Paul Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789)

The System of Nature or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World (Système de la Nature ou Des Loix du Monde Physique et du Monde Moral) is a work of philosophy by Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789). It was originally published under the name of Jean-Baptiste de Mirabaud, a deceased member of the French Academy of Science. D'Holbach wrote and published this book – possibly with the assistance of Diderot[1] but with the support of Jacques-André Naigeon – anonymously in 1770, describing the universe in terms of the principles of philosophical materialism: The mind is identified with brain, there is no "soul" without a living body, the world is governed by strict deterministic laws, free will is an illusion,[2] there are no final causes, and whatever happens takes place because it inexorably must. Most notoriously, the work explicitly denies the existence of God, arguing that belief in a higher being is the product of fear, lack of understanding, and anthropomorphism.

Though not a scientist himself, d'Holbach was scientifically literate and he tried to develop his philosophy in accordance with the known facts of nature and the scientific knowledge of the day, citing, for example, the experiments of John Needham as proof that life could develop autonomously without the intervention of a deity. It makes a critical distinction between mythology as a more or less benign way of bringing law ordered thought on society, nature and their powers to the masses and theology. Theology which, when it separates from mythology raises the power of nature above nature itself and thus alienates the two (i.e. "nature", all that actually exists, from its power, now personified in a being outside nature), is by contrast a pernicious force in human affairs without parallel.[3] Its principles are summed up in a more popular form in d'Holbach's Bon Sens, ou idées naturelles opposees aux idées surnaturelle… (mehr)

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.)… (mehr)