The Growth of Skepticism about demons and witches

      MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE (K&P #61)  ESSAYS, 1580's
            skeptical motto, "Que sais-je?" (What do I know?)
            give witches "rather hellebore than hemlock"

      THOMAS HOBBES (English Protestant)
            Leviathan, 1651: political theory of strong state
            Philosophical materialism: no demons exist

      PIERRE GASSENDI (1655)
            Experiments on Swiss peasants with
               narcotic drugs; power of suggestion

      MALEBRANCHE (French Catholic)
            Search for Truth, 1674 (Xerox packet)
            Imagination as the source of witch beliefs

17th C. Defenders of Witch Beliefs
      Cambridge Platonist movement: orthodox backlash

   HENRY MORE, JOSEPH GLANVIL:
         Sadducismus Triumphatus  1666
         Defense against materialism = prove reality of spirits
         "No devil, no God": Devil as proof of God's existence

Critique of witch beliefs
        Balthasar Bekker, The Enchanted World, 1691
                  systematic refutation of witch theory

        Pierre Bayle, skeptical, mocking approach
                  Historical & Critical Dictionary
                  Response to the Questions of a Provincial, 1703
                        (K&P #68)