Claude-Adrien Helvetius

From Philosopedia

Claude-Adrien Helvetius (26 February 1715 - 26 December 1771)

Known as a litterateur and philosopher, Helvétius was born in Paris, France. His father was a physician, a descendent of a family whose original surname was Schweitzer (Swissman).

Dr. Thomas Pink of the University of Sheffield has described him as follows:

In De l'esprit (1758), Helvétius claimed that all normal humans share the same intellectual potential at birth, so that differences in character and intellectual achievement should be explained as products of environmental difference. To explain differences in intellectual achievement, Helvétius stressed the far-reaching consequences that lucky observations could have for an individual's thinking. He also argued that intellectual development depended on an individual's being motivate to inquiry by stimulation of his passions. Helvétius' doctrine led him to place importance on public education. The goal of social policy was to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Human action was motivated by a desire for pleasure and this fact should be exploited to encourage virtuous, i.e socially beneficial, action. Virtue should be encouraged not by moralizing but by reward, including - as Helvétius suggested - sexual gratification.

{OCP}