A Hedonist Manifesto

The Power to Exist

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, History, Criticism, & Surveys, Political, Ethics & Moral Philosophy
Cover of the book A Hedonist Manifesto by Michel Onfray, Columbia University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Michel Onfray ISBN: 9780231538367
Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication: November 10, 2015
Imprint: Columbia University Press Language: English
Author: Michel Onfray
ISBN: 9780231538367
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication: November 10, 2015
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Language: English

Michael Onfray passionately defends the potential of hedonism to resolve the dislocations and disconnections of our melancholy age. In a sweeping survey of history's engagement with and rejection of the body, he exposes the sterile conventions that prevent us from realizing a more immediate, ethical, and embodied life. He then lays the groundwork for both a radical and constructive politics of the body that adds to debates over morality, equality, sexual relations, and social engagement, demonstrating how philosophy, and not just modern scientism, can contribute to a humanistic ethics.

Onfray attacks Platonic idealism and its manifestation in Judaic, Christian, and Islamic belief. He warns of the lure of attachment to the purportedly eternal, immutable truths of idealism, which detracts from the immediacy of the world and our bodily existence. Insisting that philosophy is a practice that operates in a real, material space, Onfray enlists Epicurus and Democritus to undermine idealist and theological metaphysics; Nietzsche, Bentham, and Mill to dismantle idealist ethics; and Palante and Bourdieu to collapse crypto-fascist neoliberalism. In their place, he constructs a positive, hedonistic ethics that enlarges on the work of the New Atheists to promote a joyful approach to our lives in this, our only, world.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Michael Onfray passionately defends the potential of hedonism to resolve the dislocations and disconnections of our melancholy age. In a sweeping survey of history's engagement with and rejection of the body, he exposes the sterile conventions that prevent us from realizing a more immediate, ethical, and embodied life. He then lays the groundwork for both a radical and constructive politics of the body that adds to debates over morality, equality, sexual relations, and social engagement, demonstrating how philosophy, and not just modern scientism, can contribute to a humanistic ethics.

Onfray attacks Platonic idealism and its manifestation in Judaic, Christian, and Islamic belief. He warns of the lure of attachment to the purportedly eternal, immutable truths of idealism, which detracts from the immediacy of the world and our bodily existence. Insisting that philosophy is a practice that operates in a real, material space, Onfray enlists Epicurus and Democritus to undermine idealist and theological metaphysics; Nietzsche, Bentham, and Mill to dismantle idealist ethics; and Palante and Bourdieu to collapse crypto-fascist neoliberalism. In their place, he constructs a positive, hedonistic ethics that enlarges on the work of the New Atheists to promote a joyful approach to our lives in this, our only, world.

More books from Columbia University Press

Cover of the book Sibling Action by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book India's Israel Policy by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book Forging the Golden Urn by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book The Faith of Biology and the Biology of Faith by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book Negotiating Governance on Non-Traditional Security in Southeast Asia and Beyond by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book Public Speech and the Culture of Public Life in the Age of Gladstone by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book Eating History by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book So Lovely a Country Will Never Perish by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book Attachment and Dynamic Practice by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book Reading the Mahāvamsa by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book Incomparable Empires by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book The Rey Chow Reader by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book Slow Food by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book The Columbia Guide to Online Style by Michel Onfray
Cover of the book Learning to Kneel by Michel Onfray
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy