Well, it did rain here all weekend. And the temperature has dropped to a pathetic 10° (50°F) with no chance of it inching up higher than 15° all week. Luckily, the sun is shining and the sky is a beautiful bright blue, or I might have to whimper. I was looking forward to a nice long, warm autumn, but it seems the Alps have other plans for me.
On second thought let’s cancel any complaining. My sister just recently moved to Texas and her mother-in-law lives right in Galveston (although she’s still with my sister and brother-in-law because I don’t think they can even head back home yet – if home still exists). In light of that horrible situation, I can handle cold mornings and some frost-bitten tomatoes.
A friend of mine here in Switzerland is a fan of the French philosopher Michel Onfray and has given me the audio CD’s of Onfray’s lecture series Contre-Histoire de la Philosophie. I am not yet really familiar with Onfray but what I have read of his work and heard of his project I find really intriguing. I was introduced to his writing a year or so ago when asked to do a translation for a museum hosting an exhibit of the Serbian artist Vladimir Vélickovic. Onfray had written about Vélickovic and the museum wanted to use parts of his essay in their display. It was a really demanding translation, an essay on aesthetics that got me interested in looking at what else Onfray had written.
Onfray is the founder of something called the Université Populaire in Caen, which is an institute providing free, public lectures on philosophy and other academic subjects. There is a long tradition in France (and elsewhere, but France in particular) of this type of free, open-to-everyone education: The Collège de France, the Collège International de Philosophie – places where lectures are open to the public and where no one needs a degree to enter the premises, nor any given when you leave. Onfray’s Université Populaire lists the following as its premise:
L’Université Populaire retient de l’Université traditionnelle la qualité des informations transmises, le principe du cycle qui permet d’envisager une progression personnelle, la nécessité d’un contenu transmis en amont de tout débat. Elle garde du café philosophique l’ouverture à tous les publics, l’usage critique des savoirs, l’interactivité et la pratique du dialogue comme moyen d’accéder au contenu.
Basically, he’s saying the project will combine traditional elite academia and its focus on an intellectual journey with the freer structure of the café discussion with its desire to learn through dialogue, debate and critical thinking. Quite an appealing combination.
So driving to visit my mother-in-law on Saturday, my husband and I listened to the first of Onfray’s lectures in the car; it was a wonderful introduction to his presentation of the history of philosophy from an unfamiliar perspective. Mainly, he wants us to consider the whys and hows of the transmission of philosophical traditions and ideas down through the ages. He mentions lost manuscripts, the influence of Christianity, as well as rivalries between philosophers. He also brought up the idea of living and breathing, really experiencing philosophy in order to move away from a purely theoretical appreciation of philosophical ideas.
Onfray’s Contre-Histoire de la Philosophie is a really long lecture series – he started in October 2002 and it’s still going on today; he gives about 20 lectures a year. The CDs my friend gave me will take me through February 2006, I think, over 70 hours. I discovered that the outline for each lecture and bibliography for each year-long series is available on the Université Populaire website so I’ll be looking at those before I listen. Anyone else interested, the lectures can be bought on CD here. I’m a little bummed you can’t just download the lectures from the site (going along with his free to everyone idea) but I’ll do some more looking around because maybe this is an option, I just couldn’t find it.
8 responses so far ↓
Dorothy W. // September 16, 2008 at 2:24 pm |
Now that sounds interesting — I love the idea of paying attention to the transmission of philosophy, the context of it as well as the ideas itself. I’ll bet looking at philosophy that way, you see it entirely differently.
sadie // September 16, 2008 at 4:50 pm |
How fascinating. I love what seems like Onfry’s part history-of-ideas / part socio-cultural study take on philosophy and the progress of its transmission. This is just the sort of thing I could spend hours and hours listening to—and, since I have a basement cleaning/sorting/rearranging project this winter that will take that long, I will look into securing the CDs of Onfry’s lectures for myself. I might have been a philosophy major if I thought my father would have survived the ignominy. ~ On a somewhat different philosophical front Bookmooch just came through with Alain de Botton’s The C0nsolations of Philosophy (I was eager for more after his Proust book). This one is organized around pairs of specific “ailments” and appropriate philosophers who he believes can console us on the subject, i.e. unpopularity/Socrates, inadequacy/Montaigne, heartbreak/Schopenhauer, etc. What fun! ~ Thanks for another marvelous recommendation! ~sadie
chartroose // September 16, 2008 at 7:58 pm |
I’m going to start looking for free Onfray lectures too. They’d be great to listen to during those long drives to Dad’s house.
sadie // September 16, 2008 at 10:43 pm |
Oh darn. I just went to purchase the CDs and realized they are in French. I would catch about half of it, but wondering what I wasn’t comprehending would be way too frustrating. Do you have any idea if they have been translated? I’m very eager for them. ~sadie
verbivore // September 17, 2008 at 7:59 am |
Dorothy – it is interesting. His whole point is that there is a different way to look at philosophy as long as we remember that our vision of it now has been shaped by people and events. Makes sense, I suppose we already know to look at history this way and just forget to consider philosophy the same way.
Sadie – I look forward to your thoughts on de Botton’s book, I need to get myself a copy one of these days (I say this after getting five new books yesterday and twice that many last week—who will give me more hours in the day??). I’m sorry I didn’t mention that Onfray’s lectures were only in French and I had a look to see if any of his work has been translated, so far only one book. His Contre-Histoire does exist in book form, in French and in Spanish. So maybe reading the French would be easier than listening?
Chartroose – They are perfect for long drives, and I’m taking them with me when I walk the dog. Lots to think about.
Ann Darnton (Table Talk) // September 17, 2008 at 10:05 am |
What an absolutely wonderful idea. I love the notion not only of the free lectures but also of the combination of the lectures and the cafe society. I simply can’t imagine that happening in the UK where universities are even cutting down on their paid extra-mural activities. I would have taken advantage of the CD but there doesn’t seem to be a translated version and my French is hardly good enough to ask for a cup of tea, let alone handle great philosophical ideas!
Litlove // September 17, 2008 at 10:15 am |
Seventy hours of philosophy lectures??? Wow. How very French, but I’ll bet they will be very interesting. I’m quite tempted, but I have Proust’s La Prisonniere on CD and I can’t listen to more than about 15 minutes before falling asleep. Spoken French has that effect on me… it’s a form of appreciation, really!
verbivore // September 17, 2008 at 11:48 am |
Ann – It is too bad these haven’t been translated and very little of his writing too (which there is scads and scads of). The only thing I could find of his translated is his Atheist’s Manifesto and a philosophical debate he participated in with Sarkozy a few years ago (Imagine an American political leader agreeing to a philosophical debate with a leading academic, I just don’t see it happening – there goes my awful cynicism again. Perhaps an English politican would do it? Nonetheless, I was very surprised to see Sarkozy holding his own, I never thought he was dumb but neither did I consider him really intellectual or philosophical)
Litlove – I am tempted to blame your narcolepsy on Proust but that might not be the kind of thing I should admit out loud.
I do think you would enjoy these lectures, his spoken style is very engaging and relaxed, not at all heavy and I’ve heard he believes pyschoanalysis and philosophy go hand in hand, so perhaps there is something in there for your own projects!