A reopened dossier: the author of the Examen de la religion
Abstract
The recent arguments to establish undoubtedly that Du Marsais is the author of the Examen de la religion seem very questionable. On this basis, we reopen the dossier that Prosper Marchand had compiled on the treatise. A careful reading of these documents reveals that La Varenne, who claims to be the author of the work, most likely developed the composite text published in Amsterdam in 1745. This text is the result of a series of manipulations of the original one, that the analysis of the manuscript tradition would be helpful to identify its elementary traits. The second part of the Examen de la Religion, that La Serre on the scaffold falsely said to have written, is probably the treatise entitled Le Philosophe, that he had most likely copied. The debate is still open as well, but is based on more sound foundations.
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