Baron d'Holbach

Ruggero Sciuto (University of Oxford)

Ed. by Jenny Mander, University of Cambridge, Síofra Pierse, University College Dublin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.04: French Writing and Culture: Eighteenth-Century and the Enlightenment, 1700-1800.
Vol. editors: Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Severine Genieys-Kirk (University of Edinburgh), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Jenny Mander (University of Cambridge), Síofra Pierse (University College Dublin), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born 1723
Died 21 Jan 1789

Places

Born in Germany
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Philosopher
Prose writer

Resources

Thiry's Works

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Paul Thiry d’Holbach, more familiarly known as baron d’Holbach, was one of the most important and prolific thinkers of the eighteenth century. His radical works put forward a deterministic, materialistic, and atheistic philosophy; they circulated widely in Revolutionary France and had a remarkable impact on nineteenth-century thought, particularly on the development of Karl Marx’s ideas.

Born in Edesheim, western Germany, on (or shortly before) 8 December 1723, d’Holbach was the son of Johann Jakob Thiry († 1756) and Katherina Jakobea Holbach († 1743). When still a young boy, he was sent to Paris and entrusted to his maternal uncle, François-Adam Holbach († 1753), a childless man who had made his fortune at the beginning of the eighteenth century and acquired the title of

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2544 words

Citation: Sciuto, Ruggero. "Baron d'Holbach". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 April 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14660, accessed 22 May 2025.]