Helvétius

[ hel-vee-shuhs; French el-vey-syys ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Claude A·dri·en [klawd , ey, -dree-, uh, n, klohd , a, -d, r, ee-, ahn], 1715–71, French philosopher.

Helvétius

/ ɛlvesjys; hɛlˈviːʃɪəs /

HelvétiusClaude Adrien17151771MFrenchPHILOSOPHY: philosopher Claude Adrien (klod adriɛ̃). 1715–71, French philosopher. In his chief work De l'Esprit (1758), he asserted that the mainspring of human action is self-interest and that differences in human intellects are due only to differences in education

Helvétius adds to this that the only real pains and pleasures are the physical, but Bentham does not follow him here.

The theory, as Mill reminds us, had been very pointedly anticipated by Helvétius.

Maupertuis was the hero of a day, and Helvétius accordingly applied himself to become a geometer.

“Helvétius sweated a long time to write a single chapter,” if we may believe one of his intimates.

Why did Bentham raise upon it a fabric of such value to mankind, while Helvétius covered it with useless paradox?

April 25, 2024firkin

[fur-kin ]

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