The System of Nature

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The System of Nature (Systeme de la Nature) is a philosophical book by Baron d'Holbach (Paul Henri Thiry, 1723-1789). He wrote this book (with the assistance of Diderot) anonymously in 1770, describing the universe in terms of philosophical materialism (i.e., the mind is the same thing as the brain, there is no "soul" without a living body, etc.), strict determinism (free will is an illusion, and whatever happens, must), and especially atheism.

Materialism, determinism, and atheism are logically related though distinct philosophical doctrines. It was possible for Joseph Priestley to be a materialist and determinist without being an atheist (he was a Unitarian preacher). It was also possible for Martin Luther to be a determinist (in this case, due to the omnipotence and omniscience of God) without believing in either materialism or atheism. And no doubt there are many people who for one reason or another profess no religion and yet still maintain they have free will, thus rejecting strict determinism.

To be sure, d'Holbach's views were not entirely original (but then he never claimed to be original): Hobbes had preceded him in materialism, Spinoza in determinism, and Hume in anti-religious attitudes. But in general, the philosophes of the French Enlightenment such as Diderot (a good friend of d'Holbach's) and Voltaire were not technically original philosophers - they were men of letters who publicized enlightened philosophy. And d'Holbach was more a patron of the Paris philosophes than a thinker in his own right. Perhaps this explains why d'Holbach is not well-known today (many dictionaries of philosophy don't even mention his name). D'Holbach himself would not have been too concerned, however: fame meant little to him as long as his ideas get the attention they deserve.^{[citation needed]} He did not even seem to mind that this book (like most of his other books) had to be published under a pseudonym, just so he could avoid the gallows. (It was not for money or fame but truth that the rich man, noted for his personal kindness and generosity, risked his own neck.^{[citation needed]})

The System of Nature, d'Holbach's masterpiece, remains an outstanding work expressing many of d'Holbach's most important philosophical stances. Though considered extremely radical at the time (even Voltaire rebuked him for it), it has stood the test of time and above all through the scientific discoveries of the last three centuries. Nowadays it is no longer difficult to find brilliant minds, especially natural scientists, with materialistic views (Francis Crick, the DNA discoverer, was one), or with deterministic views (Albert Einstein, certainly), or believing in no religion (Crick, James Watson, Richard Feynman, Linus Pauling, Hans Bethe, Niels Bohr, Steven Weinberg, Paul Dirac, Stephen Hawking, to name only a few). Though not a scientist himself, d'Holbach was scientifically literate and he developed his philosophy consistent with the known facts of nature and the scientific knowledge of the day, and carried it as far as science permitted him. It is no wonder, then, that d'Holbach could not explain the origin of man - it would be five years after his death that Erasmus Darwin published Zoonomia, vaguely and poetically setting forth evolutionary ideas, and 65 more years after that before Charles Darwin published his Origin of Species, clearly explaining evolution's principles. But already in The System of Nature d'Holbach insisted that "man is a production formed in the course of time, and peculiar to the particular globe he inhabits," and that every living thing changes according to time and place - an impressively prescient conjecture in a work published 234 years ago. (Even more remarkably, in chapter 12, when discussing how minor events can give rise to major ones, and having cited Muhammad and Genghis Khan as examples, d'Holbach writes, "Perhaps, at this moment, atoms are amassing, insensible particles are combining, of which the assemblage shall form a sovereign, who will be either the scourge or the savior of a mighty empire." At the exact same time that these words were being published, in 1769, a baby was being born, within the same French-controlled territory where d'Holbach lived, who would later bear the name Napoleon Bonaparte.) Nevertheless, despite the very modern outlook of d'Holbach's philosophy, there are today still some scientists of high standing who would disagree with him, such as John Eccles (who believed in the existence of "the soul"), Freeman Dyson (who rejects "narrow-minded" rationalism and believes in free will), and John Polkinghorne (who is a priest of the Church of England, and former mathematical physics professor and current Fellow at Cambridge University). These are surely a minority, and no doubt another reason why d'Holbach's philosophy is not often discussed today is that its main points are already widely but tacitly accepted, at least among scientists.