Claude-Arien Hélvetius

Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

Born 26 Jan 1715
Died 26 Dec 1771
Activity 1750-1771

Places

Born in France
Active in England; France; Germany

Activities

Primary

Philosopher

Resources

As the son of the Queen's physician, Hélvetius was well-connect in royal circles and given the prestigious office of fermier général (collector of taxes) at the early age of 23. He cultivated relations in intellectual circles of the Englightenment, notably with Diderot, Voltaire and others who would be involved in the Encyclopédie, married in 1751 and retired to his lands at Voré where he wrote a poem Le bonheur which would be published posthumously and a philosophical treatise De l'esprit [On the mind] (1758) which, because it was a relatively simple-minded and unoriginal repetition of ideas which were becoming generally current, would become one of the most widely-read philosophical works in the last half of the eighteenth century. In this work Hélvetius followed Locke in arguing that character is determined by sense-impressions and education, not...

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389 words

Citation: Clark, Robert. "Claude-Arien Hélvetius". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 September 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5192, accessed 09 June 2026.]