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The French philosopher Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715-1771) advocated political and social equality for all men and held that education and legislation were the means to attain this goal. Claude Adrien Helvétius was born on Jan. 25, 1715, in Paris into a family of noted physicians. Taught by private tutor until 11, Claude attended France's ...

Helvétius was one of the most noteworthy and notorious figures of the French Enlightenment. In common with his fellow philosophes, he asserted that all philosophical discussions should be based on the empiricism of Locke ’s Essay on Human Understanding (1689). But unlike Voltaire, d’Alembert, and the other members of ‘the party of ...

Claude Adrien Helvetius. 1715-1771. French philosopher whose controversial book, De l'esprit, suggested that the source of all intellectual activity is the quest for sensation and that all human actions arise from self-interest. This book was burned in Paris, denounced by leading French intellectuals, and condemned by the English Parliament.

Portrait de Claude-Adrien Helvétius, exposé en 1755. Le château de Voré à Rémalard, dans l' Orne. Claude-Adrien Helvétius ou Claude-Adrien Schweitzer 1, né le 26 janvier 1715 à Paris où il est mort le 26 décembre 1771 2, est un écrivain et philosophe français du courant des Lumières .

Claude-Adrien Helvetius’s “Essay on the Mind” states that “education makes us what we are” and agrees with Locke’s idea that experiences condition who humans become. He goes on to claim that many disparities in intelligence, talent, and behavior can be traced back to a lack of proper education. [9]

Helvétius, (Jean) Claude-Adrien, FRS [24 Apr 1755] (18 Jul 1685–17 Jul 1755), French philosopher. Born in Paris, trained for financial career, but in 1738, appointed Farmer-Gen, a lucrative office, but in 1751, withdrew from public life to the family estate at Voiré, where he spent the remainder of his life in philosophy and as host to Les Philosophes, a group of French thinkers.

Claude Adrien Helvétius was born in Paris, France, and was descended from a family of physicians, originally surnamed Schweitzer (meaning " Switzerland " in German; Latinized as Helvétius ). His great-grandfather Johann Friedrich Schweitzer known as "Helvetius", was a Dutch physician and alchemist, of German extraction.