Abstract: According to Bayle, criticism is a “dangerous work” but essential in the “Republic of Letters” where there is a complete freedom of criticism in the name of the reason. But the Historical and Critical Dictionary is censored by Pierre Jurieu as well as by the Walloon Church of Rotterdam. In the second edition of his Dictionary (1702) Bayle publishes a series of four “explanations” in which he rejects the charges against him and shows genuine philosophical and rhetorical strategies.
