Chapter 6

HOLBACH'S SYSTEM OF NATURE.

Publication of the _System of Nature_ (1770) 155 Its startling effect 156 Voltaire's alarm 158 He never understood Holbach's position 159 Account of Holbach 160 Disregard of historic opinion in his book 163 Its remarkable violence against the government 165 The sting of this violence 166 The doctrine from which Holbach's book arose 167 Account of Holbach's Naturalism 168 His proposition concerning Man 173 He uses the orthodox language about the pride of man 177 His treatment of Morals 178 Onslaught upon the theory of Free Will 178 Connection of necessarianism with humanity in punishment 181 His answer to some objections against necessarianism 181 Chapter on the Immortality of the Soul 183 His enthusiasm for reforms 185 The literature of a political revolution 187 Misrepresentation of Holbach's ethical theory 188 The _System of Nature_, a protest against ascetic ideals 191 The subject of the second half of the book 193 Repudiation of the _à priori_ method 194 Replies to the common charges against atheism 197 The chapter on the superiority of Naturalism 198 Political side of the indictment against religion 199 Holbach's propagandism 202