Onfray, Closky, Shrigley

[imomus]

Michel Onfray is a french philosopher. A 'radical hedonist' and 'left wing mystic' who champions orgasm and utopia, Onfray believes that the pursuit of pleasure can displace power, sees no difference between body and soul (he quotes Isabelle Huppert: 'For me, those who see a difference between the soul and the body have neither'), and tries to formulate 'the conditions for an individualism which is not egotism'. Onfray publishes two books a year. His philosophy fuses Nietzsche, Foucault and Deleuze. 'The revolution is not for tomorrow,' he says, 'it's for tonight, in our relationships with the people around us.'

Onfray was featured in Arte's arts review programme Metropolis last night. I liked what he was saying. 'We live under three idealisms: Platonic idealism, Christian idealism, and German idealism. To be considered a serious philosopher, you're still, to this day, supposed to come out of one of those schools. In Raphael's fresco The School of Athens Plato is pointing up to the sky and Aristotle is pointing down at the earth. That, in a way, is the history of philosophy in one gesture. Platonists, idealists and Christians are always pointing away from the physical world. Aristotelians, materialists, epicureans and atheists are pointing towards it.'



Running a search on Onfray, I happened on Mudam, a site which seems to be something to do with the artist Claude Closky. The site contains an animated art gallery with lots of interesting stuff, including five animations by David Shrigley.



Shynola and David Shrigley made the video for Blur's Good Song. It's certainly the best pop video I've seen this year. A lonesome fairy finds an unlikely partner in a squirrel. Their relationship ends in disaster and murder as the story takes an unexpected twist. Heartbreakingly bungled murder seems to be a big Shrigley theme. Tomlab, the best record label in the world, have a few of their limited edition of 250 Shrigley Kill Your Pets T shirts left. Hurry hurry hurry!

Finally, two cultural listings sites designed for mobile phones which can nevertheless be read on the web. KultureFlash is a well-linked weekly newsletter covering happenings and openings in London. And Tokyo Q is an English-language guide to what's going on in Tokyo. Pursue some pleasure tonight!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Onfray is wrong. All is Eleatic idealism (if such thought is to be traced back through only the Western tradition). Christian idealism is essentially Platonism, and Kant wanted to temper Christian transcendentalism with Humean skepticism.
It is too often forgotten that Western idealism has its roots in the poet's/mystic's sensibility (Parmenides, Pythagoras). Is it too much of a platitude to say that all such experience, truly had, is the same?
Before Greece, the current can be traced back to Egypt and further East through the writings of men like Iamblichus (let alone personal intuition). Whatever: the 'perennial philosophy' is not imagined. Knowing as we do of a common source for the Indo-European languages, perhaps the postulation of 'three idealisms' is akin to ascribing hierarchical value or separate existences to the various grammatical structures and symbols of the Indo-European family - we can, but is it finally meaningful to do so? Can't you hear snatches of Indian modes and scales in European folk music? A universal ontology is said to be a dead idea. Fascist, some say. Every good person knows it is not.

One more thing. Your live journal is enough to convince me your music is worth buying (which I will be doing shortly). x

Re:

[(Anonymous)]

Ah. Misread it didn't I? "Dash it, yes Michel! It's a terrible state of affairs isn't it?" is what I should have thought to myself. And I so wanted to sparkle. Anyway, you don't have any recommendations for further reading on where he plonks himself between heaven and earth do you?

Re: anonymous

[(Anonymous)]

i'd like to read more of what you have to say, sadly we are both anonymous.

a second anonymous