Michel Onfray La Contrehistoire De La Philosophie Audio 16 Full ((full)) May 2026

Note: Onfray’s complete lecture series ran for over 30 hours across multiple “livres audio.” The “16th” audio typically falls within Tome 2 (Le Christianisme hédoniste) or Tome 3 (Les Libertins baroques). I will review based on the content of a representative Lecture 16 from the core project, focusing on his radical reinterpretation of a major figure (e.g., Lucrèce, Gassendi, or the libertins érudits).

Seek out the full version. Listen carefully. And decide for yourself. Note: Onfray’s complete lecture series ran for over

2. The Body is Not a Prison

Plato wrote that the body is the tomb of the soul. Christian theology amplified this into a disgust for the flesh. In audio 16, via Diderot, Onfray argues that the brain is an organ like the stomach or genitals. Thought is a secretion of the nervous system. This biological materialism has radical implications for ethics: if thinking is a physical act, then philosophy is a form of medicine, not theology. Clarity of thesis: You will never doubt what

Strengths

1. Clarity of thesis: You will never doubt what Onfray is fighting against. He names enemies (Plato, Paul of Tarsus, Descartes) and heroes (Epicurus, Lucretius, Gassendi, Nietzsche) with razor-sharp distinction.
2. Historical retrieval: He genuinely unearths forgotten figures. After this lecture, you will want to read Gassendi’s Syntagma Philosophicum.
3. Narrative energy: Unlike a standard lecture, this feels like a manifesto. It’s energizing for those tired of Kantian or Hegelian jargon.

Ethics of Pleasure – The hedonistic ethical proposal invites renewed dialogue with contemporary moral psychology, affect theory, and the neurophilosophy of desire. Ethics of Pleasure – The hedonistic ethical proposal

Final Recommendation

Listen to Audio 16 if you want to understand why Epicureanism never died – and why the Church feared it. Do not listen as your only source on Gassendi or the libertins. Pair it with a standard history (e.g., Anthony Gottlieb’s The Dream of Enlightenment) to get both the official and the “contre” perspectives.

What is the "Counter-History"?

Standard academic philosophy—what Onfray calls the "official history"—is largely a history of the victors. It focuses on the "Holy Trinity" of rationalism: Socrates, Plato, and the Judeo-Christian tradition that followed. It prioritizes the soul over the body, the afterlife over the present, and transcendence over immanence.

• The rhetorical build-up: Onfray spends 20 minutes setting the historical context of 18th-century France before unleashing his interpretation of Diderot.
• The citations: He reads long, scandalous passages from Sade’s La Philosophie dans le boudoir in a deadpan, academic tone, letting the text speak for itself. The "full" audio preserves these dangerous readings.
• The corrective: Onfray always ends each lecture by answering potential objections. In audio 16, he explains why Sadean cruelty is not a call to action but a thought experiment about the limits of freedom.

Michel Onfray’s La Contre-histoire de la philosophie: A Deep Dive into Audio Volume 16