Man a Machine (also published as Machine Man and The Human Mechanism)

A groundbreaking work of Enlightenment philosophy, Man a Machine argues that human beings function purely as mechanistic entities governed by physical laws. In this controversial treatise, Julien Offray de La Mettrie challenges the dualism of mind and body, proposing a radical materialist perspective that equates human consciousness with biological processes. Bold, provocative, and ahead of its time, this work remains a key text in the history of philosophy and the scientific study of human nature.

Julien Offray de La Mettrie (November 23, 1709 - November 11, 1751) was a French physician and philosopher, and one of the earliest of the French materialists of the Enlightenment. He is best known for his work L'homme machine (published in this edition as "Man a Machine" but also published under the titles "Machine Man" and "The Human Mechanism"). This translation is the work of several hands. It is founded on a version made by Miss Gertrude C. Bussey (from the French text in the edition of J. Assezat) and has been revised by Professor M. W. Calkins who is responsible for it in its present form. Mademoiselle M. Carret, of the Wellesley College department of French, and Professor George Santayana, of Harvard University, have given valued assistance; and this opportunity is taken to acknowledge their kindness in solving the problems of interpretation which have been submitted to them. It should be added that the translation sometimes subordinates the claims of English structure and style in the effort to render La Mettrie's meaning exactly. The philosophical and historical Notes are condensed and adapted from a master's thesis on La Mettrie presented by Miss Bussey to the faculty of Wellesley College.