HOLBACH

HOLBACH

(Holbach) Paul Henri (1723-1789) - fr. , naturalist, one of the founders of the school of fr. materialism and atheism, colleague of D. Diderot and K.A. Helvetia, author a large number articles in the "Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts" (1751 - 1780). The main work is "The System of Nature, or On the Laws of the Physical and Spiritual Worlds" (1770), which outlines the philosophy. socio-political and ethical views G. Purpose philos. he sees research in the search for universal principles underlying all the phenomena of the world. He considers matter to be eternal and uncreated, generating all diversity in the process of development and change. real world; is the mode of existence of matter. In the theory of knowledge - a sensualist, proceeds from the primacy of matter and the secondary nature of consciousness, considers one of the properties of specially organized matter and believes in exhaustive knowledge. In understanding history, he recognizes the consciousness and will of outstanding personalities as the decisive force in social development. Critic of the church and religion, recognizing the latter as a product of people's ignorance and deliberate deception on the part of the clergy; the enemy of religious morality, the overcoming of which is necessary to give a person courage and energy in defending his rights.

Philosophy: Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M.: Gardariki. Edited by A.A. Ivina. 2004 .

HOLBACH

(Holbach) Paul Henri (1723, Edesheim, Palatinate - 21.6.1789, Paris), French philosopher, one of the founders of the school French materialism and atheism 18 v., ideologue revolutionary bourgeoisie. He was an associate of Diderot and Helvetius, took part in the creation of the Encyclopedia headed by Diderot. In fi-los. Salon G. discussed economic issues., Socio-political. and spiritual renewal of France, overcoming class inequality and despotic. forms of government.

Versatile natural-scientific. G.'s knowledge contributed to the substantiation of materialistic. philosophy and atheism, systematic. criticism of idealism and religion. V main philosophy op."The System of Nature, or On the Laws of the Physical and Spiritual Worlds" (T. 1-2, 1770 , Russian per. 1924) G. also affirms the uncreated nature of matter, which, in the process of gradual development and change, gives rise to all the diversity of the real world. The universe, according to G., is a moving matter, the movement is a way of existence of matter, necessarily following from its essence. However, speaking of the unity of matter and motion, G. understood the movement mechanistically. Mechanistic limitedness was also manifested in his understanding of determinism, objective, randomness and necessity, and others

G.'s theory of knowledge was based on a materialistic interpretation, on the recognition of the primacy of matter and the secondary nature of all forms of consciousness. G. was an opponent of agnosticism, defending the human-vech. reason to know and its laws. At the same time, G. bore the imprint of contemplation, characteristic of pre-Marxian materialism, so G. did not disclose active nature consciousness and the role of societies. practice in knowledge.

Materialistic nature was combined in G. with historical. idealism, with the recognition of the consciousness and will of outstanding personalities as the decisive force of societies. development. in the understanding of societies. phenomena G. had otd. materialistic moments: ideas about the role of the environment in the formation of personality, about the meaning material interests in societies. development and others

G. developed a comprehensive criticism of religion and the church, revealed their social purpose, consisting in disorientation nar. masses, protecting the interests of the king and the nobility, the fight against science and culture, but from the standpoint of idealistic. understanding of history, he failed to reveal the social roots of religion, considering it a product of ignorance and consciousness. deceit by the clergy. G. paid much attention to criticism. evaluation religious morality and justification of utilitarian ethics.

In "Natural politics..." (“La politique naturelle...”, v. 1-2, L., 1774) G. showed reaction. feud. political building and substantiated the inevitability of its fall.

Rejecting feud. form of ownership, he denied the prospect of societies. property, substantiated bourgeois orders, but objectively pl. sides of the teachings of G. contributed to the emergence of utopian. socialism 18 v.

Systeme social..., v. i-3, L., 1773; Le, ou Ideas naturelles opposees aux idees surnaturelles, L., 1786; La morale universelle..., v. 1-3, P., 1820; Textes choisis, v. l, P., 1957; v Russian transl. - Sacred infection. - Exposed, M., 1936; Letters to Evgeniya. Healthy, M., 1956; Pocket, M., 1959; Fav. prod., T. 1-2, M., 1963.

Marx K. and Engels F., Holy Family, Op., T. 2; and? well, German, ibid., T. 3; Engels F., AntiDühring, ibid., T. twenty; his own, Ludwig Feuerbach ..., ibid., T. 21; Lenin V. I., Three sources and three components of Marxism, PSS, T. 23; his own, On the Significance of Militant Materialism, ibid., T.-15; Kocharyan M. T., Paul G., M., 1978; Akulov P.V., Malyuk O.P., Paul G. - critic religious dogmatov, M., 1975; N a v i 1 1 e R., D "Holbach et la Philosophie scientifique au XVIII siede, nouv. ed., P., 1967; Skrzypek M., Holbach, Warsz., 1978.

Philosophical encyclopedic Dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. editors: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983 .

HOLBACH

(Holbach)

Paul Henri, Baron (. 1723, Heidesheim, Palatinate -. June 21, 1789, Paris) -. philosopher; colleague of Diderot and Helvetius, took part in the creation of the Encyclopedia, author of Systeme de la nature ou des lois du monde physique et du monde moral, 1770 (Russian translation “The system of nature, or On the laws of the physical world and the spiritual world” , 1924) - the main product. French materialism and atheism; it gives a systematic summary of sensationalism, determinism and atheism, affirms the eternity and uncreation of matter, which, in the process of gradual development and change, gives rise to all the diversity of the real world. What appears in matter as attraction and repulsion, in consciousness is revealed as inertness, love, hatred.

Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2010 .

HOLBACH

(Holbach), Paul Henri (1723 - June 21, 1789) - French. materialist philosopher and atheist, one of the ideologists of the revolution. French bourgeoisie of the 18th century. Genus. in Edesheim in the Palatinate, brought up and spent his life in Paris. G. was an active member of the Encyclopedia. In the salon of G., which has become one of the centers of philosophy. and atheistic prerevolutionary France, Diderot, Helvetius, D "Alembert, Buffon, Nejon and others often met; Rousseau also visited one here.

France in the 18th century "the philosophical one served as an introduction to the political revolution" (Engels F., Ludwig Feuerbach..., 1955, p. 5). G. was one of the main figures in this ideological preparation of the revolution. He theoretically substantiated the replacement of fiefs. orders of new, "natural" and "reasonable" societies. system, which in fact turned out to be bourgeois. society.

G. was the largest systematizer of the French worldview. 18th century materialists He asserted the primacy and uncreability of the material world, nature, which exists independently of human beings. consciousness, infinite in time and space. Matter, according to G., is the totality of all existing bodies; its simplest, elementary, particles are immutable and indivisible atoms, DOS. properties to-rykh -, weight, figure, impenetrability, movement. G. reduced all forms of movement to mechanical. movement. This metaphysical, mechanistic The materialism of G. and his like-minded people is explained by the state of natural science in the 18th century, when Ch. arr. mechanics and, and class limitations bourgeois. ideology. Matter and motion, according to G., are inseparable. Composing the inalienable, root of matter, its movement is just as uncreatable, indestructible and infinite, as well as. G. denied the universal animation of matter, believing that only a certain is inherent. organized forms of matter. Using the data of modern him natural science, G. created his main - "The System of Nature ..." ("Système de la nature ...", v. l–2, 1770), which, according to contemporaries, was "the bible of materialism." G. wrote: “The universe, this colossal combination of everything that exists, presents us everywhere only matter and movement; its totality reveals to us only an immense and uninterrupted chain of causes and effects; ... nature necessarily contains the idea of ​​movement. But, they will ask us, where did this get its movement from? We will answer that it is from itself, for it is great, outside of which it cannot exist. We will say that movement is a mode of existence (façon d "être), which necessarily follows from the essence of matter; that matter moves due to its own energy" ("System of Nature ...", M., 1940, pp. 12, 18).

G. recognized the existence of objective laws of the material world, believing that they are based on constant and indestructible causes with their actions. Man is part of nature and therefore subject to its laws. G. denied free will, considering people to be causally conditioned. Defending the cognizability of the material world, G., based on the materialistic. sensationalism J. Locke and overcoming his views, considered the feeling of unity. source of knowledge. Cognition, according to G., is a reflection of reality; sensations and concepts are considered as images of objects. Materialistic G., also shared by other French. materialists, was directed against agnosticism, theology, idealistic. sensationalism J. Berkeley and the teachings of R. Descartes on innate ideas.

Burzh. the essence of G.'s worldview was sharply manifested in his socio-political. views. G. criticized the feud. and feud. forms of exploitation, defended the need to limit royal power. Based on the abstract, the concept of human. nature, G. reduced the social to the individual, looking for explanations of societies. phenomena in the laws of nature and shared the idealistic. the contractual theory of the origin of society (see Social contract). Human development. Society, according to G., is the activity of governments, prominent personalities, the growth of education, etc. Condemning feud. system as unreasonable, G. expected the implementation of the "kingdom of reason" (bourgeois system) as a result of the emergence of enlightenment. monarch, humane legislator. G. considered it to be the basis of human behavior, benefit. "In Holbach, all individuals in their mutual communication, for example, love, etc., is depicted in the form of relations of utility and use." This "Holbach" is a historically legitimate philosophical one about the bourgeoisie then rising in France, whose thirst for exploitation could still be portrayed as a thirst for the full development of individuals in conditions of communication, freed from the old feudal fetters. competition, was for the 18th century the only possible way to open before individuals the field of freer development" (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 3, pp. 409-11). Considering selfishness, the desire to satisfy the self-interest of most beings. human trait. nature, G., however, rejected the extreme and defended the idea of ​​combining the personal and society. interests. Among other French. G. taught the materialists about the formative role of the social environment in relation to the individual. Along with Helvetius G. played a certain. role in the ideological preparation of utopian. socialism in the 19th century (See K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 2, pp. 144–45).

G. belong to those written in the spirit of bourgeois. enlightenment witty militant atheistic. works imbued with caustic sarcasm. They were highly appreciated by Lenin (see Soch., 4th ed., vol. 33, p. 204). On the basis of the doctrine of the unity of matter and motion, G. refuted not only traditional religions. notions of a creator god, but also deistic. doctrine of the "first impulse". Based on the doctrine of the unity of matter and consciousness, rejecting the latter's substantial, G. dealt a crushing blow to religion. myths about the immortality of the soul. In view of the persecution by the clergy, the works of G. were published anonymously and, like, outside of France.

Modern imperialist , which are hated by materialistic. progressive past, hostile to G. and other representatives of the French. 18th century materialism

M. Tsebenko. Moscow.

"The System of Nature" - the main work of G. Published for the first time under the name - J. B. Mirabaud (J.-B. Mirabaud, member of the French Academy, who died in 1760). The place of publication is London, but the book was published in Amsterdam in 1770. 13 Aug. 1770 the book was given over to public burning at the verdict of Paris. parliament. Despite this, she continued to come out with new editions, and from 1774 the author placed in the appendix the speech of the state. accuser and his short answer. In 1820 a two-volume edition was published with notes. D. Diderot. In 1821 and 1822 the book was published in Paris under the name of G. A new critical article is being prepared in France. edition, should be included in the second volume of Holbach's "Textes choisis" (the first volume appeared in 1957). Translations into Russian language - M., 1924, with a bibliography compiled by I. K. Luppol, and M., 1940, with a preface by the publisher and an afterword by P. S. Popov. In I. Pnin's St. Petersburg Journal (1798, part 1, pp. 197–206), P. Yanovsky placed a distorted translation of two chapters of The System of Nature. It was also published as an appendix to Op. I. Pnina, M., 1934. Manuscript. translation of "Systems of Nature" went in the Decembrist circles, in particular, a member of the southern. Society of the Decembrists N. Kryukov (see "Selected social. political and philosophical works of the Decembrists", vol. 2, 1951, p. 556). On him. lang. published in 1783 as Mirabeau's book ("System der Natur...", aus dem Franz. von K. G. Schreiter, Tl 1–2, Frankfurt-Lpz., 1783), in English. – L., 1797, Philadelphia, 1808; Boston, 1853 - includes notes by Diderot. In 1957, a two-volume Polish translation was published with an introduction by K. Shanyavsky (K. Szaniawski) in Krakow, and a one-volume Romanian translation was published in Bucharest, made by the famous Romanian philosopher D. Bederau and supplied with his own introductory article.

"Christianity Exposed, or the Beginnings and Conclusions of the Christian Religion" is one of G.'s early works directed against religion. First ed. came out with deliberately distorted output data. On tit. N. A. Boulanger is listed as the author on the sheet, and the year of publication is: Londres, 1756, however, the preface of the first edition is marked 1758. In fact, the book was published in Nancy in 1761. Then an edition appeared in Holland, 1766 (P. Charbonnel considers it the first to reach the general public). During the life of the author, the book was published nine times, and repeatedly came out after his death.

In 1957 a new critical essay was published. edition in book: . Holbach, Textes choisis, v. 1, P., 1957, with notes by P. Charbonnel. Translation into Russian lang. - 1924 (with a preface by A. M. Deborin), in 1936, ed. and with preface. I. K. Luppola; in English. - N. Y., 1795, L., 1814; in Spanish – L., 1821.

L. Azarch. Moscow.

Op.: La morale universelle, ou les devoirs de l "homme fondés sur la nature, v. 1–3, Amst., 1776; La politique naturelle, ou discours sur les vrais principes du gouvernement, 2 tt. en 1 v., L. , 1773; Pocket theology, M., 1959; Selected anti-religious works, vol. 1, M., 1934; Sacred infection. - Exposed Christianity, M., 1936; Common sense. Natural ideas opposed to supernatural ideas, M., 1941 ; Letters to Evgenia. Common sense, M., 1956.

Lit.: Marx K. and Engels F., Holy Family, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 2, M., 1955; theirs, German ideology, ibid., 2nd ed., vol. 3, M., 1955; Engels F., Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, M., 1955; his own, Anti-Dühring, M., 1957; Lenin V.I., Three sources and three components of Marxism, Soch., 4th ed., vol. 19, M., 1948; his, On the Significance of Militant Materialism, ibid., vol. 33, M., 1951; Berkova K. N., P. Golbach, 2nd ed., M., 1923; Alter I. M., Philosophy of Holbach, M., 1925; Vasiliev S.F., Mechanical and Holbach, in his book: From the history of scientific worldviews. Sat. articles, M.–L., 1935, p. 105–17; Kogan Yu., Megruzhan F., Holbach's Atheistic Pamphlets, "Front of Science and Technology", 1936, No 10; History of Philosophy, vol. 2, [M.], 1941 (see Index of names); Zalmanovich A.V., Holbach's Atheism, "Uch. Zap. Tula State Pedagogical Institute", 1955, no. 6; Volgin V.P., Social and political ideas Holbach, "New and latest", 1957, No l, p. 29–55; Kocharyan M. T., Holbach's Atheism, M., 1957 (Author's abstract of diss.); History of Philosophy, vol. 1, M., 1957, p. 559–65 and others as indicated; Сushing M. P., Baron d "Holbach, N. Y., 1914; Hubert R., D" Holbach et ses amis, P.,.

Philosophical Encyclopedia. In 5 volumes - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia. Edited by F. V. Konstantinov. 1960-1970 .

HOLBACH

HOLBACH (Holbach) Paul Henri (1723, Edesheim, Germany - June 21, 1789, Paris) - French philosopher. Studied chemistry at Leiden University. After moving to Paris, he took Active participation in the creation of the Encyclopedia, headed by Diderot, for which he wrote 375 articles. Opened by Holbach, the salon became famous as a place of regular philosophical discussions between encyclopedists. In his main work "The System of Nature" (1770), Holbach acted as a systematizer of the materialistic and atheistic ideas of the Enlightenment, in this (according to contemporaries) "Bible of Materialism" an attempt was made to philosophically comprehend Newton's mechanics.

Holbach's ontology is materialistic. “The Universe, this colossal combination of everything that exists, everywhere shows us only matter and movement” (Izbr. prod., vol. 1. M., 1963, p. 66). Matter is not created, it is eternal, it is itself: “In relation to us, matter in general is everything that affects our feelings in some way” (ibid., p. 84). Everything that exists in nature is formed by a combination of the smallest material particles, which Holbach calls "molecules" (sometimes atoms). General and primary properties of matter - extension, divisibility, heaviness, hardness, mobility, inertia. Movement is “a way of existence, arising in a necessary way from the essence of matter.” Forces of attraction and repulsion act between bodies, inertia is a special reaction force, indicating the internal activity of bodies. Holbach understood movement primarily as spatial movement, while at the same time recognizing internal movement in bodies due to the combination, action and opposition of matter molecules.

In his doctrine of causality, Holbach developed a kind of “fatalism system”: everything that happens in the world is necessary, subject to the constantly operating laws of nature; there are no random events. In epistemology, he adhered to sensationalism: material objects, acting on ours, cause sensations, thoughts and desires are formed on the basis of them; there are no innate ideas. Mental (thinking, memory, imagination) come from the ability to feel. Holbach considered interests to be the main motive for human actions, the most important among them being the pursuit of happiness. Happiness consists in the conformity of the desires of a person with his surroundings, but he cannot achieve it without the help of other people, hence his interest in contributing to the happiness of his neighbors; to be virtuous means to benefit people. Subjected to sharp criticism, Holbach associated the improvement of public order in ch. O. with the activities of an enlightened monarch, admitting, however, the possibility of revolution as a means of abolishing the despotic form of government. A just state system should be based on a social contract, in accordance with which every citizen undertakes to serve the common good, receiving, in return, assistance and protection from society. Holbach considered the problem of the origin of religion from an atheistic position. In his opinion, religion was created by ignorance and. God does not exist, and the very thing about him is obtained by combining mutually exclusive attributes - metaphysical (eternity, infinity, etc., these are denials of human qualities) and moral (mind, will, etc.). A breakthrough in the knowledge of nature will lead to the disappearance of ideas about the gods, and the abolition of religion should also be facilitated by the separation of church and state and the elimination of the privileges of the clergy. Holbach's ideas influenced subsequent materialist philosophy.

Cit.: System social... ν. 1-3. L., 1773; System de la nature, v. 1-2. L., 1781; La morale universelle, v. 1-3. P., 1820; Textes choisis, v. 1. P., 1957; in Russian Transl.: Sacred infection. Exposed Christianity. M., 1936; Letters to Evgeniya. Common sense. M., 1956; Gallery of saints. M., 1962; Fav. production, vol. 1-2. M., 1963.

Lit .: Kocharyan M. T. Paul Holbach. M., 1978; Hubert R. D "Holbach et ses amis. P., 1928; Naville P. D" Holbach et la philosophie scientifique au XVIII siècle. P., 1967; Lecomple D. Marx et le baron d "Holbach. Aux sources de Marx: le matérialisme athée holbachique. P., 1983; Baupt M. Von Holbach zu Marx. Hamb., 1987.

A. A. Krotov

New Philosophical Encyclopedia: In 4 vols. M.: Thought. Edited by V. S. Stepin. 2001 .

Holbach is widely known as the author of numerous atheistic works, in which he criticized both religion in general and clergymen in a simple and logical form, often with humor. These books were primarily directed against Christianity, in particular against the Roman Catholic Church. Holbach's first anti-religious work was Christianity Unveiled (1761), followed by Pocket Theology (1766), Sacred Infection (1768), Letters to Eugenia (1768), Gallery of Saints (1770), Common sense "(1772), etc.

Holbach's main and most famous work, The System of Nature, or On the Laws of the Physical and Spiritual Worlds, was published in 1770. The book is the most comprehensive justification for the materialism and atheism of that era. Contemporaries dubbed it the "Bible of Materialism."

Books (5)

Gallery of saints

Gallery of saints or study of the way of thinking, behavior, rules and merits of those persons whom Christianity offers as models

This lively, witty book shows whether Christian saints can be considered models for behavior, as the priests tell the faithful. Using the evidence of "sacred" Christian books, the author recreates the true moral and intellectual image of the teachers of Christianity.

Common sense

Common Sense, or Natural Ideas Opposed to Supernatural Ideas

The atheistic works of Paul Holbach, one of the outstanding French enlighteners - materialists of the 18th century, belong to the best achievements of atheism of the past. They are full of caustic irony and weapons of laughter. This is one of the most important features of Holbach's pamphlets.

Letters to Eugenia or a Warning against Prejudice

The atheistic writings of Paul Holbach, one of the outstanding French materialist enlighteners of the 18th century, are among the best achievements of past atheism. Created almost two centuries ago, they did not fall into the category of those literary and philosophical monuments that are of interest only to a narrow circle of specialists.

Despite the fact that scientific criticism of religion has since advanced far forward, these works, full of passionate hatred of superstition, can still successfully serve today the noble cause to which their author devoted his extraordinary talent - the liberation of human consciousness from the deadly religious ideas.

Christianity exposed

Christianity Revealed, or a Consideration of the Beginnings of the Christian Religion and Its Consequences.

A rational being must, in all his actions, have in mind his own happiness and the happiness of his own kind.

We are assured in every way that the most important thing for our happiness both on earth and beyond the grave is religion. But the advantages of religion exist for us only insofar as it makes our existence happy in this world and insofar as we are sure that it will fulfill its alluring promises regarding our afterlife.

nature system

The system of nature, or On the laws of the physical world and the spiritual world

Man is unhappy only because he has renounced nature. His mind is so infected with prejudice that he might be considered forever doomed to error.

The purpose of this book is to return a person to nature, to make reason dear to him, to make him love virtue, to dispel the darkness that hides from him the only road that can truly lead to the goal of his aspirations - happiness. These are the author's sincere intentions. Being conscientious about his task, he expounds to the reader only such ideas as, after serious and mature reflection, seem to him useful for the peace and well-being of people and favorable to the progress of human thought.

Reader Comments

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After all, it is Written: "from the Earth you were taken ... - and you will return to the earth!" ;)))
Presumptuous Smart Guy Imagines Himself... - The Smartest... But.........

Alexander/ 5.02.2017 READ ALL.

vlad/ 11/22/2016 magnificent and relevant works today. There would be more such authors

Sinister Gloom/ 03/11/2016 Bright person. This should be read instead of Tolstoevsky.

Markus/ 20.02.2014 These books need to be voiced urgently in Mp3 format so that people who do not have time to read can listen!

a guest/ 05/13/2013 For Vsevolod Chaplin. You don't take on much?.. Oh, be afraid of "Inquisitor Seva" (or whoever you are), the moment when people find out WHAT you really are. And the books are good. Very. Read.

Vsevolod Chaplin/ 2.09.2012 As a public inquisitor, I anathematize!

Yuri/ 1.09.2012 It must be taught at school (mandatory)!

Victor/ 06/21/2011 A man wrote 250 years ago, but what a bright mind, unlike many people living in the 21st century!

Kristina/ 07/21/2010 alexandr, I wonder if you wrote a message above in anticipation of miraculous euthanasia, or did the number of your chromosomes slightly exceed 46? Judging by your "innate literacy", it is unrealistically difficult for you to master even the table of contents of the book. works...

materialist philosopher Paul Henri Holbach(1723-1789), having assimilated the views of a significant part of contemporary European society, expressed them with such straightforwardness that he aroused objections from representatives of various philosophical schools. His main work "The System of Nature" (1770) is a kind of "bible of materialism". Here Holbach reduces all spiritual qualities to the activity of the body; this leads to the denial of free will and the idea of ​​perfection. Virtue, according to Holbach, is an activity aimed at the benefit of people as members of society, it follows from a sense of self-preservation. Happiness lies in pleasure. According to Holbach, matter exists by itself, being the cause of everything: it is its own cause. All material bodies are made up of atoms. It was Holbach who gave the "classical" definition of matter: matter is everything in objective reality that, influencing our feelings in some way, causes sensations. Just as the strikes of a musician's fingers on the keys of, say, a harpsichord give rise to musical sounds, so the effects of objects on our senses give rise to sensations of various properties. He, as we see, interpreted the process of cognition in a very simplified way, although earlier so much ingenious had already been said on this subject.

French philosophers, overcoming the inconsistency of J. Locke and criticizing the ideas of J. Berkeley, defended the principle of the materiality of the world in its mechanistic form, although the views of some of them contained dialectical ideas of the development of organisms.

In order to understand the level of the materialistic explanation of the mental, personal characteristics of a person, let us quote from the book of the French materialist physician Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-1751) "Man-machine" (1747): "What was needed to turn the fearlessness of Caius Julius, Seneca or Petronius into cowardice or cowardice? Just a disorder of the spleen or liver, or a blockage of the portal vein. And why? Because the imagination becomes clogged along with our internal organs, from which all these peculiar phenomena of hysterical and hypochondriacal diseases occur.

The French enlighteners had significant differences of opinion, up to opposing positions. But still, on the whole, they were all polar opposites of the world of official practice and ideology, united to the extent that they opposed the ruling classes. All of them proceeded from the principle: if a person, his personal qualities depend on environment, then his vices are also the result of the influence of this environment. In order to remake a person, free him from shortcomings, develop positive aspects in him, it is necessary to transform the environment and, above all, the social environment. They occupied one position in that they live in a critical time, the time of the approaching triumph of reason, the victory of enlightenment ideas, in the "age of the triumph of philosophy" (Voltaire). The center around which philosophers and their like-minded people were grouped turned out to be the famous "Encyclopedia, or Dictionary sciences, arts and crafts ". D. Diderot and his colleague in editing the Encyclopedia, the great mathematician, mechanic, philosopher-educator Jean Leron D" Alembert (1717-1753) set themselves the gigantic task of presenting "a general picture of the efforts of the human mind in all peoples and in all ages. This work represents an epoch in the spiritual life of not only France and not only Europe, but the whole world (by the way, the "Encyclopedia" began to be translated in parts in Russia). This is a great monument erected by the French enlighteners of their era.

Holbach Paul Henri(1723-1789) - one of the main representatives of French materialism and atheism of the 18th century, the ideologist of the French revolutionary bourgeoisie, a member of the "Encyclopedia", the author of the famous book "The System of Nature", in which the connection between French materialism and advanced natural science, and a number of anti-religious pamphlets: "Exposed Christianity", "Pocket Theology", "Sacred Infection", etc. Resolving the main question of philosophy in the spirit of materialism, Holbach defines nature as the cause of all that exists. Matter, about Holbach, is an objective reality that affects the human senses. The primary properties of matter are extension, mobility, divisibility, hardness, heaviness, etc., derived properties are density, weight, shape, color, etc.

A serious merit of Holbach is his recognition of motion as an integral attribute of matter. However, being a metaphysical and mechanical materialist, he understands movement as the simple movement of bodies in space. . The classification of types of motion created by him is a purely mechanistic theory. Holbach's doctrine is directed against theology and idealism, against subjective idealism (see). Nature, according to Holbach, exists forever, is not created by anyone and is indestructible. “Matter,” Holbach teaches, “acts by its own forces and does not need any external push to be set in motion.” From Holbach's point of view, reasoning about incorporeal spirits is an absurd fantasy, contrary to common sense. Consciousness is considered by Holbach as a property of organized matter.

In The System of Nature, Holbach sharply criticizes the religious view of man as the likeness of God: “Man is the work of nature, he exists in nature, he is subject to its laws, he cannot free himself from it; he cannot - even in thought - get out of nature. Man is a part of nature, subject to its laws, like all physical bodies. An attempt by idealist philosophers to divide a person into a physical and spiritual being is declared untenable by Holbach. “Man is an organized whole, composed of various substances". Rejecting the views of the idealists, their belief in the existence of an immortal soul, Holbach proves that the mental abilities of a person depend on the organization of the human body. The ability to feel gives us the opportunity to know the world and its patterns. There are no innate ideas. A person draws his ideas from the outside world, and not from his soul. Holbach opposes teleology with his mechanistic determinism. Phenomena, the causes of which we do not know, he calls accidental. He did not understand the objective nature of chance. He understood the development of society as a fatal process.

Holbach approaches human society from the standpoint of idealism, bourgeois enlightenment. Recognizing the influence of the social environment on the formation of the human personality, Holbach at the same time comes to the wrong, idealistic conclusion that "opinions rule the world." He argues that humanity can get rid of feudal oppression as a result of the spread of enlightenment and the triumph of reason over medieval obscurantism.

The ideologist of the French bourgeoisie, Holbach is afraid of the revolutionary movement of the masses; he prefers a revolution "from above", that is, a peaceful transition from a class-feudal system to a bourgeois one with the help of "perfect" legislation - a constitutional or even "enlightened" monarchy. Criticizing religion, Holbach sees in it only the result of ignorance, he is not able to give a historical criticism of religion, to reveal the class essence of the religious worldview. However, his atheistic treatises played a huge role in the fight against religious obscurantism and superstition. Modern agents of the Vatican (Maritain, Harrington, etc.) are still engaged in "refutation"