Helvétius, Claude-Adrien

(1715-1771)

   philosopher

   An important thinker of the Enlightenment, Claude-Adrien Helvétius was born in Paris. in 1738, he was appointed farmer-general, a post that he held, along with other government appointments, due to the influence of his patron, Queen marie leszczynska, wife of King louis XV. Helvétius soon devoted himself to writing, collaborating on denis diderot's Encyclopédie and, in 1758, publishing his most famous work, De L'Esprit. in it, he asserted his theory of hedonism, sensualism, atheism, and philosophical materialism. He stated that all human faculties, including judgment, compassion, and memory, are merely attributes of physical sensation and that the only nature of human activity is self-interest. He posited that no true moral choice could exist, with even self-sacrifice only a choice among competitive pleasures. His writings were subsequently condemned by the Royal Council and the theological faculty of the sorbonne (1759) as affronts to public morals, and were publicly burned.