Michel Onfray

Michel Onfray (; born 1 January 1959) is a French writer and philosopher with a hedonistic, epicurean and atheist worldview. A highly prolific author on philosophy, he has written over 100 books. His philosophy is mainly influenced by such thinkers as Nietzsche, Epicurus, the Cynic and Cyrenaic schools, as well as French materialism. He has gained notoriety for writing such works as Traité d'athéologie: Physique de la métaphysique (translated into English as Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), Politique du rebelle: traité de résistance et d'insoumission, Physiologie de Georges Palante, portrait d'un nietzchéen de gauche, La puissance d'exister and La sculpture de soi for which he won the annual Prix Médicis in 1993.

Onfray is often regarded as being left-wing; however, some observers have stated that he has right-wing tendencies. He has become appreciated by some far-right circles, notably with his sovereignist magazine Front populaire.

Life

Born in Argentan to a family of Norman farmers, Onfray was sent to a weekly Catholic boarding school in Giel from ages 10 to 14. This was a solution many parents in France adopted at the time when they lived far from the village school or had working hours that made it too hard or too expensive to transport their children to and from school daily. The young Onfray, however, did not appreciate his new environment, which he describes as a place of suffering. Onfray went on to graduate with a teaching degree in philosophy. He taught this subject to senior students at a high school that concentrated on technical degrees in Caen between 1983 and 2002. At that time, he and his supporters established 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 was a secondary 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. and author of Traité d'Athéologie (Atheist Manifesto), which "became the number one best-selling nonfiction book in France for months when it was published in the Spring of 2005 (the word 'athéologie' Onfray borrowed from Georges Bataille and dedicated to Raoul Vaneigem who had defended freedom of speech, including Holocaust denial, in Nothing is sacred, everything can be said. The book 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."

In 2015, Onfray published Cosmos, the first book of a trilogy. Onfray considers ironically that it constitutes his "very first book".

Philosophy Onfray writes that there is no philosophy without self-psychoanalysis. He describes himself as an atheist and considers theistic religion to be indefensible.

View on the history of Western philosophy and philosophical project Onfray has published nine books under a project of history of philosophy called Counter-History of Philosophy. In each of these books Onfray deals with a particular historical period in Western philosophy. The series of books is composed of the titles: I. Les Sagesses Antiques (2006) (on western antiquity), II. Le Christianisme hédoniste (2006) (on Christian hedonism from the Renaissance period), III. Les libertins baroques (2007) (on libertine thought from the Baroque era), IV. Les Ultras des Lumières (2007) (on radical enlightenment thought), V. L'Eudémonisme social (2008) (on radical utilitarian and eudaimonistic thought), VI. Les Radicalités existentielles (2009) (on 19th and 20th century radical existentialist thinkers) and VII. La construction du surhomme: Jean-Marie Guyau, Friedrich Nietzsche (on Guyau's and Nietzsche's philosophy in relation to the concept of the Übermensch). VIII. Les Freudiens hérétiques (2013). IX. Les Consciences réfractaires (2013).

In an interview, Onfray established his view on the history of philosophy: 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-Christian 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-Platonic 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."

Hedonism

Onfray 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 utilitarianism, 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."

In La puissance d'exister: Manifeste hédoniste, Onfray claims that the political dimension of hedonism runs from Epicurus to John Stuart Mill to Jeremy Bentham and Claude Adrien Helvétius. Political hedonism aims to create the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.

In La Raison gourmande, he analyses the relation between philosophers and wine: Gaston Bachelard and Burgundy, Michel Serres and Château d'Yquem. He names also the "alcoholic philosophers": Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Gilles Deleuze, Guy Debord and Raoul Vaneigem, in particular, to whom he dedicated his Traité d'athéologie (2005).

Religion Onfray 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. two claims are made: crucifixion victims were not laid to rest in tombs, and in any case, Jews were not crucified in this period. The historian John Dickson, of Macquarie University, has said that Philo of Alexandria, who wrote about the time of Jesus, noted that the Romans sometimes handed the bodies of crucifixion victims over to family members for proper burial. The Roman Jewish historian Flavius Josephus even remarks: "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".

In Onfray's latest book, Décadence, he argued for Christ myth theory, which is a hypothesis that Jesus was not a historical person. Onfray based this on the fact that, other than in the New Testament, Jesus is barely mentioned in accounts of the period.

In July 2021, Onfray criticised Pope Francis's apostolic letter Traditionis custodes by arguing that the Tridentine Mass embodies “the heritage of the genealogical time of our civilization".

Political views

In the 2002 election, Onfray endorsed the French Revolutionary Communist League. In 2007 he conducted an interview with the future French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who, Onfray declared in Philosophie Magazine, was an "ideological enemy".

During a Television interview and as a response to a visit by French president Emmanuel Macron to Algeria in August 2022, Onfray described the ruling regime in Algeria as a "mafia" and asserted that France has no responsibility for the impoverished life of the Algerian people in a country rich in gas and oil because the French had left in 1962. During the interview Onfray said "We know very well that this country has hated us since 1962."

Reception and influence

Asteroid 289992 Onfray, discovered by astronomers at the Saint-Sulpice Observatory in 2005, was named in Onfray's honour.

A fictionalised version of Onfray appears under the name Frayère in the 2024 satirical novel Les derniers jours du Parti socialiste by Aurélien Bellanger.

Works

In English

In French Le Ventre des philosophes. Critique de la raison diététique, Grasset, 1989 Cynismes. Portrait du philosophe en chien, Grasset, 1990 L’Art de jouir. Pour un matérialisme hédoniste, Grasset, 1991 La Sculpture de soi. La Morale esthétique, Grasset, 1993 Ars Moriendi. Cent petits tableaux sur les avantages et les inconvénients de la mort, Folle Avoine, 1994 La Raison gourmande. Philosophie du goût, Grasset, 1995 Les Formes du temps. Théorie du sauternes, Mollat, 1996 Théorie du corps amoureux. Pour une érotique solaire, Grasset, 2000 Antimanuel de philosophie. Leçons socratiques et alternatives, Bréal, 2001 Physiologie de Georges Palante. Pour un nietzschéisme de gauche, Grasset, 2002 L’Invention du plaisir. Fragments cyrénaïques, LGF, 2002 Célébration du génie colérique. Tombeau de Pierre Bourdieu, Galilée, 2002 Féeries anatomiques. Généalogie du corps faustien, Grasset, 2003 La Communauté philosophique. Manifeste pour l’Université populaire, Galilée, 2004 Traité d’athéologie. Physique de la métaphysique, Grasset, 2005 La Sagesse tragique. Du bon usage de Nietzsche, LGF, 2006 Suite à La Communauté philosophique. Une machine à porter la voix, Galilée, 2006 La Puissance d’exister. Manifeste hédoniste, Grasset, 2006 L’Innocence du devenir. La Vie de Frédéric Nietzsche, Galilée, 2008 Le Songe d’Eichmann. Précédé de : Un kantien chez les nazis, Galilée, 2008 Le Souci des plaisirs. Construction d’une érotique solaire, Flammarion, 2008 La Religion du poignard. Éloge de Charlotte Corday, Galilée, 2009 Le Crépuscule d'une idole. L’Affabulation freudienne, Grasset, 2010 Apostille au Crépuscule. Pour une psychanalyse non freudienne, Grasset, 2010 Manifeste hédoniste, Autrement, 2011 L'Ordre libertaire. La Vie philosophique d’Albert Camus, Flammarion, 2012 Vies et mort d’un dandy. Construction d’un mythe, Galilée, 2012 Rendre la raison populaire. Université populaire, mode d’emploi, Autrement, 2012 Le Canari du nazi. Essais sur la monstruosité, Collectif, Autrement, 2013 La Raison des sortilèges. Entretiens sur la musique, Autrement, 2013 Bestiaire nietzschéen. Les Animaux philosophiques, Galilée, 2014 Haute école. Brève histoire du cheval philosophique, Flammarion, 2015 Penser l'Islam, Grasset, 2016 La Force du sexe faible. Contre-histoire de la Révolution française, Autrement, 2016 Tocqueville et les Apaches, Autrement, 2017 Vivre une vie philosophique. Thoreau le sauvage, Le Passeur, 2017 Miroir du nihilisme. Houellebecq éducateur, Galilée, 2017 Solstice d'hiver : Alain, les Juifs, Hitler et l'Occupation, L'Observatoire, 2018 Le Deuil de la mélancolie, Robert Laffont 2018 Brève encyclopédie du monde Cosmos. Une ontologie matérialiste, Flammarion, 2015 Décadence. Vie et mort du judéo-christianisme, Flammarion, 2017 Sagesse, Savoir vivre au pied d'un volcan, Albin Michel 2019 Contre-histoire de la littérature Le réel n'a pas eu lieu. Le Principe de Don Quichotte, Autrement, 2014 La Passion de la méchanceté. Sur un prétendu divin marquis, Autrement, 2014 Contre-histoire de la philosophie Les Sagesses antiques, Grasset, 2006 Le Christianisme hédoniste, Grasset, 2006 Les Libertins baroques, Grasset, 2007 Les Ultras des Lumières, Grasset, 2007 L’Eudémonisme social, Grasset, 2008 Les Radicalités existentielles, Grasset, 2009 La Construction du surhomme, Grasset, 2011 Les Freudiens hérétiques, Grasset, 2013 Les Consciences réfractaires, Grasset, 2013 La Pensée postnazie, Grasset, 2018 L'Autre pensée 68, Grasset, 2018 Esthetic L’Œil nomade. La Peinture de Jacques Pasquier, Folle Avoine, 1993 Métaphysique des ruines. La Peinture de Monsù Desiderio, Mollat, 1995 Splendeur de la catastrophe. La Peinture de Vladimir Vélikovic, Galilée, 2002 Les Icônes païennes. Variations sur Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Galilée, 2003 Archéologie du présent. Manifeste pour une esthétique cynique, Adam Biro/Grasset, 2003 Épiphanies de la séparation. La Peinture de Gilles Aillaud, Galilée, 2004 Oxymoriques. Les Photographies de Bettina Rheims, Jannink, 2005 Fixer des vertiges : Les Photographies de Willy Ronis, Galilée, 2007 Le Chiffre de la peinture. L’Œuvre de Valerio Adami, Galilée, 2008 La Vitesse des simulacres. Les Sculptures de Pollès, Galilée, 2008 L'Apiculteur et les Indiens. La Peinture de Gérard Garouste, Galilée, 2009 Transe est connaissance. Un chamane nommé Combas, Flammarion, 2014 La danse des simulacres, Robert Laffon, 2019 Political views Politique du rebelle. Traité de résistance et d’insoumission, Grasset, 1997 La Pensée de midi. Archéologie d’une gauche libertaire, Galilée, 2007 Le Postanarchisme expliqué à ma grand-mère. Le Principe de Gulliver, Galilée, 2012 Le Miroir aux alouettes. Principes d'athéisme social, Plon, 2016 Décoloniser les provinces. Contribution aux présidentielles, L'Observatoire, 2017 La Cour des Miracles. Carnets de campagne, L'Observatoire, 2017 Zéro de conduite. Carnet d'après-campagne, L'Observatoire, 2018 Théorie de la dictature, Robert Laffon, 2019 Vies parallèles : De Gaulle - Mitterrand, Robert Laffon, 2020 Hedonist diaries Le Désir d’être un volcan, Grasset, 1996 Les Vertus de la foudre, Grasset, 1998 L’Archipel des comètes, Grasset, 2001 La Lueur des orages désirés, Grasset, 2007 Le Magnétisme des solstices, Flammarion, 2013 Le Temps de l'étoile polaire, Robert Laffont, 2019 The fierce philosophy Exercices anarchistes, Galilée, 2004 Traces de feux furieux, Galilée, 2006 Philosopher comme un chien, Galilée, 2010 Travelogue À côté du désir d’éternité. Fragments d’Égypte, Mollat, 1998 Esthétique du pôle Nord. Stèles hyperboréennes, Grasset, 2002 Théorie du voyage. Poétique de la géographie, LGF, 2007 Les Bûchers de Bénarès. Cosmos, Éros et Thanatos, Galilée, 2008 Nager avec les piranhas. Carnet guyanais, Gallimard, 2017 Le Désir ultramarin. Les Marquises après les Marquises, Gallimard, 2017 Tetralogy of elements Le Recours aux forêts. La Tentation de Démocrite, Galilée, 2009 La Sagesse des abeilles. Première leçon de Démocrite, Galilée, 2012 La Constellation de la baleine. Le Songe de Démocrite, Galilée, 2013 La Cavalière de Pégase. Dernière leçon de Démocrite, Galilée, 2019 Poetry Un requiem athée, Galilée, 2013 Avant le silence. Haïkus d’une année, Galilée, 2014 Les Petits serpents. Avant le silence, II, Galilée, 2015 L'Éclipse de l'éclipse. Avant le silence, III, Galilée, 2016