Why seek out the audio version of Volume 16? Onfray is not a dry lecturer; he is a performer. Listening to the original recordings (often titled Michel Onfray - La Contre-histoire de la philosophie - Audio 16 Full) offers several advantages:
Reading Onfray’s books (The Counter-History of Philosophy, published by PUF) is one experience. Hearing him deliver Lecture 16 in full is another.
Here, Onfray tracks the return of the body to prominence. He moves away from the standard heroes of the Enlightenment (like Kant) to focus on radical atheists and materialists. Why seek out the audio version of Volume 16
Onfray structures this volume around the concept of the "Ultra-Reactionary." Unlike standard conservative thinkers who wish to slow down progress, these thinkers demand a complete reversal—a return to a pre-Revolutionary, pre-Enlightenment world order defined by the authority of the Church and the Monarchy.
The central thesis is that these authors provide the most logical and rigorous defense of Christian theology because they refuse to compromise with modernity (democracy, human rights, secularism). Onfray presents them as the "avenging angels" of the metaphysical system he has spent the previous 15 volumes dismantling. | Work | Relationship to Audio 16 |
Since leaving France Culture, Onfray has re-released the full series DRM-free through his own university’s platform. Lecture 16 is available either as a single download (MP3, 320kbps) or as part of the complete season bundle.
Why did Western philosophy bury figures like Sade, Mandeville, or La Mettrie? Because their conclusions are dangerous to social order. Onfray argues that their exclusion invalidates philosophy’s claim to seek truth. Truth may be monstrous. Audio 16 presents that monster without flinching. Why seek out the audio version of Volume 16
| Work | Relationship to Audio 16 | |------|---------------------------| | “Histoire de la philosophie sans maître” (2002‑2006) | Provides the foundational anti‑canonical approach that is deepened in the Contrehistoire series. | | “La puissance du sensible” (2005) | Explores the sensory dimension of philosophy, a theme that resurfaces in the emphasis on the body in Audio 16. | | “Le crépuscule d’une idole” (2015) | Offers a sharper critique of contemporary neoliberal thought; Audio 16 extends this critique historically. | | “Philosophie du corps” (2022) | Directly complements the body‑centric arguments made in Audio 16, reinforcing the call for a corporeal philosophy. |