МАРЕШАЛЬ ПЬЕР-СИЛЬВЕН

Maréchal Pierre-Sylvain (1750–1803)

Representative of the plebeian-democratic wing of French materialism and atheism.

Maréchal recognized that existing nature was eternal, believing that only its concrete expressions, i.e., "forms" appeared or disappeared. Maréchal's theory of knowledge is based on sensationalism, while materialism is the theoretical basis for his atheism. God, to him, is synonymous with nature. Out of fear man invented a supreme being and endowed that being with the properties of nature.

Maréchal joined the Babouvist movement (see Babouvism) and became a utopian communist. Maréchal's main work: Manifeste des égaux (1794). Maréchal stood above the Encyclopaedists in his atheistic outlook. He associated the final removal of religion with a revolution, the overthrow of the exploiting system and the establishment of communism.