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D'Holbach's mother (née Holbach) was the daughter of the Prince-Bishop's tax collector. His father, Johann Jakob Thiry, was a wine-grower. The young Paul Henry's studies were financed by his uncle, Franz Adam Holbach, who had become a millionaire by speculating on the Paris stock-exchange. After inheriting two large fortunes the still young d'Holbach became very wealthy and would remain so for life.
D'Holbach had one of the more notable salons in Paris. It was one of the most important meetingplaces for contributors to the Encyclopédie. Meetings were held regularly twice a week from approximately 1750 - 1780. The tone of discussion among the visitors was highly civilized and it covered more diverse topics than that of other salons. This, along with other features including excellent food, expensive wine, and a library of over 3000 volumes, attracted many notable visitors. Among the regulars in attendance at the salon were: Diderot, Grimm, Jean-François Marmontel, D'Alembert, Helvétius, Ferdinando GalianiFerdinando Galiani ( December 2, 1728 October 30, 1787) was an Italian economist. He was born at Chieti, and carefully educated by his uncle, Monsignor C. Galiani, at Naples and Rome with a view to entering the church. Galiani showed early promise as an e, and André MorelletAndre Morellet ( March 7, 1727 January 12, 1819) was a French economist and writer. He was one of the last of the philosophes and in this character he figures in many memoirs, such as those of Madame de Remusat. He was born at Lyons, and educated by the J. The salon was also well-frequented by British intellectuals: Adam SmithThis article is about the 18th-century economist. For other people of the same name, see Adam Smith (disambiguation). Adam Smith Date of birth June 5, 1723 (baptism) Kirkcaldy Fife, Scotland Date of death July 17, 1790 (illness) Edinburgh, Scotland Occupa, David HumeDavid Hume ( April 26, 1711 August 25, 1776), Scottish philosopher and historian and, with Adam Smith and Thomas Reid among others, one of the most important figures in the Scottish Enlightenment. Hume is sometimes regarded as the third and most radical o, Horace Walpole, Edward GibbonEdward Gibbon ( April 27, 1737 ( O. May 8, 1737 ( N. January 16, 1794) was an English historian, author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire a groundbreaking work. He was born in Putney, near London, England into a relatively well-to, amongst others.
For the Encyclopédie he authored and translated a large number of articles on topics such as politics, religion, chemistry and mineralogy. The translations he contributed were chiefly from German sources. He was better known, however, for his philosophical writings. These writings expressed a materialistic and atheistic position. His work is today categorised into the philosophical movement called " French materialismFrench materialism combined the associationist psychology and Empiricism of John Locke with the Totality of Isaac Newton to create a complex world view in diametrical opposition to the Cartesian dualist world view. Man a Machine by La Mettrie led the mate".
In 1767 Christianity unveiled (Christianisme dévoilé) appeared, in which he attacked Christianity and religion as counter to the moral advancement of humanity.
This was followed up by other works, and in 1770 by a still more open attack in his most famous book, The System of Nature, Le Système de la nature.
Denying the existence of a deity, and refusing to admit as evidence all a priori arguments, d'Holbach saw in the universe nothing save matter in motion. The foundation of morality is happiness: "It would be useless and almost unjust to insist upon a man's being virtuous if he cannot be so without being unhappy. So long as vice renders him happy, he should love vice." This theory of morality can be seen as a precursor to utilitarianism.
Le Système de la nature presented a core of radical ideas which many contemporaries found disturbing, thus prompting a strong reaction. The Catholic Church of France threatened the crown with a withdrawal of financial support unless it effectively suppressed the circulation of the book. The list of people writing refutations of the work was long. The Roman Catholic Church had its pre-eminent theologian Nicolas-Sylvestre Bergier write a refutation of the Système titled Examen du matérialisme (Materialism examined). Voltaire hastily seized his pen to refute the philosophy of the Système in the article "Dieu" in his Dictionnaire philosophique, while Frederick the Great also drew up an answer to it. Its principles are summed up in a more popular form in Bon Sens, on idées naturelles opposees aux idées surnaturelles (Amsterdam, 1772), In the Système social (1773), the Politique naturelle (1773-1774) and the Morale universelle (1776) Holbach attempts to describe a system of morality in place of the one he had so fiercely attacked, but these later writings were not as popular or influential as his earlier work. Due to a fear of persecution, he published his books either anonymously or under pseudonyms. Additionally, the books were published outside of France, usually in Amsterdam. D'Holbach was strongly critical of abuses of power in France and abroad. Contrary to the revolutionary spirit of the time however, he called for the educated classes to reform the corrupt system of government and warned against revolution, democracy, and "mob rule".
It is thought that the virtuous atheist Wolmar in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Nouvelle Héloise is based on d'Holbach. Many of the main points in d'Holbach's philosophy have now found increasing resonance among the scientifically literate.