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→Works related to atheism
The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' says concerning the work of Paul-Henri Thiry/Baron d'Holbach:
The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' says concerning the work of Paul-Henri Thiry/Baron d'Holbach:
{{cquote|Although indeed Holbach devotes the entire second volume of Système de la nature and all of Le Bon Sens to the [[Rebuttals to atheist arguments|defense of atheism]] and the criticism of particular claims about God, his views do not hold great philosophical interest. They emphasize well worn topics such as the [[Atheism and the Problem of Evil|problem of evil]], the impossibility of [[Atheism and epistemology|discussing intelligibly]] [[Atheism and truth|what is unknowable]], the [[Causes of atheism|suspect psychological origins of religious belief]], and the confusion of traditional descriptions of God in terms that are simply the negation of genuine descriptive terms: for example, to say that God is infinite is just to deny that God is finite. None of these arguments is unique to Holbach or especially well presented by him.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/holbach/ Paul-Henri Thiry] - ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''</ref>}}
{{cquote|Although indeed Holbach devotes the entire second volume of Système de la nature and all of Le Bon Sens to the [[Rebuttals to atheist arguments|defense of atheism]] and the criticism of particular claims about God, his views do not hold great philosophical interest. They emphasize well worn topics such as the [[Atheism and the Problem of Evil|problem of evil]], the impossibility of [[Atheism and epistemology|discussing intelligibly]] [[Atheism and truth|what is unknowable]], the [[Causes of atheism|suspect psychological origins of religious belief]], and the confusion of traditional descriptions of God in terms that are simply the negation of genuine descriptive terms: for example, to say that God is infinite is just to deny that God is finite. None of these arguments is unique to Holbach or especially well presented by him.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/holbach/ Paul-Henri Thiry] - ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''</ref>}}
== Additional encyclopedia biography of Paul-Henri Thiry ==
Encylopedia.com provides a short biography of Paul-Henri Thiry which indicates:
{{Cquote|Born in December 1723 in Edesheim not far from Karlsruhe in the Palatinate, Paul Henri Thiry was baptized a [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic]]. When he was 12 years old, his father took him to an ennobled and financially successful uncle, Franciscus Adam d'Holbach, a naturalized Frenchman living in [[Paris]]. From him the young Thiry received his upbringing, a fortune, and a new surname. After an early education in Paris, Paul Henri d'Holbach went in 1744 to the [[university]] at Leiden. By 1749 the young man had returned to France and become naturalized, and in 1753 he inherited his uncle's title and fortune.
At his town house in Paris and on his country estate at Grandval, D'Holbach entertained writers, philosophers, and other men of influence. His salon contributed much to the development and communication of 18th-century thought; but D'Holbach himself made a more direct contribution. This master of five languages wrote and studied continuously. In the 1750s he translated [[Germany|German]] [[science|scientific]] articles, and he contributed almost 400 such articles to Denis [[Diderot]]'s Encyclopédie.
In 1761 began D'Holbach's written attacks on theologians and religious power. Under the name of his deceased friend N. A. Boulanger, D'Holbach published Le Christianisme dévoilé, a critical examination of [[Christianity]]. D'Holbach often resorted to pseudonyms or anonymity to protect himself from the conservative and repressive authorities. In the 1770s D'Holbach produced his positive substitutes for the religious and political dogmas he despised: Système de la Nature (1770), a [[secularism|secular]] ethics detailing the interrelation of ethics and government; Le Bon sens (1772; Good Sense), a very readable restatement of the radical ideas of the 1770 work; Politique naturelle (1773), a discussion of the moral influences exercised by government; and Morale universelle (1776), regarded by some as his [[ethics|ethical]] masterpiece.
D'Holbach taught that most of man's woes stemmed from [[religion]]. "Ignorance and fear, " he claimed, "are the two hinges of all religion." He taught that morals were quite possible without religion: "Let … reason be cultivated … and there will be no need of opposing to the passions such a feeble barrier as the fear of the gods." D'Holbach, a provocative, freethinking iconoclast, died in January 1789.<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/baron-dholbach Baron d'Holbach]</ref>}}
==External links==
==External links==