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System of Nature

by Baron d'Holbach

Other authors: Jacques-André Naigeon (Editor)

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793336,726 (4.33)None
Originally published in 1984. Paul Henri Thiery, Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789), was the center of the radical wing of the philosophers. Holbach wrote, translated, edited, and issued a stream of books and pamphlets, often under other names, that has made him the despair of bibliographers but has connected his name, by innuendo, gossip, and association, with most of what was written in defeense of atheistic materialism in late eighteenth-century France. Holbach is best known for The System of Nature (1770) and deservedly, since it is a clear exposition of his main ideas. His initial position determines all the rest of his argument: 'There is not, there can be nothing out of that Nature which includes all beings.' Conceiving of nature as strictly limited to matter and motion, both of which have always existed, he flatly denies that there is any such thing as spirit or supernatural. This is the third of three volumes.… (more)
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This revised edition of D'Holbach's chief work was first published in 1770 under the assumed name of Jean-Baptiste Mirabaud, Secretary of the French Academy (who had died in 1760). Now commonly referred to as 'The Bible of Atheism,' it created a firestorm of opposition, even drawing the ire of Voltaire and Frederick the Great. No printer's name appeared on this title, due to the certainty that the work was potentially extremely dangerous for the real author, publisher and printer. D'Holbach (1723-1789) was a wealthy German who had settled in Paris and whose house became a prominent salon of the Encyclodaedists--indeed one of the chief social centers of culture in Europe. D'Holbach was probably assisted by Diderot and other Paris intellectuals, and the result was this magnificant, if somewhat prolix, defense of atheism and naturalism--the first explicit atheistic treatise of Western civilization (or at least the first one to survive). 'Let us then conclude,' wrote D'Holbach, 'that the word GOD.., not presenting to the mind any true idea, ought to be banished (from) the language of all those who are desirous to speak so as to be understood' (from the H.D. Robinson translation, J.P.Mendum, 1889). This is typical of the vigorous, uncompromising tone of The System of Nature, the best and most influential defense of atheism ever written. A remarkable Pre-Darwinian work, especially in the light of there being no alternative explanation for the existance of man and the other species in nature at that time! --(Synopsis by Les Heiser, Freethought and Scholarly Books.) ( )
  bernardkruger | Apr 30, 2010 |
Altho' I never heard Grimm express the opinion directly, yet I always supposed him to be of the school of Diderot, D'Alembert, D'Holbach. The first of whom committed their system of atheism to writing in 'Le bon sens', and the last in his 'Systeme de la Nature'. (TJ to John Adams, 8 April 1816)
  ThomasJefferson | Sep 29, 2007 |
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Baron d'Holbachprimary authorall editionscalculated
Naigeon, Jacques-AndréEditorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
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Originally published in 1984. Paul Henri Thiery, Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789), was the center of the radical wing of the philosophers. Holbach wrote, translated, edited, and issued a stream of books and pamphlets, often under other names, that has made him the despair of bibliographers but has connected his name, by innuendo, gossip, and association, with most of what was written in defeense of atheistic materialism in late eighteenth-century France. Holbach is best known for The System of Nature (1770) and deservedly, since it is a clear exposition of his main ideas. His initial position determines all the rest of his argument: 'There is not, there can be nothing out of that Nature which includes all beings.' Conceiving of nature as strictly limited to matter and motion, both of which have always existed, he flatly denies that there is any such thing as spirit or supernatural. This is the third of three volumes.

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