1809. Translated from the French. To which is now prefixed a life of the author. Swiss-French tax collector, philanthropist and Enlightenment philosopher, Claude-Adrien Helvetius is widely regarded as the father of utilitarianism. Helvetius's principle work, De l'esprit, was condemned by the Sorbonne, the Pope and the Parliament of Paris and burnt by the public executioner, ensuring that it was read more than any other book of the time.