A Treatise on Man, His Intellectual Faculties and His Education; A Posthumous Work of M. Helvetius. Translated from the French, with Additional Notes, by W. Hooper, Volume 1
A Treatise on Man, His Intellectual Faculties and His Education; A Posthumous Work of M. Helvetius. Translated from the French, with Additional Notes, by W. Hooper, Volume 1
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1777 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAP. XXIV.; The discovery of great ideas is the effect of constant attention. AVehement desire frequently occasions an effort of the mind more lively than lasting. Now the acquisition of great talents supposes an obstinate application, and a desire of instruction more habitual than vehement. However engaged ...
Read More
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1777 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAP. XXIV.; The discovery of great ideas is the effect of constant attention. AVehement desire frequently occasions an effort of the mind more lively than lasting. Now the acquisition of great talents supposes an obstinate application, and a desire of instruction more habitual than vehement. However engaged people of the world may be with their fortune and their pleasure, they feel by intervals the desire of glory. But why does this desire prove fruitless to them? Because it is not sufficiently durable. It is to the constancy of desires that great success is annexed. If an Agnes always deceives an Arnolph, it is because the desire of a woman to meet a lover is always more habitual than the desire of preventing it is in those that watch over her. The inhabitants of Kamschatka are in soms things of an unequalled stupidity; in others they have a marvellous industry. In the making' of cloths, says their historian, they surpass the Europeans . Why? Because, inhabiting one of. If the inhabitants of Kamschatlja surpass us in certain acts, they may equal us in all. Talents are nothing more than different applications of the fame understanding to different subs jests. A a 4 He the most inclement climates of the earth, they are most habitually sensible of the want of covering. Now an habitual want always produces industry. A man who is sensible of the value of consideration, that it procures power, (the common object of the desire of men), will do his utmost to attain it. It is in the possession of that esteem he centres all his happiness, and it is then the desire of glory is identified with the love of ourselves. Now this last sentiment, as is proved by experience, being habitually present to all men, ought to endow them with that sort of attention to...
Read Less
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Near Fine. 2 volume set, the first edition in English. 8vo, in modern quarter calf with marbled boards. (xl), 384, 488 pp. Near Fine. Helvetius (d. 1771) was an important French philosopher. In 1758 Helvétius published his philosophical magnum opus, De l'esprit (On Mind), which claimed that all human faculties are attributes of mere physical sensation, and that the only real motive is self-interest, therefore there is no good and evil, only competitive pleasures. Its atheistic, utilitarian and egalitarian doctrines raised a public outcry, and the Sorbonne publicly burned it in 1759, forcing Helvétius to issue several retractions. Helvetius's philosophy, that self interest governs all actions, that there is no such thing as an absolute right, and his emphasis on psychological egoism, was influential on Karl Marx who saw in Helvetius's works the philosophical foundations of communism. Helvetius is also one of Isaiah Berlin's "enemies of liberty" and in Berlin's reading provides an ideological basis for authoritarianism. (Some of this taken from wikipedia).