The Hedonist Alternative: "Anti-Seneca" and Other Texts

If we accept this world as the only real one, and that all we are and all we do is predetermined by the mechanical laws of nature, what will become of our morals, what will be the meaning of life? How can we find happiness in a world like that?

Julien Offray de la Mettrie (1709-51) explores these issues, drawing on his experience and training in medicine. His conclusions were too radical even for his fellow Enlightenment thinkers; Voltaire once wrote that "there's a great difference between fighting the superstitions of mankind, and breaking all social bonds and the fetters of virtue. La Mettrie would have been dangerous if he hadn't been completely insane." (Voltaire, Letter MDCCCIII, 27 Jan. 1752).

This e-book contains the following texts, some in their first-ever English translation:

"Anti-Seneca", or "On Happiness"
"The System of Epicurus"
A chapter on hedonism from "The Natural History of the Soul"
"A Summary of Philosophical Systems"