Holbach, Paul Henry Thiry, haron 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 liis death left him heir to a large fortune. Holbach's house became then the head-quarters of all the free- tliinkers 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 ofjirst maitre d'hutel of philosophy, met the abbot Galiani, Helvetius, D'Aleml3ert, Diderot, Raynal, Grimm, Buffon, Rousseau, aiarmontel, Duclos, Laharpe, Condorcet, etc. It was in these reunions that they exchanged their ideas, and pre- pared, at least in their minds, many of the articles which appeared in the first Knctjclopedie (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 car- ried 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 Bar- l)ier, to have published no less than ibrty-seven anonj-- mous writings of his own composition. His first philo- sophical work he published in 1767 under the name of Boidanger: it is entitled Le Christianisme devoiU, ou examen des principes et des ejj'vts de la religion revelee. (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 supe- rior 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 deplora- Ijle 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 pub- lished IJEsprit du Clerge, ou le Christianisme primitif venge des entreprises et des exces de nos preti-es inodernes (Lond. 1767), and De VInqiosture sacerdotale, ou recueil de pieces siir le clerge (Amst. 1767). In the same year Holbach published his most important work, Sgsteme de la Nature (Lond. 1770), under the signature of "IMira- baud, secretaire perpetuel de I'Academie rran(;'aise." 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 Hol- bach, and that he defrayed the expenses of publication. So radical was this work that even Yoltaire attacked it in the article " (Jod" of his " Philosophical Dictionarj'." Yet in 1772 Holbach published a popiUar edition of that work under the title Le bon Sens, ou idees nuturelles op- jiosees aux idees surnaturelles (Amst.; often reprinted under the name of the abbot IMeslier), The wretched book was largely read by the common people, and con- 1
tributed perhaps more than all the other philosophical works of the 18th century, taken together, to the sub- version 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 discusses the maxims of religious moraUty, takes a hurried glance at social and savage Ufe, touches the so-called " social compact," and in the course of his observations endeav- ors to teach, among other things, that self-interest is the riding motive of man, and that God is only an ideal be- ing, created by kings and priests. His Syst'eme Social, ou les principes naturels de la morale et de la jiolitique (Amsterd. 1773), aims, as its title indicates, to establish the basis and rides of a moral and political system alto- gether independent of any religious system. This work was as ill received by the philosophers as by the relig- ious party, and the Paris Parliament (in 1773) condemn- ed this and all other preceding works of Holbach to be publicly burned by the hangman. They were all secret- ly sent to Holland in MS., and printed there by Jlichael Rey, who circulated them in France, so that even the friends and guests of Holbach did not know him as their author, and often criticised his works severely while partaking of his hospitality. He was also one of the contributors to the celebrated Encyclopjedia (q. v.) of Diderot. Holbach's biographers claim that he was a man of good heart, and that, notwithstanding the per- nicious theories of materialism which he sought to in- culcate, 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 ^vTitten against them. He died at Paris Januarj' 21, 1789. See A'oltaire, Dictionnaire Philosoph.; Diderot, Memoires ; T)a.m\ron, Etudes sur la philosopkie d' Holbach (in 3fem.de rAcademie d. Sci- ences mo7-ales et politiques) ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gene- rale, xxiv, 925 sq. ; Biog. Univ. xx, 460 sq. ; Schlosser, Gesch. d. 18 imd 19 Jahrhund. i, 580 sq. ; ii, 534; Buhle, Gesch. der neueren Philos. vi, Abtheil i, p. 94 sq. ; Hurst's Hagenbach, Church History of the ISth and 19th Cent, i, 211 sq.; 'FaxTSir, Hist, of Free'Thought,]). 181 sq.; Vinet, French Lit. p. 352 sq. ; Hagenbach, Hist, of Rationalism, p. 50; Moveli, History of Philos. p. Ill sq.; Herzog, /?e«/- FncyHop. vi, 220 sq. (J. H. W.)