A Hedonist Manifesto

French philosopher Onfray attempts to disassemble the long heritages of Plato and Christianity, specifically their denigration of the body, pleasure, and immanence. To counter this age-old tradition, Onfray argues for a utilitarian, materialist, and epicurean hedonism. He acknowledges the goal is to produce more pleasure, but rejects crude understandings of hedonism. The playful, open encounters with others and the world he describes do not reduce responsibility. He argues that hedonism, with its deep reliance on individual will, demands much from a practitioner, as obligations are not imposed externally, but generated solely from the self. Readers without patience for dense philosophical writing will be frustrated by the work. Some of Onfray’s complaints and depictions of modern life seem far removed from American norms and more a product of modern French culture. Getting through Onfray’s prose, however, provides interesting foundations for ethics, aesthetics, erotics, and politics arising from outside the main Western tradition. Whether Onfray’s vision of a new hedonism-driven world is workable remains an open question, but he makes it seem like a desirable goal. (Nov.)