Theist, Atheist, or Intellectually Childish? Thinking China in Early Modern Europe

This contribution explores how European intellectuals between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries used the notion of atheism to categorize and interpret Chinese thought. Far from being a neutral descriptor, atheism in early modern discourse functioned as a flexible and ideologically charged term, used to define the limits of philosophical legitimacy and civilizational maturity. The concept’s malleability allowed it to be deployed across diverse contexts: as a pejorative against dissenters, as a philosophical classification, or as a rhetorical contrast to Christian orthodoxy. In the case of China, it became a powerful marker of difference that oscillated between fascination, admiration, and condemnation.