History 388: Great Personalities in History
“Adam Smith and the Philosophers”

Gregory S. Brown
895 – 4181; gbrown@unlv.edu
M, W, F 10;30 - 11:20; CBC C316

Julien de La Mettrie, L'homme, machine [Man, a Machine]

 

• materialism
  
  

• two distinct substances? spirit [mind] and body
  
  

• "human body ...a machine ...living image of perpetual motion"
  
  
• "from animals to man, the transition is not violent"
  
  
• "learned ...by organic faculties"
  
  

• "natural law ...common idea....fear or dread"
  
  

• God: "theoretic truth with very little practical value"
  
  
• "reason for man's existence is ...that he exists..."