Mean anecdotes 144
Nature of Helvetius's errors 144
Explanation of them 146
Positive side of his speculation 147
Its true significance 149
Second great paradox of _L'Esprit_ 149
Benjamin Constant's _Adolphe_ 152

CHAPTER VI.

HOLBACH'S SYSTEM OF NATURE.

Publication of the _System of Nature_ (1770) 155
Its startling effect 156
Voltaire's alarm 158
He never understood Holbach's position 159
Account of Holbach 160
Disregard of historic opinion in his book 163
Its remarkable violence against the government 165
The sting of this violence 166
The doctrine from which Holbach's book arose 167
Account of Holbach's Naturalism 168
His proposition concerning Man 173
He uses the orthodox language about the pride of man 177
His treatment of Morals 178
Onslaught upon the theory of Free Will 178
Connection of necessarianism with humanity in punishment 181
His answer to some objections against necessarianism 181
Chapter on the Immortality of the Soul 183
His enthusiasm for reforms 185
The literature of a political revolution 187
Misrepresentation of Holbach's ethical theory 188
The _System of Nature_, a protest against ascetic ideals 191
The subject of the second half of the book 193
Repudiation of the _a priori_ method 194
Replies to the common charges against atheism 197
The chapter on the superiority of Naturalism 198
Political side of the indictment against religion 199
Holbach's propagandism 202