Much earlier, when he was in his mid twenties (the younger people are, of course, the more fluid their religious/spiritual beliefs). As we saw in the Suhm write-up, he went from not being sure he had an immortal soul, to being convinced by Wolff via Suhm's translation in 1736 that he did, and then just a couple years later, after reading more widely of skeptical philosophy, switching to definitely not believing in an immortal soul.
I don't see any evidence that he changed his mind or even had uncertainty after 1740; that reads like 100% wishful thinking on Catt's part. Especially since so much of his argument is "Well, *I* think he sounded uncertain, mostly because he sounded so extremely certain and vehement that I don't think he'd keep arguing with me unless he wanted to be convinced."
Riiiight. Works both ways, Catt. Maybe you're uncertain, did you think of that? No, of course you didn't.
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Re: Henri de Catt
Date: 2020-01-27 09:03 pm (UTC)I don't see any evidence that he changed his mind or even had uncertainty after 1740; that reads like 100% wishful thinking on Catt's part. Especially since so much of his argument is "Well, *I* think he sounded uncertain, mostly because he sounded so extremely certain and vehement that I don't think he'd keep arguing with me unless he wanted to be convinced."
Riiiight. Works both ways, Catt. Maybe you're uncertain, did you think of that? No, of course you didn't.