The Great Protector of Wits : Baron d'Holbach and His Time

Laura Nicolì

ISBN 10: 9004435786 / ISBN 13: 9789004435780

Published by Brill Jun 2022, 2022

About this Item

Neuware - 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.

Seller Inventory # 9789004435780

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Great Protector of Wits : Baron d'Holbach and His Time
• Publisher: Brill Jun 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004435786
• ISBN 13: 9789004435780
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 234W x 157H x 25D millimeters 234 millimeters width by 157 millimeters height by 25 millimeters depth
• Weight: 635 grams

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

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.