2 The Concept of Natural Order in the Système de la Nature
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Abstract
It is a common opinion that for d’Holbach order and disorder are concepts relative to subjective human evaluations, though order may be regarded as objective if we think of nature as the necessary system of causes and effects. A more accurate reading of the Système de la nature brings to light also the objective side of disorder, when it is conceived as the change of a preceding state of things, since both the preceding state and its change follow from the absolute order of nature. Even human prejudices about order and disorder are objectively grounded as they depend on the relation between the natural course of events and the equally natural drive of each individual to survive and to enjoy pleasant sensations. The subjective notions of order and disorder become sources of error only when they are employed by human imagination to describe the whole universe, thereby concealing the true necessary order of nature which is grasped by reason. A reconstruction of these concepts is provided in this essay, together with an examination of d’Holbach’s arguments against natural theology and an analysis of the interplay of necessity, energy and infinity in d’Holbach’s view of natural order. Finally, d’Holbach’s skepticism is discussed, as he recognized that the inner constitution of bodies, being imperceptible, is unknown, and therefore many causes of motions remain unknown too. This epistemic limit, coupled with the adoption of Leibniz’s principles of indiscernibles, appears incompatible with the strong metaphysical determinism asserted by d’Holbach merely on the assumption that every action of each body must proceed from its essence, according to the axiom ex nihilo nihil. Despite the inconsistencies of d’Holbach’s determinism, the Système de la nature deserves to be appreciated in the history of western thought because it represented the first materialistic and atheistic system, opposed to the ‘ancien régime’ of theological metaphysics which had hitherto dominated the philosophical tradition.