Holbach, Paul Henry Thiry

baron of, an infidel of the 18th century, was born at Heidelsheim, in the palatinate (now grand-duchy) of Baden, in 1723. He went to Paris at an early age with his father, who at his death left him heir to a large fortune. Holbach's house became then the headquarters of all the freethinkers and writers of his day. At the dinners which he gave twice a week, either in Paris or at his castle of Grandval, and which gained him the title of first maitre d'hotel of philosophy, met the abbot Galiani, Helvetius, D'Alembert, Diderot, Raynal, Grimm, Buffon, Rousseau, Marmontel, Duclos, Laharpe, Condorcet, etc. It was in these reunions that they exchanged their ideas, and prepared, at least in their minds, many of the articles which appeared in the first Encyklopèdie (Diderot's), besides many anonymous publications which were also sent forth, consisting either of original articles or of translations from the German or English. They carried their speculation, it is said, to such daring lengths that Buffon, D'Alembert, and Rousseau felt compelled to withdraw from the circle. Holbach himself was one of the most zealous of these champions of naturalism and contended not only against Christianity, but against every positive religion. He is said, according to Barbier, to have published no less than forty-seven anonymous writings of his own composition. His first philosophical work he published in 1767 under the name of Boulanger: it is entitled Le Christianisme dévoilé, ou examen des principes et des effets de la religion révéléé (Amst.). In this work he says explicitly that religion is in no way necessary for the welfare of empires; that the dogmas of Christianity are but a heap of absurdities, the propagation of which has exercised the most fatal influence on mankind; that its morality is nowise superior to the morality of other systems, and is only fit for enthusiasts incapable of fulfilling the duties imposed by society; finally, that through the eighteen centuries of its existence Christianity had led to the most deplorable results in politics. Soon after this work, which his infidel associates themselves declared the most terrible that had ever appeared in any part of the world, he published L'Esprit du Clerge, ou le Christianisme primitif vengé des entreprises et des exces de nospretres modernes (Lond. 1767), and De l'Imposture sacerdotale, ou recueil de pieces sur le clerge (Amst. 1767). In the same year Holbach published his most important work, Systme de la Nature (Lond. 1770), under the signature of "Mirabaud, secretaire perpetuel de l'Academie Française." It is not definitely known whether he wrote the book alone, or was assisted by La Grange, Grimm, and others, but it is generally conceded to have been sent forth by Holbach, and that he defrayed the expenses of publication. So radical was this work that even Voltaire attacked it in the article "God" of his "Philosophical Dictionary." Yet in 1772 Holbach published a popular edition of that work under the title Le bon Sens, ou idees naturm elles opposees aux idees surnaturelles (Amst.; often reprinted under the name of the abbot Meslier). The wretched book was largely read by the common- people, and-contributed perhaps more than all the other philosophical works of the 18th century, taken together, to the subversion of morals and the spread of infidelity. It teaches the most naked and atheistical materialism, and even Voltaire abused it as immoral. In it Holbach discusser s the maxims of religious morality, takes a hurried glance t at social and savage life, touches the so-called "social compact," and in the course of his observations endeavors to teach, among other things, that self-interest is the ruling motive of man, and that God is only an ideal being, created by kings and priests. His Systeme Social, ou les principes naturels de la morale et de la politique (Amsterd. 1773), aims, as its title indicates, to establish the basis and rules of a moral and political system altogether independent of any religious system. This work was as ill received by the philosophers as by the religious party, and the Paris Parliament (in 1773) condemned this and all other preceding works, of Holbach to be publicly burned by the hangman. They were all secretly sent to Holland in MS., and printed there by Michael Rey, who circulated them in France, so that even the friends and guests of Holbach did not know him as their author, and often criticized his works severely while partaking of his hospitality. He was also one of the contributors to the celebrated Encyclopedia (q.v.) of Diderot. Holbach's biographers claim that he was a man of good heart, and that, notwithstanding the pernicious theories of materialism which he sought to inculcate, especially among the French people, his life was better than his books. They claim especially that he was a man of most unselfish benevolence, and that he made his house even an asylum for his foes. Thus he protected and gave a refuge to the Jesuits in the days of their adversity under Louis XV, though he hated their system, and had written against them. He died at Paris January 21, 1789. See Voltaire, Dictionnaire Philosoph.; Diderot, Meimoires; Damiron, Etudes sur la philosophie d'Holbach (in Mim. de l' academie d. Sciences morales et politiques); Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, 24, 925 sq.; Biog. Univ. 20, 460 sq.; Schlosser, Gesch. d. 18 und 19 Jahrhund. 1, 580 sq.; 2, 534; Buhle, Gesch. der neueren Philos. 6, Abtheil 1, p. 94 sq.; Hurst's Hagenbach, Church History of the 18th and 19th Cent. 1, 211 sq.; Farrar, Hist. of Free Though, p. 181 sq.; Vinet, French Lit. p. 352 sq.; Hagenbach, Hist. of Rationalism, p. 50; Morell, History of Philos. p. 111 sq.; Herzog, Real Encyklop. 6, 220 sq. (J. H. W.)