The Great Protector of Wits

Baron d'Holbach and His Time

Series: 

Editor:
Laura Nicolì
The Great Protector of Wits provides a new assessment of baron d’Holbach (1723–1789) and his circle. A challenging figure of the European Enlightenment, Paul-Henri Thiry d’Holbach was not only a radically materialistic philosopher, a champion of anticlericalism, the author of the Système de la nature – known as ‘the Bible of atheists’ –, an idéologue, a popularizer of the natural sciences and a prolific contributor to the Encyclopédie, but he also played a crucial role as an organizer of intellectual networks and was a master of disseminating clandestine literature and a consummate strategist in authorial fictions. In this collective volume, for the first time, all these different threads of d’Holbach’s ‘philosophy in action’ are considered and analyzed in their interconnection.

Contributors to this volume: Jacopo Agnesina, Nicholas Cronk, Mélanie Éphrème, Enrico Galvagni, Jonathan Israel, Alan Charles Kors, Mladen Kozul, Brunello Lotti, Emilio Mazza, Gianluca Mori, Iryna Mykhailova, Gianni Paganini, Paolo Quintili, Alain Sandrier, Ruggero Sciuto, Maria Susana Seguin, and Gerhardt Stenger.
Copyright Year:
2022
E-Book (PDF)
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-51684-7
Publication:
20 Jun 2022
Hardback
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-43578-0
Publication:
10 Jun 2022
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Laura Nicolì is Research Fellow at Fondazione 1563 (Turin) and Voltaire Foundation (Oxford). She holds a PhD in History of Philosophy from “La Sapienza” and EPHE. Her monograph, Les Philosophes et les dieux. Le polythéisme en débat dans la France des Lumières, is in press.
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Notes on Contributors

Introduction
  Laura Nicolì

Part 1: Holbach: Philosopher and Philosophe


1 Holbach’s Skepticism
  Alan Charles Kors

2 The Concept of Natural Order in the Système de la Nature
  Brunello Lotti

3 An Empire of Lies: Holbach on Vanity and Philosophy
  Enrico Galvagni

Part 2: Holbach: Strategist of the Enlightenment


4 Holbach traducteur, stratège et philosophe
  Mladen Kozul

5 The Role of Prophecies: Baron d’Holbach as a Translator of Anthony Collins
  Jacopo Agnesina

6 D’Holbach and the “Spirit of Judaism”
  Gianni Paganini

7 The Absent Guest: D’Holbach’s Strategic Use of Voltaire’s Texts
  Ruggero Sciuto

Part 3: Holbach: Encyclopédiste


8 La critique religieuse du baron d’Holbach dans l’Encyclopédie : une approche méthodique
  Alain Sandrier

9 L’autre d’Holbach : l’encyclopédiste traducteur de chimie et d’histoire naturelle
  Mélanie Éphrème

Part 4: Holbach and His Time


10 How Many Atheists at d’Holbach’s Table?
  Emilio Mazza and Gianluca Mori

11 D’Holbach et Diderot : une amitié plus que philosophique
  Paolo Quintili

12 Voltaire contre la coterie holbachique
  Gerhardt Stenger

13 D’Holbach, les cercles holbachiques et la circulation de la littérature philosophique clandestine
  Maria Susana Seguin

14 Who Are D’Holbach’s Readers?
  Nicholas Cronk

Part 5: Holbach and Revolutionary Consciousnesses


15 D’Holbach’s Political and Social Thought: The Democratic “Revolution” in Western Values Prior to 1789
  Jonathan Israel

16 D’Holbach’s Legacy in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union
  Iryna Mykhailova

Index Nominum
The volume is intended for scholars, researchers, and graduate students interested in the Enlightenment or the history of ideas. Keywords: Enlightenment, France, history of ideas, coterie holbachique, atheism, clandestine literature, collective authorship, cultural transfer, readership, Encyclopédie, Denis Diderot, David Hume, Voltaire, Friedrich Melchior Grimm, revolutionary consciousness.
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