D’Holbach’s political theory and its philosophical assumptions

Authors

  • Javier Peña Echeverría

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rep.179.01

Keywords:

D’Holbach, Radical Enlightenment, Political representation, Democracy, Utilitarianism, Materialism.

Abstract

Jonathan Israel has highlighted the importance of baron d’Holbach’s political theory – not too much studied and valued – in the context of his thesis about the contribution of the «Radical Enlightenment» to the contemporary understanding of democracy, equality and civil rights. This paper defends, nevertheless, that d’Holbach’s proposal is, in itself, neither especially bold nor innovative for his time, nor does it develops a precise institutional design. It supports an enlightened monarchy, tempered by a representative assembly of owners, which is guided by the criterion of utility as a natural ground of social order. His position is more revolutionary at the level of the theoretical presuppositions of his proposal: his atheistic criticism to religion, his materialistic ontology and his utilitarian ethics help to undermine the representation and characteristic values of the traditional social and political order, and to clear the way towards the new bourgeois society.

Published

2018-03-21

Issue

Section

ARTICLES