ABSTRACT
Baron D'Holbach was fearsomely well read and undoubtedly drew on the classical determinism of Epicurus, the materialism of Thomas Hobbes, the scientific mechanism of Isaac Newton and Rene Descartes and the associationist psychology of Locke. Determinism in the one seemed to him to imply determinism in the other. Of all the implications of determinism, none has been more frightening to many than the possibility that it would destroy moral responsibility and leave punishment with no justification. Of all the defenders of determinism, none has embraced the consequences with more ardor than Clarence Darrow, the American lawyer, author, social activist, and defender of the downtrodden. Darrow is one of history's most eloquent supporters of the view that criminals are themselves victims: victims of an oppressive social order and victims of a personal make-up they could not choose and cannot change. Darrow came to grips with determinism as few other leading historical figures have done.
