D’Holbach et le paradigme De l’utilité sociale de la religion

This article proposes a contextualisation of d’Holbach’s works on the vital question of the social utility of religion. It traces the baron’s debt to 18th century Jansenist works and to contemporary controversy on relations between Church and State. This provides the opportunity to question the nature of the political atheism preached by the baron, who, in the final count, is unable to free himself completely from the framework of religious thought.