Life
Born to a family of Norman farmers, 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 (but note, all French universities are free of charge) 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 (Onfray borrowed the concept of "atheology" from Georges Bataille). This book later 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."
Onfray 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.
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.
Read more about this topic: Michel Onfray
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