Paul Henri Thiry d'Holbach
Man is part of nature: everything in him is necessary; freedom is an illusion.
Life
Paul Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789), born in Germany and settled in Paris, was a French Enlightenment philosopher. He hosted philosophers at his home, Diderot among them, and wrote many chemistry and mineralogy articles for the Encyclopédie. He defends materialism and atheism: everything in nature, humans included, follows necessary laws, and morality must rest on happiness and utility. His books, such as Le Christianisme dévoilé and the Système de la nature, were published under borrowed names.
Main works
A critique of the Christian religion in the name of reason and natural morality.
The world is only matter in motion: man is not free and God is not needed to explain it.
A morality founded on human nature and well-understood interest, without religion.
In his own words
« Man is therefore not free at any instant of his life; he is necessarily guided at every step by the real or imagined advantages he attaches to the objects that arouse his passions. »
« Education is therefore nothing but necessity shown to children. Legislation is necessity shown to the members of a political body. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceGod is a human invention born of fear and ignorance; nature alone exists.
d'Holbach, Le Christianisme dévoilé (1766); Système de la nature (1770)
Knowledge comes from experience and the senses; metaphysics beyond nature is empty.
d'Holbach, Système de la nature (1770)
The soul is the brain's activity; man is wholly matter in motion.
d'Holbach, Système de la nature (1770)
Every act follows necessarily from causes; freedom is an illusion.
d'Holbach, Système de la nature (1770)
Morality means acting for the real happiness of oneself and others, which is what makes society last.
d'Holbach, La Morale universelle (1776)