Although he later lost his Faith in God, he did not break with his sect; He maintained his dignity there. His work did not receive attention in his lifetime, but became the subject of controversy in the following century.
(1716-1774) French, philosopher. He advocated a revolutionary view on moral and social issues. Born in Rennes in January 1716, he died on 19 April 1774 in Montreuil-Bellay, near Saumur. He belonged to the Benedictine order. Although he later lost his Faith in God, he did not break with his sect; He maintained his dignity there. He was then made head of a small monastery in Montreuil-Bellay. His work did not receive attention in his lifetime but became the subject of controversy in the following century.
Léger Marie Deschamps (10 January 1716 – 19 April 1774), Benedictine monk, known under his Benedictine name of Dom Deschamps, was a French philosopher and utopian socialist, who taught a form of modified Spinozism.
Known as a materialist and atheist, Deschamps first tried to impose his views on theologians, apparently adhering to religion and defending it against philosophy. Lettres sur l'esprit du siecle ("Letters on the Dream of the Century") is a work prepared for this purpose. When he abandoned this attitude and tried to prove his assumptions through philosophy, he felt that not only philosophy could provide sufficient proof, but religion was equally necessary. In his work La voix de la raison contre la raison du temps ("The Voice of Reason, Against the Reason of the Age"), in which he expressed this view, he criticizes Holbach's thoughts and argues that theology cannot prove the existence of God.
The principal work in which Deschamps explains his system is Le vrai systeme ("The Real System"). Here he introduces the concept of the "universal whole", which he describes as the only metaphysical truth and the only principle. The universal whole, which is the backbone of his theory, is the basis of all sensible beings. This whole cannot be conceived, since it is distinct from each of its constituent parts; can be grasped not by feelings, but by reason. The whole is nothing when considered separately from its parts. On this basis, Deschamps proposed a revolution in the social and moral order. He argued that truth lies in contradictions, as in opposites. There are those who argue that they influenced Hegel and the Utopian Socialists with these views in the 19th century.