Helvétius’s On the Mind was anything but inoffensive, however. In this systematic rendering of the human mind and its motivations, the irreligious writer went further than Diderot had ever gone in reducing the human condition to a series of mechanical reactions to either pleasure or pain. Humans, he theorized, conduct their lives solely based on their ability to derive sensual gratification or to sidestep discomfort and agony, be it physical or psychological. This understanding of the human psyche, in addition to challenging the notion of the soul, the utility of religion, and the
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