Helvétius

American  

[hel-vee-shuhs, el-vey-syys] / hɛlˈvi ʃəs, ɛl veɪˈsyüs /

noun

1. Claude Adrien 1715–71, French philosopher.

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Helvétius British  

/ hɛlˈviːʃɪəs, ɛlvesjys /

noun

1. 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

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Example Sentences

Hall invented the line to sum up Voltaire’s thinking in regard to the writings of French philosopher Claude Adrien Helvétius, but because it was written in first person, many misread it as an actual quote.

From Salon

“I disapprove of what you say,” he is said to have written to the philosopher Claude Helvétius, “but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

From Time

Modern publications on this subject, 223, note Helvétius, on the origin of human actions, i.

From Project Gutenberg

Compared with Helvétius, 313 Aurelius, Marcus, on a future state, i.

From Project Gutenberg

He quotes Buffon and Helvetius to the effect—“that many features in the anatomy of man point to a former quadrupedal position, and indicate that he is not yet fully adapted to the erect position; that, further, man may have arisen from a single family of monkeys, in which, accidentally, the opposing muscle brought the thumb against the tips of the fingers, and that this muscle gradually increased in size by use in successive generations.”

From Project Gutenberg