HELVETIUS, Claude-Adrien. - Philosopher, born in Paris in January 1715 to Jean-Claude, a renowned physician, died there on 26 December 1771. Initially drawn to the works of La Fontaine and Boileau while still at the Collège de Louis-le-Grand, he became an admirer and follower of Locke’s *Essay Concerning Human Understanding*. His thought, marked by a lack of originality and depth, blends Enlightenment ideals, deism, and sensationalism, tending toward a resolute materialism.
Principal works: *Le bonheur* (in verse, posthumous ed. by C. F. de St-Lambert, Paris 1773), in which he develops the idea that happiness is to be sought rather in promoting one’s own interest than that of all; *De l’esprit* (Paris 1758; placed on the Index with a brief of 31 January 1759), a work that caused a great stir, drawing both praise from admirers and fierce opposition—it was condemned by the Sorbonne and publicly burned by order of the Parlement; *De l’homme, de ses facultés et de son éducation* (posthumous, London 1772; placed on the Index by decree of 29 August 1774); *Le vrai sens du système de la nature* (London 1774); *Les progrès de la raison dans la recherche du vrai* (London 1775).
H. confined his interest to moral psychology, ethics, and their applications. Like Condillac, he reduced all mental activity—including judging and therefore thinking—to mere sensation. In ethics, he posited self-interest as the sole motive of all human actions; laws and education were of paramount importance, their task being to achieve the greatest possible harmony between general and private utility. In education, H. placed unlimited confidence. Chapter 1, section 10 of vol. II of *De l’homme* (1772) bears the title *L’éducation peut tout* (London ed. 1765, p. 421).
Regarding religion, particularly in its positive form, H. shared—and often in a more vehement manner—the negative stance common among Enlightenment thinkers: *“C'est toujours à sa raison que l'homme honnête obéira de préférence à la révélation. Il est, dira-t-il, plus certain que Dieu est l'auteur de la raison humaine, c'est à dire, de la faculté que l'homme a de discerner le vrai du faux, qu'il n'est certain que ce même Dieu soit l'auteur d'un tel livre”* (*De l’homme*, cited ed., note 11, p. 201).
Almost all religions, according to H., were to be condemned, for they forbid the use of reason and render men unhappy and cruel (ibid., n. 13).