Paul henri dholbach biography books

Paul Henry Thiry, baron d'Holbach (1723 - 1789) was a French author, philosopher, and encyclopedist, and one of the first outspoken atheists in Europe.

He advanced a materialistic and deterministiccosmology whereby everything could be explained in terms of matter and motion.

Paul henri dholbach biography books

Unlike other “naturalist” philosophers, he recognized that human beings had different qualities from other types of matter, and that the laws governing human behavior differed from those governing other bodies. Like Hobbes, he identified self-preservation as the most basic human desire, and linked it to happiness.

Holbach believed that ethics and morality arose from an enlightened understanding of what would best ensure the self-preservation of the individual and society. His political philosophy recognized two types of social contracts, an unbreakable one of cooperation among the members of a society to ensure their own well-being, and an agreement between society and a sovereign government which could