A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations Part 2

Austin (John), jurist, brother of above, was born 3 March, 1790. A friend of James Mill, Grote and Bentham, whose opinions he shared, he is chiefly known by his profound works on jurisprudence. Died 17 Dec. 1859.

Avempace, i.e., Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Bajjat (Abu Bekr), called Ibn al-Saigh (the son of the goldsmith), Arabian philosopher and poet, b. at Saragossa, practised medicine at Seville 1118, which he quitted about 1120, and became vizier at the court of Fez, where he died about 1138. An admirer of Aristotle, he was one of the teachers of Averroes. Al-Fath Ibn Khakan represents him as an infidel and Atheist, and says: "Faith disappeared from his heart and left not a trace behind; his tongue forgot the Merciful, neither did [the holy]

name cross his lips." He is said to have suffered imprisonment for his heterodoxy.

Avenel (Georges), French writer, b. at Chaumont 31 Dec. 1828. One of the promoters of the Encyclopedie Generale. His vindication of Cloots (1865) is a solid work of erudition. He became editor of la Republique Francaise and edited the edition of Voltaire published by Le Siecle (1867-70). Died at Bougival, near Paris, 1 July, 1876, and was, by his express wish, buried without religious ceremony.

Averroes (Muhammad Ibn-Ahmad Ibn Rushd), Abu al Walid, Arabian philosopher, b. at Cordova in 1126, and died at Morocco 10 Dec. 1198. He translated and commented upon the works of Aristotle, and resolutely placed the claims of science above those of theology. He was prosecuted for his heretical opinions by the Muhammadan doctors, was spat upon by all who entered the mosque at the hour of prayer, and afterwards banished. His philosophical opinions, which incline towards materialism and pantheism, had the honor of being condemned by the University of Paris in 1240. They were opposed by St. Thomas Aquinas, and when profoundly influencing Europe at the Renaissance through the Paduan school were again condemned by Pope Leo X. in 1513.

Avicenna (Husain Ibn Abdallah, called Ibn Sina), Arabian physician and philosopher, b. Aug. 980 in the district of Bokhara. From his early youth he was a wonderful student, and at his death 15 June, 1037, he left behind him above a hundred treatises. He was the sovereign authority in medical science until the days of Harvey. His philosophy was pantheistic in tone, with an attempt at compromise with theology.

Aymon (Jean), French writer, b. Dauphine 1661. Brought up in the Church, he abjured Catholicism at Geneva, and married at the Hague. He published Metamorphoses of the Romish Religion, and is said to have put forward a version of the Esprit de Spinoza under the famous t.i.tle Treatise of Three Impostors. Died about 1734.

Bagehot (Walter), economist and journalist, b. of Unitarian parents, Langport, Somersets.h.i.+re, 3 Feb. 1826; he died at the same place 24 March, 1877. He was educated at London University, of which he became a fellow. For the last seventeen years of his life he edited the Economist newspaper. His best-known works are The English Const.i.tution, Lombard Street and Literary Studies. In Physics and Politics (1872), a series of essays on the Evolution of Society, he applies Darwinism to politics. Bagehot was a bold, clear, and very original thinker, who rejected historic Christianity.

Baggesen (Jens Immanuel), Danish poet, b. Kosor, Zealand. 15 Feb. 1764. In 1789 he visited Germany, France, and Switzerland; at Berne he married the grand-daughter of Haller. He wrote popular poems both in Danish and German, among others Adam and Eve, a humorous mock epic (1826). He was an admirer of Voltaire. Died Hamburg, 3 Oct. 1826.

Bahnsen (Julius Friedrich August), pessimist, b. Tondern, Schleswig-Holstein, 30 Mar. 1830. Studied philosophy at Keil, 1847. He fought against the Danes in '49, and afterwards studied at Tubingen. Bahnsen is an independent follower of Schopenhauer and Hartmann, joining monism to the idealism of Hegel. He has written several works, among which we mention The Philosophy of History, Berlin, 1872, and The Contradiction between the Knowledge and the Nature of the World (2 vols), Berlin 1880-82.

Bahrdt (Karl Friedrich), German deist, b. in Saxony, 25 Aug. 1741. Educated for the Church, in 1766 he was made professor of biblical philology. He was condemned for heresy, and wandered from place to place. He published a kind of expurgated Bible, called New Revelations of G.o.d: A System of Moral Religion for Doubters and Thinkers, Berlin, 1787, and a Catechism of Natural Religion, Halle, 1790. Died near Halle, 23 April, 1792.

Bailey (James Napier), Socialist, edited the Model Republic, 1843, the Torch, and the Monthly Messenger. He published Gehenna: its Monarch and Inhabitants; Sophistry Unmasked, and several other tracts in the "Social Reformer's Cabinet Library," and some interesting Essays on Miscellaneous Subjects, at Leeds, 1842.

Bailey (Samuel), philosophical writer, of Sheffield, b. in 1791. His essay on the Formation and Publication of Opinions appeared in 1821. He vigorously contends that man is not responsible for his opinions because they are independent of his will, and that opinions should not be the subject of punishment. Another anonymous Freethought work was Letters from an Egyptian Kaffir on a Visit to England in Search of Religion. This was at first issued privately 1839, but afterwards printed as a Reasoner tract. He also wrote The Pursuit of Truth, 1829, and a Theory of Reasoning, 1851. He was acquainted with both James and John Stuart Mill, and shared in most of the views of the philosophical Radicals of the period. Died 18 Jan. 1870, leaving 90,000 to his native town.

Bailey (William S.), editor of the Liberal, published in Nashville, Tennessee, was an Atheist up till the day of death, March, 1886. In a slave-holding State, he was the earnest advocate of abolition.

Baillie (George), of Garnet Hill, Glasgow. Had been a sheriff in one of the Scotch counties. He was a liberal subscriber to the Glasgow Eclectic Inst.i.tute. In 1854 he offered a prize for the best essay on Christianity and Infidelity, which was gained by Miss Sara Hennell. In 1857 another prize was restricted to the question whether Jesus prophesied the coming of the end of the world in the life-time of his followers. It was gained by Mr. E. P. Meredith, and is incorporated in his Prophet of Nazareth. In 1863 Mr. Baillie divested himself of his fortune (18,000) which was to be applied to the erection and endowment of an inst.i.tution to aid the culture of the operative cla.s.ses by means of free libraries and unsectarian schools, retaining only the interest for himself as curator. He only survived a few years.

Bailliere (Gustave-Germer), French scientific publisher, b. at Paris 26 Dec. 1837. Studied medicine, but devoted himself to bringing out scientific publications such as the Library of Contemporary Philosophy, and the International Scientific Series. He was elected 29 Nov. 1874 as Republican and anti-clerical member of the Munic.i.p.al Council of Paris.

Bain (Alexander) LL.D. Scotch philosopher, b. at Aberdeen in 1818. He began life as a weaver but studied at Marischal College 1836-40, and graduated M.A. in 1840. He then began to contribute to the Westminster Review, and became acquainted with John Stuart Mill, whose Logic he discussed in ma.n.u.script. In 1855 he published The Senses and The Intellect, and in 1859 The Emotions and the Will, const.i.tuting together a systematic exposition of the human mind. From 1860 to 1880 he occupied the Chair of Logic in the University of Aberdeen, his accession being most obnoxious to the orthodox, and provoking disorder among the students. In 1869 he received the degree of LL.D. In addition to numerous educational works Dr. Bain published a Compendium of Mental and Moral Science (1868), Mind and Body (1875), and Education as a Science (1879), for the International Scientific Series. In 1882 he published James Mill, a Biography, and John Stuart Mill: a Criticism, with Personal Recollections. In 1881 he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen, and this honor was renewed in 1884, in which year he published Practical Essays.

Bainham (James), martyr. He married the widow of Simon Fish, author of the Supplycacion of Beggars, an attack upon the clergy of the period. In 1531 he was accused of heresy, having among other things denied transubstantiation, the confessional, and "the power of the keys." It was a.s.serted that he had said that he would as lief pray to his wife as to "our lady," and that Christ was but a man. This he denied, but admitted holding the salvation of unbelievers. He was burnt 30 April, 1532.

Baissac (Jules), French litterateur, b. Vans, 1827, author of several studies in philology and mythology. In 1878 he published Les Origines de la Religion in three volumes, which have the honor of being put upon the Roman Index. This was followed by l'Age de Dieu, a study of cosmical periods and the feast of Easter. In 1882 he began to publish Histoire de la Diablerie Chretienne, the first part of which is devoted to the person and "personnel" of the devil.

Bakunin (Mikhail Aleksandrovich), Russian Nihilist, b. Torshok (Tver) 1814, of an ancient aristocratic family. He was educated at St. Petersburg, and entered as an ensign in the artillery. Here he became embued with revolutionary ideas. He went to Berlin in 1841, studied the Hegelian philosophy, and published some philosophical writings under the name of Jules Elisard. In '43 he visited Paris and became a disciple of Proudhon. In '48 he was expelled from France at the demand of Russia, whose government set the price of 10,000 silver roubles on his head, went to Dresden and became a member of the insurrectionary government. He was arrested and condemned to death, May '50, but his sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life. He escaped into Austria, was again captured and sentenced to death, but was handed over to Russia and deported to Siberia. After several years' penal servitude he escaped, travelled over a thousand miles under extreme hards.h.i.+p, reached the sea and sailed to j.a.pan. Thence he sailed to California, thence to New York and London, where with Herzen he published the Kolokol. He took part in the establishment of the International Society, but being at issue with Karl Marx abandoned that body in 1873. He died at Berne 1 July 1876, leaving behind a work on G.o.d and the State, both being vigorously attacked. Laveleye writes of him as "the apostle of universal destruction."

Ball (William Platt), b. at Birmingham 28 Nov. 1844. Educated at Birkbeck School, London. Became schoolmaster but retired rather than teach religious doctrines. Matriculated at London University 1866. Taught pyrotechny in the Sultan's service 1870-71. Received the order of the Medjidieh after narrow escape from death by the bursting of a mortar. Upon his return published Poems from Turkey (1872). Mr. Ball has contributed to the National Reformer since 1878 and since 1884 has been on the staff of the Freethinker. He has published pamphlets on Religion in Schools, the Ten Commandments and Mrs Besant's Socialism, and has compiled with Mr. Foote the Bible Handbook. Mr. Ball is a close thinker and a firm supporter of Evolutional Malthusianism, which he has ably defended in the pages of Progress. He has of late been engaged upon the question: Are the Effects of Use and Disuse Inherited?

Ballance (John), New Zealand statesman, b. Glenary, Antrim, Ireland, March 1839. Going out to New Zealand he became a journalist and started the w.a.n.ganui Herald. He entered Parliament in 1875 and became Colonial Treasurer in '78. With Sir Robert Stout he has been a great support to the Freethought cause in New Zealand.

Baltzer (Wilhelm Eduard). German rationalist, b. 24 Oct. 1814, at Hohenleine in Saxony. He was educated as a Protestant minister, but resigned and founded at Nordhausen in 1847 a free community. He took part in the Parliament of Frankfort in '48; has translated the life of Apollonius of Tyana, and is the author of a history of religion and numerous other works. Died 24 June, 1887.

Bancel (Francois Desire). French politician, b. Le Mastre, 2 Feb. 1822. Became an advocate. In 1849, he was elected to the Legislative a.s.sembly. After the coup d'etat he retired to Brussels, where he became Professor at the University. In 1869 he was elected deputy at Paris in opposition to M. Ollivier. He translated the work on Rationalism by Ausonio Franchi, and wrote on Mysteries, 1871, besides many political works. Died 23 June, 1871.

Barbier (Edmond). French translator of the works of Darwin, Lubbock, and Tylor. Died 1883.

Barbier d'Aucour (Jean). French critic and academician, b. Langres, 1642. Most of his writings are directed against the Jesuits. Died Paris, 13 Sept. 1694.

Barlow (George). Poet, b. in London, 19 June, 1847. In his volumes, Under the Dawn and Poems, Real and Ideal, he gives utterance to many Freethought sentiments.

Barlow (Joel). American statesman, writer and poet, b. Reading, Connecticut, 24 March, 1754. Served as a volunteer in the revolutionary war, became a chaplain, but resigned that profession, taking to literature. In England, in 1791, he published Advice to the Privileged Orders. In France he translated Volney's Ruins of Empires, and contributed to the political literature of the Revolution. Paine entrusted him with the MS. of the first part of the Age of Reason. His chief work is ent.i.tled the Columbiad, 1808. He was sent as minister to France, 1811, and being involved in the misfortunes following the retreat from Moscow, died near Cracow, Poland, 24 Dec. 1812.

Barni (Jules Romain). French philosophic writer, b. Lille, 1 June, 1818. He became secretary to Victor Cousin, and translated the works of Kant into French. He contributed to La Liberte de Penser (1847-51) and to l'Avenir (1855). During the Empire he lived in Switzerland and published Martyrs de la Libre Pensee (1862), La Morale dans la Democratie (1864), and a work on the French Moralists of the Eighteenth Century (1873). He was elected to the National a.s.sembly, 1872; and to the Chamber of Deputies, 1876. Died at Mers, 4 July, 1878. A statue is erected to him at Amiens.

Barnout (Hippolyte). French architect and writer, b. Paris 1816, published a Rational Calendar 1859 and 1860. In May 1870 he established a journal ent.i.tled L'Athee, the Atheist, which the clerical journals declared drew G.o.d's vengeance upon France. He is also author of a work on aerial navigation.

Barot (Francois Odysse). French writer, b. at Mirabeau 1830. He has been a journalist on several Radical papers, was secretary to Gustave Flourens, and has written on the Birth of Jesus (1864) and Contemporary Literature in England (1874).

Barrett (Thomas Squire). Born 9 Sept. 1842, of Quaker parents, both grandfathers being ministers of that body; educated at Queenwood College, obtained diploma of a.s.sociate in Arts from Oxford with honors in Natural Science and Mathematics, contributed to the National Reformer between 1865 and 1870, published an acute examination of Gillespie's argument, a priori, for the existence of G.o.d (1869), which in 1871 reached a second edition. He also wrote A New View of Causation (1871), and an Introduction to Logic and Metyphysics (1877). Mr. Barrett has been hon. sec. of the London Dialectical Society, and edited a short-lived publication, The Present Day, 1886.

Barrier (F. M.). French Fourierist, b. Saint Etienne 1815, became professor of medicine at Lyons, wrote A Sketch of the a.n.a.logy of Man and Humanity (Lyons 1846), and Principles of Sociology (Paris 1867), and an abridgment of this ent.i.tled Catechism of Liberal and Rational Socialism. Died Montfort-L'Amaury 1870.

Barrillot (Francois). French author, b. of poor parents at Lyons in 1818. An orphan at seven years of age, he learnt to read from shop signs, and became a printer and journalist. Many of his songs and satires acquired popularity. He has also wrote a letter to Pope Pius IX. on the OEc.u.menical Council (1871), signed Jean Populus, and a philosophical work ent.i.tled Love is G.o.d. Died at Paris, 11 Dec. 1874.

Barthez (Paul Joseph), French physician, b. Montpelier 11 Dec. 1734. A friend of D'Alembert, he became a.s.sociate editor of the Journal des Savants and Encyclopedie Methodique. He was made consulting physician to the king and a councillor of State. Shown by the Archbishop of Sens a number of works relating to the rites of his see he said, "These are the ceremonies of Sens, but can you show me the sense [Sens] of ceremonies." His princ.i.p.al work is New Elements of the Science of Man. Died 15 Oct. 1806.

Basedow (Johann Bernhard), German Rationalist and educational reformer, b. at Hamburg 11 Sept. 1723. He studied theology at Leipsic, became professor at the Academy of Sora, in Denmark, 1753-1761, and at Altona, 1761-1768. While here he published Philalethea, the Grounds of Religion, and other heterodox works, which excited so much prejudice that he was in danger of being stoned. He devoted much attention to improving methods of teaching. Died at Magdeburg 25 July, 1790.

Baskerville (John), famous printer, b. Sion Hill, Wolverley, Worcesters.h.i.+re, 28 Jan. 1706. Lived at Birmingham. He was at first a stone-mason, then made money as an artistic j.a.panner, and devoted it to perfecting the art of type-founding and printing. As a printer-publisher he produced at his own risk beautiful editions of Milton, Addison, Shaftesbury, Congreve, Virgil, Horace, Lucretius, Terence, etc. He was made printer to Cambridge University 1758. Wilkes once visited him and was "shocked at his infidelity" (!) He died 8 Jan. 1775, and was buried in a tomb in his own garden. He had designed a monumental urn with this inscription: "Stranger, beneath this cone in unconsecrated ground a friend to the liberties of mankind directed his body to be inurned. May the example contribute to emanc.i.p.ate thy mind from the idle fears of superst.i.tion and the wicked arts of priesthood." His will expresses the utmost contempt for Christianity. His type was appropriately purchased to produce a complete edition of Voltaire.

Ba.s.sus (Aufidus). An Epicurean philosopher and friend of Seneca in the time of Nero. Seneca praises his patience and courage in the presence of death.

Bate (Frederick), Socialist, author of The Student 1842, a drama in which the author's sceptical views are put forward. Mr. Bate was one of the founders of the social experiment at New Harmony, now Queenswood College, Hants, and engraved a view representing the Owenite scheme of community.

Baudelaire (Charles Pierre), French poet, b. Paris, 9 April 1821, the son of a distinguished friend of Cabanis and Condorcet. He first became famous by the publication of Fleurs du Mal, 1857, in which appeared Les Litanies de Satan. The work was prosecuted and suppressed. Baudelaire translated some of the writings of E. A. Poe, a poet whom he resembled much in life and character. The divine beauty of his face has been celebrated by the French poet, Theodore de Banville, and his genius in some magnificent stanzas by the English poet, Algernon Swinburne. Died Paris 31 Aug. 1867.

Baudon (P. L.), French author of a work on the Christian Superst.i.tion, published at Brussels in 1862 and dedicated to Bishop Dupanloup under the pseudonym of "Aristide."

Bauer (Bruno), one of the boldest biblical critics of Germany, b. Eisenberg, 6 Sept. 1809. Educated at the University of Berlin, in 1834 he received a professors.h.i.+p of theology. He first attained celebrity by a review of the Life of Jesus by Strauss (1835). This was followed by his Journal of Speculative Theology and Critical Exposition of the Religion of the Old Testament. He then proceeded to a Review of the Gospel History, upon the publication of which (1840) he was deprived of his professors.h.i.+p at Bonn. To this followed Christianity Unveiled (1843), which was destroyed at Zurich before its publication. This work continued his opposition to religion, which was carried still further in ironical style in his Proclamation of the Day of Judgement concerning Hegel the Atheist. Bauer's heresy deepened with age, and in his Review of the Gospels and History of their Origin (1850), to which Apostolical History is a supplement, he attacked the historical truth of the New Testament narratives. In his Review of the Epistles attributed to St. Paul (1852) he tries to show that the first four epistles, which had hardly ever before been questioned, were not written by Paul, but are the production of the second century. In his Christ and the Caesars he shows the influence of Seneca and Greco-Roman thought upon early Christianity. He died near Berlin, 13 April, 1882.

Bauer (Edgar), b. Charlottenburg, 7 Oct. 1820, brother of the preceding, collaborated in some of his works. His brochure ent.i.tled Bruno Bauer and his Opponents (1842) was seized by the police. For his next publication, The Strife of Criticism with Church and State (1843), he was imprisoned for four years. He has also written on English freedom, Capital, etc.

Baume-Desdossat (Jacques Francois, de la), b. 1705, a Canon of Avignon who wrote La Christiade (1753), a satire on the gospels, in which Jesus is tempted by Mary Magdalene. It was suppressed by the French Parliament and the author fined. He died 30 April, 1756.

Baur (Ferdinand Christian von), distinguished theological critic, b. 21 June, 1792, near Stuttgart. His father was a clergyman. He was educated at Tubingen, where in 1826 he became professor of Church history. Baur is the author of numerous works on dogmatic and historic theology, in which he subverts all the fundamental positions of Christianity. He was an Hegelian Pantheist. Among his more important works are Christianity and the Church in the First Three Centuries and Paul: His Life and Works. These are translated into English. He acknowledges only four of the epistles of Paul and the Revelation as genuine products of the apostolic age, and shows how very far from simplicity were the times and doctrines of primitive Christianity. After a life of great literary activity he died at Tubingen, 2 Dec. 1860.

Bayle (Pierre), learned French writer, b. 18 Nov. 1647, at Carlat, France, where his father was a Protestant minister. He was converted to Romanism while studying at the Jesuit College, Toulouse, 1669. His Romanism only lasted seventeen months. He abjured, and fled to Switzerland, becoming a sceptic, as is evident from Thoughts on the Comet, in which he compares the supposed mischiefs of Atheism with those of fanaticism, and from many articles in his famous Dictionnaire Critique, a work still of value for its curious learning and shrewd observation. In his journal Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres he advocates religious toleration on the ground of the difficulty of distinguis.h.i.+ng truth from error. His criticism of Maimbourg's History of Calvinism was ordered to be burnt by the hangman. Jurieu persecuted him, and he was ordered to be more careful in preparing the second edition of his dictionary. He died at Rotterdam, 28 Dec. 1706. Bayle has been called the father of free discussion in modern times.

Bayrhoffer (Karl Theodor), German philosopher, b. Marburg, 14 Oct., 1812, wrote The Idea and History of Philosophy (1838), took part in the revolution of '48, emigrated to America, and wrote many polemical works. Died near Monroe, Wisconsin, 3 Feb. 1888.

Beauchamp (Philip). See Bentham and Grote.

Beausobre (Louis de), b. at Berlin, 22 Aug. 1730, was adopted by Frederick the Great out of esteem for his father, Isaac Beausobre, the author of the History of Manicheanism. He was educated first at Frankfort-on-Oder, then at Paris. He wrote on the scepticism of the wise (Pyrrhonisme du Sage, Berlin, 1754), a work condemned to be burnt by the Parliament of Paris. He also wrote anonymously The Dreams of Epicurus, and an essay on Happiness (Berlin, 1758), reprinted with the Social System of Holbach in 1795. Died at Berlin, 3 Dec. 1783.

Bebel (Ferdinand August). German Socialist, b. Cologne, 22 Feb. 1840. Brought up as a turner in Leipsic. Since '63, he became distinguished as an exponent of social democracy, and was elected to the German Reichstag in '71. In the following year he was condemned (6 March) to two years' imprisonment for high treason. He was re-elected in '74. His princ.i.p.al work is Woman in the Past, Present and Future which is translated by H. B. A. Walther, 1885. He has also written on the Mohammedan Culture Period (1884) and on Christianity and Socialism.