Michel Onfray
Encyclopedia
Michel Onfray
Michel Onfray (born January 1, 1959 in Argentan
, Orne
, France
) is a contemporary French
philosopher who adheres to hedonism
, atheism
and anarchism
. He is a highly prolific author on philosophy with more than 50 written books.
He has gained notoriety for writing such works as Physiologie de Georges Palante
, portrait d'un nietzchéen de gauche, Politique du rebelle: traité de résistance et d'insoumission, Traité d'athéologie: Physique de la métaphysique (translated into english as Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, La puissance d'exister and La Sculpture de soi for which he won the annual Prix Médicis
in 1993.
His philosophy is mainly influenced by such thinkers as Nietzsche, Epicurus
, the cynic and cyrenaic schools, Julien Offray de La Mettrie
, and individualist anarchism
.
farmer
s, he graduated with a Ph.D.
in philosophy
. He taught this subject to senior students at a technical high school in Caen
between 1983 and 2002, before establishing what he and his supporters call the Université populaire de Caen
, proclaiming its foundation on a free-of-charge basis and on the manifesto written by Onfray in 2004 (La communauté philosophique).
Onfray's book, Traité d'Athéologie "became the number one best-selling nonfiction book in France for months when it was published in the Spring of 2005 (the word "atheologie" Onfray borrowed from Georges Bataille
). This book has just repeated its popular French success in Italy, where it was published in September 2005 and quickly soared to number one on Italy's bestseller lists."
He endorsed the French Revolutionary Communist League
and its candidate for the French presidency
, Olivier Besancenot
in the 2002 election, although this is somewhat at odds with the libertarian socialism
he advocates in his writings. In 2007, he endorsed José Bové
, but eventually voted for Olivier Besancenot
, and conducted an interview with the future French President Nicolas Sarkozy
, whom he declared was an 'ideological enemy' for Philosophie Magazine. He now supports the "Parti de gauche" and its co-president Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a republican socialist and a great advocate of secularism ("laïcité" in French).
Onfray himself attributes the birth of philosophic communities such as the université populaire to the results of the French presidential election, 2002
.
His latest book "Le crépuscule d'une idole : L'affabulation freudienne" ("The Twilight of an Idol: The Freudian Confabulation"), published in 2010, has been the subject of considerable controversy in France because of its criticism of Freud. He recognizes Freud as a philosopher, but he brings attention to the considerable cost of Freud's treatments and casts doubts on the effectiveness of his methods.
. He describes himself as an adamant atheist and considers religion
to be indefensible. He regards himself as being part of the tradition of individualist anarchism
, a tradition that he claims is at work throughout the entire history of philosophy and that he is seeking to revive amidst modern schools of philosophy that he feels are cynical
and epicurean.
world view. From that point on, anything that crosses this partial – in both senses of the word – view of things finds itself dismissed. This applies to nearly all non-Western philosophies, Oriental wisdom in particular, but also sensualist, empirical, materialist, nominalist, hedonistic currents and everything that can be put under the heading of “anti-Plato
nic philosophy”. Philosophy that comes down from the heavens is the kind that - from Plato to Levinas
by way of Kant
and Christianity
- needs a world behind the scenes to understand, explain and justify this world. The other line of force rises from the earth because it is satisfied with the given world, which is already so much."
"His mission is to rehabilitate materialist and sensualist thinking and use it to re-examine our relationship to the world. Approaching philosophy as a reflection of each individual’s personal experience, Onfray inquires into the capabilities of the body and its senses and calls on us to celebrate them through music, painting, and fine cuisine."
, and a generalized aesthetic of sensual materialism
that explores how to use the brain's and the body's capacities to their fullest extent -- while restoring philosophy to a useful role in art, politics, and everyday life and decisions."
Onfray's works "have explored the philosophical resonances and components of (and challenges to) science, painting, gastronomy, sex and sensuality, bioethics, wine, and writing. His most ambitious project is his projected six-volume Counter-history of Philosophy," of which three have been published.
For him "In opposition to the ascetic ideal advocated by the dominant school of thought, hedonism suggests identifying the highest good with your own pleasure and that of others; the one must never be indulged at the expense of sacrificing the other. Obtaining this balance – my pleasure at the same time as the pleasure of others – presumes that we approach the subject from different angles – political, ethical, aesthetic, erotic, bioethical, pedagogical, historiographical…." For this he has "written books on each of these facets of the same world view."
His philosophy aims "for "micro-revolutions, " or revolutions of the individual and small groups of like-minded people who live by his hedonistic, libertarian values."
, la philosophe Simone Weil
, Jean Grenier
, la French Theory avec Foucault
, Deleuze, Bourdieu, Guattari, Lyotard, le Derrida de Politiques de l'amitié et du Droit à la philosophie, mais aussi Mai 68" which for him was "a nietzschean revolt in order to put an end to the "One" truth, revealed, and to put in evidence the diversity of truths, in order to make disappear ascetic Christian ideas and to help arise new possibilities of existence".
to John Stuart Mill
through Jeremy Bentham
and Claude Adrien Helvétius
. What political hedonism aims for is to create the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.
"As Onfray details the myth and bloody history of monotheistic religions, he concludes that monotheism in general, and the religious beliefs of the major players on the Middle Eastern and Western stages in particular, have two ideologies in common: extinguishing the light of reason and total investment in death".
Recently he has been involved in promoting the work of Jean Meslier
, an 18th-century French Catholic priest who was discovered, upon his death, to have written a book-length philosophical essay promoting atheism.
. Among the "incalculable number of contradictions and improbabilities in the body of the text of the synoptic Gospels" two claims are made: crucifixion victims were not laid to rest in tombs, and in any case Jews were not crucified in this period. Anglican
minister John Dickson
has pointed out that Philo of Alexandria
, writing about the time of Jesus, tells us that sometimes the Romans handed the bodies of crucifixion victims over to family members for proper burial. The Roman Jewish historian Flavius Josephus
even remarks: "the Jews are so careful about funeral rites that even malefactors who have been sentenced to crucifixion are taken down and buried before sunset". Regarding the second claim, Dickson calls this a 'clear historical blunder':
"The Université Populaire, which is open to all who cannot access the state university system, and on principle does not accept any money from the State -- Onfray uses the profits from his books to help finance it -- has had enormous success. Based on Onfray's book La Communauté Philosophique: Manifeste pour l'Université Populaire (2004), the original UP now has imitators in Picardie
, Arras
, Lyon
, Narbonne
, and Le Mans
, with five more in preparation." "The national public radio network France Culture annually broadcasts his course of lectures to the Universite Populaire on philosophical themes."
Michel Onfray (born January 1, 1959 in Argentan
Argentan
Argentan is a commune, and the seat of two cantons and of an arrondissement in the Orne department in north-western France.Argentan is located NE of Rennes, ENE of the Mont Saint-Michel, SE of Cherbourg, SSE of Caen, SW of Rouen and N of Le Mans....
, Orne
Orne
Orne is a department in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne.- History :Orne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution, on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Normandy and Perche.- Geography :Orne is in the region of...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) is a contemporary French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
philosopher who adheres to hedonism
Hedonism
Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure .-Etymology:The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" ....
, atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
and anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
. He is a highly prolific author on philosophy with more than 50 written books.
He has gained notoriety for writing such works as Physiologie de Georges Palante
Georges Palante
Georges Toussaint Léon Palante was a French philosopher and sociologist.He advocated aristocratic individualist ideas similar to Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. He was opposed to Émile Durkheim's holism, promoting methodological individualism instead.-Life:Palante was born in Blangy-les-Arras in the...
, portrait d'un nietzchéen de gauche, Politique du rebelle: traité de résistance et d'insoumission, Traité d'athéologie: Physique de la métaphysique (translated into english as Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, La puissance d'exister and La Sculpture de soi for which he won the annual Prix Médicis
Prix Médicis
The Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux. It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent."...
in 1993.
His philosophy is mainly influenced by such thinkers as Nietzsche, Epicurus
Epicurus
Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism.Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works...
, the cynic and cyrenaic schools, Julien Offray de La Mettrie
Julien Offray de La Mettrie
Julien Offray de La Mettrie was a French physician and philosopher, and one of the earliest of the French materialists of the Enlightenment...
, and individualist anarchism
Individualist anarchism
Individualist anarchism refers to several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his or her will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but refers to a...
.
Life
Born to a family of NormanNormans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s, he graduated with a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. He taught this subject to senior students at a technical high school in Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
between 1983 and 2002, before establishing what he and his supporters call the Université populaire de Caen
Université populaire de Caen
The Université populaire de Caen is a free university created in October 2002 by Michel Onfray in the north-western French city of Caen. functions on a guiding principle of exemption from fees. Access to the Popular University does not require any academic qualifications, and is open to all...
, proclaiming its foundation on a free-of-charge basis and on the manifesto written by Onfray in 2004 (La communauté philosophique).
Onfray's book, Traité d'Athéologie "became the number one best-selling nonfiction book in France for months when it was published in the Spring of 2005 (the word "atheologie" Onfray borrowed from Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille was a French writer. His multifaceted work is linked to the domains of literature, anthropology, philosophy, economy, sociology and history of art...
). This book has just repeated its popular French success in Italy, where it was published in September 2005 and quickly soared to number one on Italy's bestseller lists."
He endorsed the French Revolutionary Communist League
Revolutionary Communist League (France)
See Revolutionary Communist League for the other Ligue communiste révolutionnaire.The Revolutionary Communist League was a French democratic revolutionary socialist political party. It was the French section of the Fourth International...
and its candidate for the French presidency
President of the French Republic
The President of the French Republic colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is France's elected Head of State....
, Olivier Besancenot
Olivier Besancenot
Olivier Besancenot is a French far left political figure and trade unionist, and the founding main spokesperson of the New Anticapitalist Party from 2009 to 2011....
in the 2002 election, although this is somewhat at odds with the libertarian socialism
Libertarian socialism
Libertarian socialism is a group of political philosophies that promote a non-hierarchical, non-bureaucratic, stateless society without private property in the means of production...
he advocates in his writings. In 2007, he endorsed José Bové
José Bové
Joseph Bové is a French farmer and syndicalist, member of the alter-globalization movement, and spokesman for Via Campesina. He was one of the twelve official candidates in the 2007 French presidential election...
, but eventually voted for Olivier Besancenot
Olivier Besancenot
Olivier Besancenot is a French far left political figure and trade unionist, and the founding main spokesperson of the New Anticapitalist Party from 2009 to 2011....
, and conducted an interview with the future French President Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
, whom he declared was an 'ideological enemy' for Philosophie Magazine. He now supports the "Parti de gauche" and its co-president Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a republican socialist and a great advocate of secularism ("laïcité" in French).
Onfray himself attributes the birth of philosophic communities such as the université populaire to the results of the French presidential election, 2002
French presidential election, 2002
The 2002 French presidential election consisted of a first round election on 21 April 2002, and a runoff election between the top two candidates on 5 May 2002. This presidential contest attracted a greater than usual amount of international attention because of Le Pen's unexpected appearance in...
.
His latest book "Le crépuscule d'une idole : L'affabulation freudienne" ("The Twilight of an Idol: The Freudian Confabulation"), published in 2010, has been the subject of considerable controversy in France because of its criticism of Freud. He recognizes Freud as a philosopher, but he brings attention to the considerable cost of Freud's treatments and casts doubts on the effectiveness of his methods.
Philosophy
Onfray writes that there is no philosophy without self-psychoanalysisPsychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
. He describes himself as an adamant atheist and considers religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
to be indefensible. He regards himself as being part of the tradition of individualist anarchism
Individualist anarchism
Individualist anarchism refers to several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his or her will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but refers to a...
, a tradition that he claims is at work throughout the entire history of philosophy and that he is seeking to revive amidst modern schools of philosophy that he feels are cynical
Cynicism
Cynicism , in its original form, refers to the beliefs of an ancient school of Greek philosophers known as the Cynics . Their philosophy was that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature. This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and...
and epicurean.
View on the history of western philosophy and philosophical project
In an interview he establishes his view on the history of philosophy. For him, "There is in fact a multitude of ways to practice philosophy, but out of this multitude, the dominant historiography picks one tradition among others and makes it the truth of philosophy: that is to say the idealist, spiritualist lineage compatible with the Judeo-ChristianJudeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...
world view. From that point on, anything that crosses this partial – in both senses of the word – view of things finds itself dismissed. This applies to nearly all non-Western philosophies, Oriental wisdom in particular, but also sensualist, empirical, materialist, nominalist, hedonistic currents and everything that can be put under the heading of “anti-Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
nic philosophy”. Philosophy that comes down from the heavens is the kind that - from Plato to Levinas
Emmanuel Lévinas
Emmanuel Levinas was a Lithuanian-born French Jewish philosopher and Talmudic commentator.-Life:Emanuelis Levinas received a traditional Jewish education in Lithuania...
by way of Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
and Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
- needs a world behind the scenes to understand, explain and justify this world. The other line of force rises from the earth because it is satisfied with the given world, which is already so much."
"His mission is to rehabilitate materialist and sensualist thinking and use it to re-examine our relationship to the world. Approaching philosophy as a reflection of each individual’s personal experience, Onfray inquires into the capabilities of the body and its senses and calls on us to celebrate them through music, painting, and fine cuisine."
Hedonism
He defines hedonism "as an introspective attitude to life based on taking pleasure yourself and pleasuring others, without harming yourself or anyone else." "Onfray's philosophical project is to define an ethical hedonism, a joyous utilitarianismUtilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...
, and a generalized aesthetic of sensual materialism
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
that explores how to use the brain's and the body's capacities to their fullest extent -- while restoring philosophy to a useful role in art, politics, and everyday life and decisions."
Onfray's works "have explored the philosophical resonances and components of (and challenges to) science, painting, gastronomy, sex and sensuality, bioethics, wine, and writing. His most ambitious project is his projected six-volume Counter-history of Philosophy," of which three have been published.
For him "In opposition to the ascetic ideal advocated by the dominant school of thought, hedonism suggests identifying the highest good with your own pleasure and that of others; the one must never be indulged at the expense of sacrificing the other. Obtaining this balance – my pleasure at the same time as the pleasure of others – presumes that we approach the subject from different angles – political, ethical, aesthetic, erotic, bioethical, pedagogical, historiographical…." For this he has "written books on each of these facets of the same world view."
His philosophy aims "for "micro-revolutions, " or revolutions of the individual and small groups of like-minded people who live by his hedonistic, libertarian values."
Anarchism
Recently Michel Onfray has embraced the term postanarchism to describe his approach to politics and ethics. He advocates for an anarchism in line with such intellectuals as "OrwellGeorge Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
, la philosophe Simone Weil
Simone Weil
Simone Weil , was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist.-Biography:Weil was born in Paris to Alsatian agnostic Jewish parents who fled the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. She grew up in comfortable circumstances, and her father was a doctor. Her only sibling was...
, Jean Grenier
Jean Grenier
Jean Grenier was a French philosopher and writer. He taught for a time in Algiers, where he became a significant influence on the young Albert Camus.-Biography:...
, la French Theory avec Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
, Deleuze, Bourdieu, Guattari, Lyotard, le Derrida de Politiques de l'amitié et du Droit à la philosophie, mais aussi Mai 68" which for him was "a nietzschean revolt in order to put an end to the "One" truth, revealed, and to put in evidence the diversity of truths, in order to make disappear ascetic Christian ideas and to help arise new possibilities of existence".
Relation to hedonism
In La puissance d'exister: Manifeste hédoniste, Onfray claims that the political dimension of hedonism runs from EpicurusEpicurus
Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism.Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works...
to John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
through Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...
and Claude Adrien Helvétius
Claude Adrien Helvétius
Claude Adrien Helvétius was a French philosopher and littérateur.-Life:...
. What political hedonism aims for is to create the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.
Atheology
Blogger J. M. Cornwell praised Onfray's Atheist Manifesto, claiming it "is a religious and historical time capsule containing" what he sees as "the true deceptions of theological philosophy. It is divided into four parts: atheology, monotheisms, Christianity and theocracy. Each section details the historical chronology of the three major religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - and atheism. Michel Onfray pulls back the veil on the Holy of Holies, delves into the workings of Islam, and excavates for the true identity of Jesus Christ while uncovering the groundwork laid during the Age of Enlightenment.""As Onfray details the myth and bloody history of monotheistic religions, he concludes that monotheism in general, and the religious beliefs of the major players on the Middle Eastern and Western stages in particular, have two ideologies in common: extinguishing the light of reason and total investment in death".
Recently he has been involved in promoting the work of Jean Meslier
Jean Meslier
Jean Meslier was a French Catholic priest who was discovered, upon his death, to have written a book-length philosophical essay promoting atheism. Described by the author as his "testament" to his parishioners, the text denounces all religion.-Life:Jean Meslier was born in Mazerny in the Ardennes...
, an 18th-century French Catholic priest who was discovered, upon his death, to have written a book-length philosophical essay promoting atheism.
Criticism
Scholarly criticism of The Atheist Manifesto has included allegations of historical inaccuracies pertaining to the life of JesusJesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. Among the "incalculable number of contradictions and improbabilities in the body of the text of the synoptic Gospels" two claims are made: crucifixion victims were not laid to rest in tombs, and in any case Jews were not crucified in this period. Anglican
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
minister John Dickson
John Dickson (author)
John Dickson is an Australian writer, historian and Senior Research Fellowin the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University. He is co-founder and director of the Centre for Public Christianity, a media company that seeks to "promote the public understanding of the Christian faith"...
has pointed out that Philo of Alexandria
Philo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
, writing about the time of Jesus, tells us that sometimes the Romans handed the bodies of crucifixion victims over to family members for proper burial. The Roman Jewish historian Flavius Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
even remarks: "the Jews are so careful about funeral rites that even malefactors who have been sentenced to crucifixion are taken down and buried before sunset". Regarding the second claim, Dickson calls this a 'clear historical blunder':
Varus, governor of Syria, crucified 2000 Jews involved in the rebellion of 4 BC (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 17.295). In the late 40s AD the sons of Judas the Galilean, named James and Simon, were crucified by order of Tiberius Alexander (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 20.102). In the final weeks of the siege of Jerusalem, according to Josephus, the Romans were crucifying 500 Jews a day, stationing the crosses in full view of the city walls: "The soldiers out of rage and hatred amused themselves by nailing their prisoners in different postures; and so great was their number, that space could not be found for the crosses nor crosses for the bodies" (Josephus, The Jewish War 5.451)...
But perhaps the clearest evidence of Onfray's mistake is the discovery in 1968 of archaeological remains of a crucifixion victim in a Jewish tomb. The tomb, just north of Jerusalem, contained numerous ossuaries (burial boxes), one of which bore the inscription "Jehohanan and Jehohanan ben Jehohanan," meaning that the box contained the bones of a father and his son of the same name, "John". Analysis of the bones revealed the remains of a male heel bone which had been pierced through by an iron nail. The nail, which was 11.5cm long, was badly bent and so had never been removed from the foot. A plaque of wood from an olive tree was still attached. It was a remarkable find and has taught us quite a bit about crucifixion, not the least of which is that Jews were certainly crucified in the first century and some of them were properly buried (admittedly, the settlement of this matter goes no way towards proving the actual existence of a Christian God; it remains merely an abstract historical moot point).
The Université Populaire
Onfray was a high school philosophy teacher for two decades until he resigned in 2002 to establish a tuition-free Université Populaire (People's University) at Caen, at which he and several colleagues teach philosophy and other subjects to working-class youth."The Université Populaire, which is open to all who cannot access the state university system, and on principle does not accept any money from the State -- Onfray uses the profits from his books to help finance it -- has had enormous success. Based on Onfray's book La Communauté Philosophique: Manifeste pour l'Université Populaire (2004), the original UP now has imitators in Picardie
Picardie
Picardy is one of the 27 regions of France. It is located in the northern part of France.-History:The historical province of Picardy stretched from north of Noyon to Calais, via the whole of the Somme department and the north of the Aisne department...
, Arras
Arras
Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...
, Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, Narbonne
Narbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
, and Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...
, with five more in preparation." "The national public radio network France Culture annually broadcasts his course of lectures to the Universite Populaire on philosophical themes."
Works
- Le ventre des philosophes, critique de la raison diététique (1989)
- Physiologie de Georges PalanteGeorges PalanteGeorges Toussaint Léon Palante was a French philosopher and sociologist.He advocated aristocratic individualist ideas similar to Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. He was opposed to Émile Durkheim's holism, promoting methodological individualism instead.-Life:Palante was born in Blangy-les-Arras in the...
, portrait d'un nietzchéenFriedrich NietzscheFriedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
de gauche (1989) - Cynismes, portrait du philosophe en chien (1990)
- L'art de jouir : pour un matérialismeMaterialismIn philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
hédoniste (1991) - La sculpture de soi : la morale esthétique (1991)
- L'œil nomade : la peinture de Jacques Pasquier (1992)
- La raison gourmande, philosophie du goût (1995)
- Ars moriendi : cent petits tableaux sur les avantages et les inconvénients de la mort (1995)
- Métaphysique des ruines : la peinture de Monsu Désidério (1995)
- Les formes du temps : théorie du Sauternes (1996)
- Politique du rebelle : traité de résistance et d'insoumission (1997)
- À côté du désir d'éternité : fragments d'Égypte (1998)
- Théorie du corps amoureux : pour une érotique solaire (2000)
- Prêter un livre n'est pas voler son auteur (2000)
- Antimanuel de philosophie : leçons socratiques et alternatives (2001)
- Célébration du génie colérique : tombeau de Pierre BourdieuPierre BourdieuPierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher.Starting from the role of economic capital for social positioning, Bourdieu pioneered investigative frameworks and terminologies such as cultural, social, and symbolic capital, and the concepts of habitus, field or location,...
(2002) - L'invention du plaisir : fragments cyréaniques (2002)
- Esthétique du Pôle nord : stèles hyperborréennes (2002)
- Splendeur de la catastrophe : la peinture de Vladimir VelickovicVladimir VelickovicVladimir Veličković is one of the most prominent Serbian painters. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Belgrade University. From 1963 to 1966, he was an assistant in Krsto Hegedušić’s Master workshop in Zagreb, and in 1966 he moved to Paris...
(2002) - Les icônes païennes : variations sur Ernest Pignon-ErnestErnest Pignon-ErnestErnest Pignon-Ernest is a Fluxus and Situationist French artist.-Overview:His first work was done in 1966. It was a reaction to France's Nuclear Strike Force. In 1971, he exhibited posters depicting scenes from the Commune. In 1978-1979, his posters of Arthur Rimbaud could be seen all over France....
(2003) - Archéologie du présent, manifeste pour l'art contemporain (2003)
- Féeries anatomiques (2003)
- La philosophie féroce La philosophie féroce : exercices anarchistesAnarchismAnarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
. (2004) - La communauté philosophique (2004)
- Traité d'athéologie : Physique de la métaphysique, Paris, Grasset, (2005); English translation by Jeremy Leggatt as Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam (New York: Arcade Publishing, 2007)
- Théorie du voyage : poétique de la géographie, Paris, Galilée, 2005
- La puissance d'exister, (2006) Grasset, ISBN 2-246-71691-8
- Nietzsche: Se créer Liberté. (2010) Les Éditions du Lombard ISBN 978-2-8036-2650-2
- Le Crépuscule d’une idole. L'Affabulation freudienne. (2010) Grasset (ISBN 2-246-76931-0)
- Apostille au Crépuscule. Pour une psychanalyse non freudienne, (2010) Grasset (ISBN 2-246-75781-9)
- Journal hédoniste :
- I. Le désir d'être un volcan (1996)
- II. Les vertus de la foudre (1998)
- III. L'archipel des comètes (2001)
- IV. La lueur des orages désirés (2007)
- La contre histoire de la philosophie:
- I. Les Sagesses Antiques (2006)
- II. Le Christianisme hédoniste (2006)
- III. Les libertins baroques (2007)
- IV. Les Ultras des Lumières (2007), Grasset, (ISBN 978-2-246-68921-8)
- V. L’Eudémonisme social (2008), Grasset, (ISBN 978-2-246-68931-7)
- VI. Les Radicalités existentielles (2009), Grasset, (ISBN 978-2-246-68941-6)
External links
Official home page- http://www.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue40/Onfray40.htmMichel Onfray, "Jean Meslier and 'The Gentle Inclination of Nature" (translated into English by Marvin Mandel), New PoliticsNew Politics (magazine)New Politics is an independent socialist journal founded in 1961 and still published in the United States today. While it is inclusive of articles from a variety of left-of-center positions, the publication leans strongly toward a Third camp, democratic Marxist perspective, placing it typically to...
, Winter 2006] - http://newhumanist.org.uk/1421Profile of Michel Onfray in New HumanistNew HumanistNew Humanist is a monthly magazine published by the Rationalist Association in the UK. It has been in print for 125 years; starting out life as Watts's Literary Guide, founded by C. A. Watts in November 1885....
magazine, July/August 2007] - Michel Onfray; El Hedonismo entre el placer y su carencia 2010