Contributions to the Encyclopédie For the
Encyclopédie d'Holbach authored and translated a large number of articles on topics ranging from politics and religion to chemistry and mineralogy. As a German who had become a naturalised Frenchman, he undertook the translation of many contemporary German works of natural philosophy into French. Between 1751 and 1765, D'Holbach contributed some four hundred articles to the project, mostly on scientific subjects, in addition to serving as the editor of several volumes on
natural philosophy. D'Holbach might also have written several disparaging entries on non-Christian religions, intended as veiled criticisms of Christianity itself.
Anti-religious works Despite his extensive contributions to the
Encyclopédie, d'Holbach is better known today for his philosophical writings, all of which were published anonymously or under pseudonyms and printed outside France, usually in
Amsterdam by
Marc-Michel Rey. His philosophy was expressly materialistic and atheistic and is today categorised into the philosophical movement called
French materialism. In 1761
Christianisme dévoilé (
Christianity Unveiled) appeared, in which he attacked Christianity and religion in general as an impediment to the moral advancement of humanity. The
deistic
Voltaire, denying authorship of the work, made known his aversion to d'Holbach's philosophy, writing that "[the work] is entirely opposed to my principles. This book leads to an atheistic philosophy that I detest."
Christianity Unveiled was followed by others, notably
La Contagion sacrée,
Théologie portative, and
Essai sur les préjugés. D'Holbach was helped in these endeavours by
Jacques-André Naigeon, who would later become his literary executor.
The System of Nature In 1770, d'Holbach published his most famous book,
The System of Nature (
Le Système de la nature), under the name of
Jean-Baptiste de Mirabaud, the secretary of the
Académie who had died ten years previously. Denying the existence of a
deity, and refusing to admit as evidence all
a priori arguments, d'Holbach saw the universe as nothing more than matter in motion, bound by inexorable
natural laws of
cause and effect. "There is", he wrote, "no necessity to have recourse to supernatural powers to account for the formation of things."
The System of Nature is a long and extensive work presenting a thoroughly naturalistic view of the world. Some d'Holbach scholars have pointed out that
Denis Diderot was a close friend of d'Holbach's, and that it is unclear to what extent d'Holbach was influenced by him. Indeed, Diderot may have been the author of parts of the
System of Nature. Regardless, however, of the extent of Diderot's contribution to the
System of Nature, it is on the basis of this work that d'Holbach's philosophy has been called "the culmination of French materialism and atheism". D'Holbach's objectives in challenging religion were primarily moral: he saw the institutions of Christianity as a major obstacle to the improvement of society. For him, the foundation of
morality was to be sought not in
Scripture or the moral teachings of the
Catholic Church, but in 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." D'Holbach's radicalism posited that humans were fundamentally motivated by the pursuit of
enlightened self-interest, which is what he meant by "society", rather than by empty and selfish gratification of purely individual needs. Chapter 15 of Part I of
System of Nature is titled "Of Man's true Interest, or of the Ideas he forms to himself of Happiness. – Man cannot be happy without Virtue." The explicitly atheistic and materialistic
The System of Nature presented a core of radical ideas which many contemporaries, both churchmen and
philosophes found disturbing, and thus prompted a strong reaction. The
Catholic Church in France threatened the
crown with 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 prominent
Catholic theologian
Nicolas-Sylvestre Bergier wrote a refutation 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 d'Holbach's
Good Sense, or Natural Ideas Opposed to Supernatural.
Politics and morals In his last works, D'Holbach's attention largely shifted away from religious metaphysics towards moral and political questions. In the
Système social (1773), the
Politique naturelle (1773–1774) and the
Morale universelle (1776) he attempted to describe a system of morality in place of the Christian one he had so fiercely attacked, but these later writings were not as popular or influential as his earlier work. D'Holbach was critical towards 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. His political and ethical views were influenced by British materialist
Thomas Hobbes. D'Holbach personally translated Hobbes' work
De Homine ("Of Man") into French.
Economic views In his
Système de la nature, the three-volume
Système social (1772), two-volume
Politique naturelle (1772), and
Ethocratie (1776), d'Holbach gave his economic views. Following
Locke, d'Holbach defended private property, and stated that wealth is generated from labor and all should have the right to the product of their labor. He endorsed the theory of
laissez-faire, arguing: D'Holbach believed that the state should prevent a dangerous concentration of wealth amongst a few individuals from taking place. He also believed that religious groups should be voluntary organizations without any government support. ==Death==