Michel Onfray

Michel Onfray is a French philosopher and writer known for atheism, hedonism, and popular works on the history of philosophy.

Hedonism: An ethical outlook that treats pleasure or well-being as central to a good life. Onfray makes the pursuit of pleasure a foundation for an embodied, nonreligious ethics.
Université populaire de Caen: A free adult-education institution in Caen, France, founded by Michel Onfray in 2002. Onfray put his ideal of accessible philosophy into practice through its open lectures.
Epicurus: An ancient Greek philosopher who founded Epicureanism, a school centered on prudent pleasure and freedom from fear. Onfray treats Epicurus as a key ancestor of his materialist hedonism.
Christianity: A monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Onfray criticizes Christian doctrines and institutions as sources of ascetic morality.
Atheism: The absence of belief in gods or the belief that no gods exist. His writing rejects religious doctrines and their authority over moral life.
Treatise on Atheology: A 2005 book by Michel Onfray that criticizes the major monotheistic religions. It develops his public case against religious belief and institutions.
Friedrich Nietzsche: A nineteenth-century German philosopher who criticized Christianity and conventional morality. Nietzsche’s critique of inherited values informs Onfray’s challenge to religious moral authority.
Asceticism: A way of life that disciplines or renounces bodily pleasures for spiritual or moral aims. Onfray’s ethics affirm bodily pleasure against traditions that treat it with suspicion.
Epicureanism: An ancient Greek philosophy that locates happiness in prudent pleasure, freedom from fear, and friendship. Onfray presents Epicurus as a source for his materialist and pleasure-centered ethics.
The Power to Exist: A 2006 philosophical autobiography by Michel Onfray presenting his ethical and materialist outlook. This book gives a sustained account of the experiences and ideas behind his philosophy.

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AntitheismRelated: His work presents an explicit philosophical case against religious authority.