Good Sense

Description

Good Sense: or, Natural Ideas Opposed to Supernatural is a philosophical book written by Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d’Holbach. The book deals with various religious issues where the author himself questions the existence of good and why there is no need for organized religion to have morality.

Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d’Holbach was a prominent figure in the French Enlightenment movement. He was a philosopher, author and encyclopedist and he has written various works including The System of Nature in 1770 where he expresses his beliefs about religion and why there is no need of a good.

The Good Sense or Le Bon Sense is a recollection of 206 articles written by d’Holbach two years after writing The System of Nature where the author refines the arguments of his previous book. In it, he expresses his firm belief that humans do not need religion in order to distinguish good from evil and that we can have morality and ethics without religion. He also questions the superiority of the modern theology over the savage beliefs in spirits.

The Good Sense criticizes the idea of God and of organized religion. D’Holbach uses logical rationalizing and he also discusses these issues from ethical and epistemologic points as well. He criticizes religion for believing in something that cannot be proven and that religion ignores the scientific inquiry and argumentation. He believes that knowledge and the studying of the causes are what can help humankind and not fanaticism and violence inspired and caused by organized religion.

The Good Sense is a book that may seem ahead of its time. While nowadays there are many atheistic books that criticize religion and the concept of God, d’Holbach managed to do that in a time when so called “heretics” were executed without hesitation.
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