Michel Onfray

Michel Onfray (born 1959) is a French philosopher, essayist, and public intellectual. A major figure in contemporary French philosophy, Michel Onfray is known for a prolific and accessible body of work marked by a radical critique of idealist, religious, and academic traditions. He advocates a materialist, hedonistic, and atheist philosophy, drawing inspiration from Epicurus, Nietzsche, and libertarian thought. In 2002, he founded the People’s University of Caen, a free and open educational project that reflects his desire to take philosophy outside the confines of traditional academia. His work seeks to reconnect philosophical thought with lived experience, the body, emotions, and the concrete conditions of existence.