15558 — A Londres, 1781. 2 volumes. (12), 316, pp.; (4), 385, (3) pp. 8vo. Contemporary marbled calf, spines gilt with raised bands, gilt triple fillet on sides, all edges gilt. Vercruysse 1781-A1. This is Holbach's most famous work (and in which he was very likely assisted by Diderot) and expounds a complete theorie of materialism.Holbach contributed some four hundred articles to the Encyclopédie of his lifelong friend and colleague Denis Diderot. Diderot, d'Alembert, Helvetius, Voltaire and others of the philosophes met frequently for dinner and philosophical discussion at the Baron's house, which became known as 'the café of Europe' (among foreign visitors were Wilkes, Hume and Sterne). In the Système Holbach rejected the Cartesian mind-body dualism and attempted to explain all phenomena, physical and mental, in terms of matter in motion. Holbach rejected religion because he saw it as a wholly harmful influence, and he tried to supply a desirable alternative. In fact he outlined a whole ethical and political philosophy, which he expanded in his later works.Holbach may not have been a great original thinker (his important ideas can already be found in predecessors such as Hobbes, Locke and La Mettrie), but by combining various elements in their thought and pressing it to the logical conclusion he reached the most extreme position in eighteenth-century free-thought. In fact, the present book caused a rift in the ranks of the philosophes, dividing them between deists and atheists, and even provoked Voltaire to reply in defense of religion.The pages 339-385 contain l'Abrégé du code de la nature and the Réquisitoire du 18 août 1770. - A very good copy.
