Helvétius, Claude-Adrien 135Germany by the allied occupation forces between
1945 and 1951. Heidegger never issued a clear apol-
ogy for his support of the Nazis, although in a 1966
interview with Der Speigelmagazine, he claimed “I
would today no longer write the sentences which you
cite [quoted above]. Even by 1934 I no longer said
such things.” There is today an extensive and lively
debate among scholars about both the extent of Hei-
degger’s sympathy for the Nazi movement and the rel-
evance of his political actions with respect to the
integrity of his body of thought. Although it may be
possible to overstate Heidegger’s support of the Nazis,
it surely is too simple to dismiss his activities, espe-
cially given his philosophy of existential authenticity
and moral responsibility.
Heidegger’s later writings contain a critique of
HUMANISM. In the “Letter on Humanism” (1947), Hei-
degger responded to the claim by Jean-Paul SARTREthat
existentialism was a humanism in that it sought to
place human beings at the center of history. Heidegger
rejected Sartre’s position of starting from the subjectiv-
ity of individual consciousness, a move that also con-
stituted the famous “turn” in Heidegger’s own thought
away from his earlier individualistic existentialism.
Heidegger argued instead that we must allow our
thinking to transcend the individual toward a greater
attentiveness to Being and the way that language,
which itself transcends individual consciousness,
reveals or discloses Being. Heidegger thus warns
against the claims of humanism, particularly those of
political action based on the idea of rational, freely
choosing, and authentic human subjects.
Further Reading
Young, J. Heidegger, Philosophy, and Nazism.Cambridge, Eng.:
Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Helvétius, Claude-Adrien (1715–1771) French
philosopher and encyclopedist
Claude-Adrien Helvétius was a French philosopher
whose work influenced later thinkers such as Jeremy
BENTHAMand James Mill. He was one of the French
encyclopedists and believed in the materialism com-
mon to that group. His most significant work was De
l’espirit(Essays on the Mind), which was condemned
by both the French government and the pope, but,
along with many of his other essays, was translated
after his death and widely read throughout Europe.
Helvétius was born in Paris and studied at the Col-
lége Louis-le Grand. In 1738, he became the farmer-
general, a prominent and lucrative tax-collecting
position. He later was appointed chamberlain to the
queen. Helvétius served in this post until 1751, at
which point he retired to the country. Frustrated with
the intrigue and trivialities of court life, Helvétius
moved to a small estate at Vore and married. He
devoted the rest of his life to philanthropy and philo-
sophical discourse. The philosopher traveled to Eng-
land in 1764 and Germany the following year. He was
well received at the court of Frederick II as one of the
leading voices of French intellectualism.
Like other encyclopedists, he was a staunch believer
in materialism and contended that all human reasoning
and emotions, including memory and judgment, were
qualities derived from physical sensations. Like Locke,
Helvétius believed that all humanity was born with
their minds as essentially blank tablets (tabula rasa)
and with equal intellectual capabilities. As such, all dif-
ferences in later abilities were the direct result of vari-
ances in education, experience, and environment. This
belief ran counter to the accepted class structure of
monarchist France.
In Essays on the Mind(1758), Helvétius asserted
that there was no real distinction between right and
wrong, and moral choices were actually decided on the
basis of self-INTEREST. Helvétius was an egoist who
believed that self-interest took precedence over all
other matters. He contended that humans never acted
for the sake of others or in an altruist manner, unless
such actions benefited their self-interest. This strong
belief in hedonism led the encyclopedist to claim that
all human actions are designed to maximize individual
pleasure. However, ethical egoism is possible because
self-sacrifice can result in great personal or societal
rewards. Therefore, society enacts customs, laws, and
traditions that reward actions that benefit the greater
good.
This view of ETHICS, which placed self-satisfaction
above all else, provoked a backlash by the government
and the church. Helvétius’s brand of utilitarianism led
the Sorbonne to denounce Essays on the Mind,which
was publicly burned in Paris. As with the Encyclopédie,
there were efforts to suppress publication. However,
overseas editions were broadly acclaimed, and the
work became one of the most widely translated and
read texts of the period.
Another major work, De l’homme, de ses facultés in-
tellectuelles et de son education(A Treatise on Man: His