The Philosophes’ Criticism of Religion and d’Holbach’s Non-Hedonistic Materialism
Main Article Content
Abstract
Baron d’Holbach was a critic of established religion, or a philosophe, in late 18th-century France. His work is often perceived as less inventive than the work of other materialist philosophes, such as Helvétius and Diderot. However, I claim that d’Holbach makes an original, unjustly overlooked move in the criticism of religious moral teaching. According to the materialist philosophes, this teaching claims that true happiness is only possible in the afterlife. As an alternative, Helvétius and Diderot offer theories according to which the experience of pleasure constitutes happiness, the end of all human desire. In contemporary terms, these theories would represent psychological hedonism. But, as Diderot himself admits, they have a problem in accounting for why people seem to naturally regard some pleasures as preferable to others. I argue that in response to this challenge, instead of accepting the psychological hedonism of his fellow materialists, d’Holbach shows how one can abstain from reducing happiness to pleasure and yet remain a materialist.
Downloads
Article Details
By submitting his/her work to the Editorial Board, the author accepts, upon having his/her text recommended for publication, that Diametros applies the Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license to works we publish. Under this license, authors agree to make articles legally available for reuse, without permission or fees, for any purpose except commercial. Anyone may read, download, copy, print, distribute or reuse these articles without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, as long as the author and original source are properly cited. The author holds the copyright without any other restrictions. Full information about CC-BY-NC: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode.
References
Andrew E. (2016), “The Epicurean Stoicism of the French Enlightenment,” [in:] J. Sellars. The Routledge Handbook of Stoic Tradition, Routledge, New York: 243–253.
View in Google Scholar
Anonymous (1765), “Plaisir (morale),” [in:] Encyclopedie, Vol. 12, D. Diderot, J.R. d’Alembert (eds.), trans. Robert H. Ketchum, URL = http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.826 [accessed 23.11.2016].
View in Google Scholar
Aristotle (1920), Ethica Nicomachea, I. Bywater (ed.), Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York.
View in Google Scholar
Bourdin J.-C. (1998), Diderot et le matérialisme, Presses universitaires de France, Paris.
View in Google Scholar
Burson J. D. (2010), “The Catholic Enlightenment in France from the Fin De Siècle Crisis of Consciousness to the Revolution, 1650–1789,” [in:] A Companion to The Catholic Enlightenment in Europe, U.A. Lerner, M. Printy (eds.),Brill, Leiden: 63–126.
View in Google Scholar
Curran M. (2014), Atheism, Religion and Enlightenment in Pre-revolutionary Europe, The Boydell Press, Rochester (NY).
View in Google Scholar
Darling J. (1985), “Understanding and Religion in Rousseau’s Emile,” British Journal of Education Studies 33 (1): 20–34.
View in Google Scholar
Davidson A. (1986), “Denis Diderot and the Limits to Reason,” Diderot Studies 22: 41–55.
View in Google Scholar
D’Holbach P.-H. Thiry (2001a), The System of Nature, Vol. I, trans. H. D. Robinson, Batoche Books, Kitchener.
View in Google Scholar
D’Holbach P.-H. Thiry (2001b), The System of Nature, Vol. II, trans. H. D. Robinson, Batoche Books, Kitchener.
View in Google Scholar
D’Holbach P.-H. Thiry (2006), Elements of Universal Morality or Universal Catechism, trans. Mitchell Abidor, URL = https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/holbach/1765/catechism.htm [accessed 29.09.2016].
View in Google Scholar
Diderot D. (1755), Epicuréisme ou Epicurisme, [in:] Encyclopedie, Vol. 5, D. Diderot, J.R. d’Alembert (eds.), Briasson, David, Le Breton & Durand, Paris.
View in Google Scholar
Diderot D. (2015), Le Fils Naturel, Gwénola, Ernest et Paul Fièvre, Paris, URL = http://www.theatre-classique.fr/pages/pdf/diderot_filsnaturel.pdf [accessed 29.09.2016].
View in Google Scholar
Diderot D. (2002), Rameau’s Nephew, trans. I.C. Johnston, URL = http://tems.umn.edu/pdf/Diderot-RameausNephew.pdf [accessed 29.09.2016].
View in Google Scholar
Diderot D. (1994), Réfutation d’Helvétius, [in:] D. Diderot, Oeuvres, Vol. I, L. Versini (ed.), Bouquins, Paris.
View in Google Scholar
Diderot D. (1964), Le Rêve de d’Alembert, [in:] D. Diderot, Oeuvres philosophiques, P. Verniere (ed.), Garnier Frères, Paris.
View in Google Scholar
Diderot D. (2005), Thoughts on Religion, trans. Mitchell Abidor, URL = https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/diderot/1770/religion.htm [accessed 29.09.2016].
View in Google Scholar
Gay P. (1969), The Enlightenment: An Interpretation, Vol. 2: The Science of Freedom, W.W. Norton, New York and London.
View in Google Scholar
Helvétius C.A. (1810a), L’esprit or Essays on the Mind, trans. Anon, Albion Press, London.
View in Google Scholar
Helvétius C.A. (1810b), Treatise on Man, trans. E. Hooper, Anon. Publisher, London.
View in Google Scholar
Hobbes T. (1651), Leviathan, Andrew Crooke, London.
View in Google Scholar
Kors A.C. (1976), D’Holbach’s Coterie: An Enlightenment in Paris, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
View in Google Scholar
Kors A.C. (2016), Epicureans and Atheists in France, 1650–1729, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
View in Google Scholar
Lough J. (1938), “Helvétius and d’Holbach,” The Modern Language Review 33 (3): 360–384.
View in Google Scholar
Lucretius (2008), De rerum natura, W. E. Leonard, S.B. Smith (ed.), University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.
View in Google Scholar
Niebuhr R. (1996), The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation, Vol 1: Human Nature, Westminster John Knox Press, London and Louisville.
View in Google Scholar
Mauzi R. (1979), L’idée du bonheur dans la littérature et la pensée françaises au XVIIIe siècle, Slatkine Reprints, Genève and Paris.
View in Google Scholar
Pausanias (1918), The Description of Greece, trans. W.H.S. Jones, H.A. Ormerod, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA).
View in Google Scholar
Plato (1997), Complete Works, J.M. Cooper (ed.), Hackett, Indianapolis.
View in Google Scholar
Rousseau J.-J. (1961), Émile ou de l’éducation, Garnier, Paris.
View in Google Scholar
Rousseau J.-J. (1969), Lettres Morales, [in:] Oeuvres complètes, Vol. 4, B. Gagnebin, M. Raymond (eds.), Gallimard, Paris.
View in Google Scholar
Rousseau J.-J. (1959), Reveries, [in:] J.J. Rousseau, Oeuvres complètes, Vol. 1, B. Gagnebin, M. Raymond (eds.), Gallimard, Paris.
View in Google Scholar
Schechter R. (2012), Conceptions of Terror in the European Enlightenment, [in:] Facing the Fear: The History of an Emotion in Global Perspective, M. Laffan, M. Weiss (eds.), Princeton University Press, Princeton: 31–53.
View in Google Scholar
Schneewind J. (2003), Moral Philosophy from Montaigne to Kant, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
View in Google Scholar
Spinoza B. de (1883), Ethics, trans. R. H. M. Elwes, [in:] The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza, Vol. 2, George Bell and Sons, London.
View in Google Scholar
Spinoza B. de (2007), Theological-Political Treatise, trans. M. Silverthorne, J.I. Israel, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
View in Google Scholar
Spinoza B. de (1955), Treatise on the Emendation of Intellect, trans. R. H. M. Elwes, Dover Publications, New York.
View in Google Scholar
Stock-Morton P. (1988), Moral Education for a Secular Society: The Development of Morale Laique in 19th Century France, State University of New York Press, Albany.
View in Google Scholar
Tonneau O. (2011), “No Happiness without Virtue: In Defense of Diderot’s Defense of Virtue,” an unpublished manuscript, URL = http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/philosophy/news/seminars/reading-groups/tonneau_in_defense_of_diderots_defense_of_virtue_correct3.pdf [accessed 29.09.2016].
View in Google Scholar
Wade I. O. (2015), The Structure and Form of the French Enlightenment, Vol. 2: L’Esprit Revolutionnaire, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
View in Google Scholar
Yovel Y. (1989), Spinoza and Other Heretics. The Adventures of Immanence, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
View in Google Scholar