A crítica na república das letras: os limites da polêmica no mundo erudito segundo baillet e bayle

Based on two French authors from the end of the 17th century (Baillet and Bayle), this paper aims to highlight how the scholars themselves use the practice of criticism to represent a controversial aspect of knowledge associated with the gradually greater diffusion of books in the public dimension. This characteristic of knowledge together with this new social condition (the increase in the practice of reading) creates a specifically modern requirement that associates freedom of thought not only with private thought (or freedom of belief), but also with the exercise of writing and the access to books of the most diverse contents. On the other hand, this new disposition of the Republic of Letters raises questionsamong critics themselves about the limits or regulatory criteria of criticism.