Project Gutenberg 2005-09-01 Public domain in the USA. 1016 Holbach, Paul Henri Thiry, baron d' 1723 1789 D'Holbach, Baron The System of Nature, or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World. Volume 1 Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_System_of_Nature Text file produced by Freethought Archives and Distributed Proofreaders HTML file produced by David Widger "The System of Nature, or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World. Volume 1" by Paul Henri Thiery (Baron d'Holbach) is a significant philosophical treatise written in the late 18th century. This publication stands as a foundational text in the discourse of atheistic materialism, presenting a systematic view of nature, morality, and human existence, emphasizing the inextricable connection between man and the natural world while advocating for a rational understanding that negates the existence of the supernatural. The opening of this work introduces Holbach's core beliefs regarding nature and humanity’s place within it. He argues that all beings are products of nature, subject to its immutable laws. Holbach contrasts the simplistic understandings of human existence shaped by mythology with a more profound comprehension drawn from observation and experience. He critiques humanity’s tendency to embrace irrational beliefs and calls for a return to reason, empirical inquiry, and the study of nature as the rightful basis for morality and happiness. Essential themes include the rejection of external deities and the importance of understanding human desires and actions through the lens of natural law rather than theological or mythical narratives. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 32.9 (College-level). Difficult to read. en Philosophy and religion Psychology Materialism B Text Atheism Browsing: Philosophy & Ethics Browsing: Psychiatry/Psychology Browsing: Religion/Spirituality/Paranormal 835267 2025-06-04T08:03:33.384433 text/html 839044 2013-06-07T15:19:44 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 269311 2013-06-07T15:20:40 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 381978 2025-06-04T08:03:44.461342 application/epub+zip 393247 2025-06-04T08:03:37.678431 application/epub+zip 344314 2025-06-04T08:03:36.157394 application/epub+zip 760109 2025-06-04T08:03:50.049324 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 715043 2025-06-04T08:03:43.343363 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 495978 2022-09-04T12:29:44.996214 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 750471 2025-06-04T08:03:32.707432 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 750183 2013-06-07T15:20:22 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 260016 2013-06-07T15:20:40 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 750174 2013-06-07T15:20:08 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 259991 2013-06-07T15:20:38 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 21460 2025-06-04T08:03:50.201327 application/rdf+xml 25759 2025-06-04T08:03:36.740408 image/jpeg 4743 2025-06-04T08:03:36.447387 image/jpeg 372480 2025-06-04T08:03:33.452448 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia