Fog is a collection of liquid water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface.^[1] While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated locally (such as from a nearby body of water, like a lake or the ocean, or from nearby moist ground or marshes).^[2] Fog is distinguished from mist only by its density, as expressed in the resulting decrease in visibility: Fog reduces visibility to less than 1 km (5/8 statute mile), whereas mist reduces visibility to no less than 1 km .^[3] For aviation purposes in the UK, a visibility of less than 5 km but greater than 999 m is considered to be mist if the relative humidity is 70% or greater – below 70% haze is reported;but is between 5000 m to zero m^[4].^{[citation needed]}.

The foggiest place in the world is the Grand Banks off the island of Newfoundland, the meeting place of the cold Labrador Current from the north and the much warmer Gulf Stream from the south. Some of the foggiest land areas in the world include Argentia, Newfoundland and Point Reyes, California, each with over 200 foggy days per year. Even in generally warmer southern Europe, thick fog and localized fog is often found in lowlands and valleys, such as the lower part of the Po Valley and the Arno and Tiber valleys in Italy or Ebro Valley in northeastern Iberia, as well as on the Swiss plateau, especially in the Seeland area, in late autumn and winter.^{[citation needed]} Other notably foggy areas include coastal Chile (in the south), coastal Namibia, and the Severnaya Zemlya islands.^[5]

Characteristics[link]

Fog forms when the difference between temperature and dew point is generally less than 2.5 °C or 4 °F.^[6]

Forming process of light fog above a ditch, where there is a relative humidity near 100%.

Fog begins to form when water vapor condenses into tiny liquid water droplets in the air. The main ways water vapor is added to the air: wind convergence into areas of upward motion,^[7] precipitation or virga falling from above,^[8] daytime heating evaporating water from the surface of oceans, water bodies or wet land,^[9] transpiration from plants,^[10] cool or dry air moving over warmer water,^[11] and lifting air over mountains.^[12] Water vapor normally begins to condense on condensation nuclei such as dust, ice, and salt in order to form clouds.^[13][14] Fog, like its slightly elevated cousin stratus, is a stable cloud deck which tends to form when a cool, stable air mass is trapped underneath a warm air mass.^[15]

Fog normally occurs at a relative humidity near 100%.^[16] This can be achieved by either adding moisture to the air or dropping the ambient air temperature.^[16] Fog can form at lower humidities, and fog can sometimes not form with relative humidity at 100%. A reading of 100% relative humidity means that the air can hold no additional moisture; the air will become supersaturated if additional moisture is added.

Fog can form suddenly, and can dissipate just as rapidly, depending what side of the dew point the temperature is on. This phenomenon is known as flash fog.^[17]

Another common type of formation is associated with sea fog (also known as haar or fret). This is due to the peculiar effect of salt. Clouds of all types require minute hygroscopic particles upon which water vapor can condense. Over the ocean surface, the most common particles are salt from salt spray produced by breaking waves. Except in areas of storminess, the most common areas of breaking waves are located near coastlines, hence the greatest densities of airborne salt particles are there. Condensation on salt particles has been observed to occur at humidities as low as 70%, thus fog can occur even in relatively dry air in suitable locations such as the California coast. Typically, such lower humidity fog is preceded by a transparent mistiness along the coastline as condensation competes with evaporation, a phenomenon that is typically noticeable by beachgoers in the afternoon. Another recently-discovered source of condensation nuclei for coastal fog is kelp. Researchers have found that under stress (intense sunlight, strong evaporation, etc.), kelp release particles of iodine which in turn become nuclei for condensation of water vapor.^[18]

Fog commonly produces precipitation in the form of drizzle or very light snow. Drizzle occurs when the humidity of fog attains 100% and the minute cloud droplets begin to coalesce into larger droplets.^[19] This can occur when the fog layer is lifted and cooled sufficiently, or when it is forcibly compressed from above. Drizzle becomes freezing drizzle when the temperature at the surface drops below the freezing point.

The thickness of fog is largely determined by the altitude of the inversion boundary, which in coastal or oceanic locales is also the top of the marine layer, above which the airmass is warmer and drier. The inversion boundary varies its altitude primarily in response to the weight of the air above it which is measured in terms of atmospheric pressure. The marine layer and any fogbank it may contain will be "squashed" when the pressure is high, and conversely, may expand upwards when the pressure above it is lowering.

Visibility hazard[link]

Light fog reducing visibility on a suburban street. The cyclist is very hazy at about 200m (219 yards). The limit of visibility is about 400m (437 yards), which is before the end of the street.

Shadows[link]

Shadows are cast through fog in three dimensions. The fog is dense enough to be illuminated by light that passes through gaps in a structure or tree, but thin enough to let a large quantity of that light pass through to illuminate points further on. As a result, object shadows appear as "beams" oriented in a direction parallel to the light source. These voluminous shadows are due to the same cause as crepuscular rays, which are the shadows of clouds, but in this case, they are the shadows of solid objects.

[edit] Types

Fog can form in a number of ways, depending on how the cooling that caused the condensation occurred:

Radiation fog is formed by the cooling of land after sunset by thermal radiation in calm conditions with clear sky.

The cool ground produces condensation in the nearby air by heat conduction. In perfect calm the fog layer can be less than a meter deep but turbulence can promote a thicker layer. Radiation fogs occur at night, and usually do not last long after sunrise, though can persist all day in the winter months especially in areas bounded by high ground such as the Vale of York in England. Radiation fog is most common in autumn and early winter. Examples of this phenomenon include the Tule fog.^[20]

Ground fog is fog that obscures less than 60% of the sky and does not extend to the base of any overhead clouds.^[21] However, the term is sometimes used to refer to radiation fog.

Advection fog occurs when moist air passes over a cool surface by advection (wind) and is cooled.^[22] It is common as a warm front passes over an area with significant snowpack. It is most common at sea when tropical air encounters cooler waters, including areas of cold water upwelling, such as along the California coast. The advection of fog along the California coastline is propelled onto land by one of several processes. A cold front can push the marine layer coastward, an occurrence most typical in the spring or late fall. During the summer months, a low pressure trough produced by intense heating inland creates a strong pressure gradient, drawing in the dense marine layer. Also during the summer, strong high pressure aloft over the desert southwest, usually in connection with the summer monsoon, produces a south to southeasterly flow which can drive the offshore marine layer up the coastline; a phenomenon known as a "southerly surge", typically following a coastal heat spell. However, if the monsoonal flow is sufficiently turbulent, it might instead break up the marine layer and any fog it may contain. Moderate turbulence will typically transform a fog bank, lifting it and breaking it up into shallow convective clouds called stratocumulus.

Sea smoke, also called steam fog or evaporation fog, is the most localized form and is created by cold air passing over warmer water or moist land.^[23] It often causes freezing fog, or sometimes hoar frost.

Arctic sea smoke is similar to sea smoke, but occurs when the air is very cold. Instead of condensing into water droplets, the evaporating water sublimates into ice crystals.

Precipitation fog (or frontal fog) forms as precipitation falls into drier air below the cloud, the liquid droplets evaporate into water vapor. The water vapor cools and at the dewpoint it condenses and fog forms.

Upslope fog or hill fog forms when winds blow air up a slope (called orographic lift), adiabatically cooling it as it rises, and causing the moisture in it to condense. This often causes freezing fog on mountaintops, where the cloud ceiling would not otherwise be low enough.

Valley fog forms in mountain valleys, often during winter. It is the result of a temperature inversion caused by heavier cold air settling into a valley, with warmer air passing over the mountains above. It is essentially radiation fog confined by local topography, and can last for several days in calm conditions. In California's Central Valley, valley fog is often referred to as Tule fog.

Freezing fog occurs when liquid fog droplets freeze to surfaces, forming white soft or hard rime.^[23] This is very common on mountain tops which are exposed to low clouds. It is equivalent to freezing rain, and essentially the same as the ice that forms inside a freezer which is not of the "frostless" or "frost-free" type. The term "freezing fog" may also refer to fog where water vapor is super-cooled, filling the air with small ice crystals similar to very light snow. It seems to make the fog "tangible", as if one could "grab a handful".

Frozen fog (also known as ice fog) is any kind of fog where the droplets have frozen into extremely tiny crystals of ice in midair. Generally this requires temperatures at or below −35 °C (−30 °F), making it common only in and near the Arctic and Antarctic regions.^[24] It is most often seen in urban areas where it is created by the freezing of water vapor present in automobile exhaust and combustion products from heating and power generation. Urban ice fog can become extremely dense and will persist day and night until the temperature rises. Extremely small amounts of ice fog falling from the sky form a type of precipitation called ice crystals, often reported in Barrow, Alaska. Ice fog often leads to the visual phenomenon of light pillars.

The phenomenon is also extremely common in the inland areas of the Pacific Northwest that, with temperatures in the 10 to 30 °F (−1 °C) range. The Columbia Plateau experiences this phenomenon most years due to temperature inversions, sometimes lasting for as long as three weeks. The fog typically begins forming around the area of the Columbia River and expands, sometimes covering the land to distances as far away as LaPine, Oregon, almost 150 miles due south of the River and into south central Washington.

Artificial fog is artificially generated fog that is usually created by vaporizing a water and glycol-based or glycerine-based fluid. The fluid is injected into a heated block, and evaporates quickly. The resulting pressure forces the vapor out of the exit. Upon coming into contact with cool outside air the vapor condenses and appears as fog.^[25]

Garua fog is a type of fog which happens to occur by the coast of Chile and Peru.^[26] The normal fog produced by the sea travels inland, but suddenly meets an area of hot air. This causes the water particles of fog to shrink by evaporation, producing a transparent mist. Garua fog is nearly invisible, yet it still forces drivers to use windshield wipers.

Hail fog sometimes occurs in the vicinity of significant hail accumulations due to decreased temperature and increased moisture leading to saturation in a very shallow layer near the surface. It most often occurs when there is a warm, humid layer atop the hail and when wind is light. This ground fog tends to be localized but can be extremely dense and abrupt. It may form shortly after the hail falls; when the hail has had time to cool the air and as it absorbs heat when melting and evaporating.^[27]

Biological and human uses[link]

Redwood forests in California receive approximately 30 to 40 percent of their moisture from coastal fog. Change in climate patterns could result in relative drought in these areas.^[28] Some coastal communities use fog nets to extract moisture from the atmosphere where groundwater pumping and rainwater collection are insufficient.

Other pictures[link]

• Lakeontario steamfog wikipedia.JPG

  −25 °C (−13 °F) air temperature produces immense steam fog over Lake Ontario which is still above freezing.

• Granville Island Marina.JPG

  Low lying fog over the more cool ocean surface in Vancouver, Canada during the 2010 Winter Olympics, which featured warmer temperatures mixed with high humidity.

• 

  Fog over San Francisco Bay is a famous San Francisco fog.

• 

  Fog shadow of the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge

• 

  Fog shadow of Sutro Tower

• 

  In this view, only downtown San Francisco and Sutro tower are free from fog.

• 

  Road signs are hard to see in the fog on Golden Gate Bridge.

See also[link]

• Thank You, Fog: last poems by W. H. Auden

Technology[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fog

• Anti-fog
• Automotive lighting
• Decontamination foam
• FIDO
• Fog machine
• Fogging (photography)
• Fog lamp
• Runway visual range
• Transmissometer

Weather[link]

• Fog season
• Haboob (sandstorm)
• Mist
• Smog
• Whiteout (weather)

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Ahrens, C. (1991). Meteorology today: an introduction to weather, climate, and the environment. West Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-314-80905-6.
• Allred, Lance (2009). Enchanted Rock: A Natural and Human History. University of Texas Press.
• Cowling, R. M., Richardson, D. M., Pierce, S. M. (2004). Vegetation of Southern Africa. Cambridge University Press.
• Filonczuk, Maria K., Cayan, Daniel R., Riddle, Laurence G. (1995). Variability of marine fog along the California coast. SIO-Reference, No 95-2, Climate Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.
• Frost, H. (2004). Fog. Capstone Press. ISBN 978-0-7368-2093-6.
• Gleissman, Stephe (2007). Agroecology: the ecology of sustainable food systems. CRC Press.
• Karukstis, K. K., Van Hecke, G. R. (2003). Chemistry connections: the basis of everyday phonemena. Academic Press.
• Marshall, T., Hoadley, D. (1995). Storm Talk. Tim Marshall.

External links[link]

• Map of the United States showing days of heavy fog in each location
• United States' current dense fog advisories from NOAA
• Current Western US fog satellite pictures from NOAA
• Lake Ontario Evaporative-Steam Fog Video
• Social & Economic Costs of Fog from "NOAA Socioeconomics" website initiative

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2009)

Machel Montano
Machel Montano performing in 2007
Background information
Also known as	Lyrics Machel
Born	(1974-11-24) 24 November 1974 (age 37) Carenage, Trinidad and Tobago
Origin	Couva, Trinidad and Tobago
Genres	Soca
Occupations	Musician, producer, Song-writer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion
Years active	1982–present
Associated acts	Xtatik, Destra Garcia, Farmer Nappy, Patrice Roberts, Zan
Website	www.machelmontano.com

Machel Montano (born 24 November 1974, Trinidad and Tobago)^[1] is a soca singer, record producer and songwriter based in Trinidad and Tobago.

He is the frontman of the popular soca band The HD Family, and is noted for his high energy, fast-paced, and often unpredictable on-stage performances. During his career, which spans over 30 years, he has recorded several songs alongside many of Caribbean music's most popular acts, such as Lerone Guy of St Anthonys College, Alison Hinds, Beenie Man, Calypso Rose, Burning Flames, Drupatee, Wyclef Jean, Canibus, Red Rat, Shaggy, Sparrow, Denise Belfon, Ken Marlon Charles (KMC), Destra, Walker Hornung, Vybz Kartel, Mohombi, G-Unit, Black Stalin, David Rudder, Buju Banton, Mr. Vegas, Doug E. Fresh, Pitbull and many others. In 1987 he was the youngest finalist to ever win the Caribbean Song Festival. He now stands as one of the most well-known soca acts in the world, using his leverage as an artist able to sell-out shows. Recently he has moved to the Los Angeles area and furthered his pursuit saying "I may not be the one to bring it forth, but in the meantime, I have a lot of work to do in order for something to happen". He is very well known in New York and has had sold out concerts in Madison Square Gardens many times over.^[2]

Early career[link]

Born in Carenage (West Trinidad), his family moved to Siparia, South Trinidad when he was very young. Machel attended Siparia Boys' R.C., then Presentation College, San Fernando, a prestigious secondary school in San Fernando, South Trinidad where he was in the choir led by Mrs. Cynthia Lee-Mack. Machel first shot to fame as a 9 year-old boy with the song "Too Young To Soca" while he was still in primary school. In 1984, along with his older brother Marcus and neighbours the group Pranasonic Express was started and in 1989, the band became Xtatik.

Machel is father to three children. Nicholas(13) his son, Melanie (12) and Malaya Journey (11), his daughters.

Machel Montano HD - his concepts[link]

Machel (center) performing on stage alongside Zan (left) and Farmer Nappy (right)

The band developed and was re-invented by its leader Montano several times as Xtatik 5.0, The Xtatik Circus, Xtatik The Road Marching Band, The Band of the Year and many others. Every year Machel has a battle in Zen to keep his band and his performances fresh. From 2007 they are known as Machel Montano HD (High Definition) and he promotes the concept by saying that he is the first human being to go HD. He claims this is a representation of the evolution of his music over the last 25 years and highly improved style in which his music shall be presented to his fans over radio formats, television, and during live performances. He is part of a campaign in Trinidad and Tobago to promoting safe driving - "Arrive Alive". Part of the hype surrounding Montano since 2007 is his HD tour bus, a 20-year-old bus from the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) which was re-done and includes a bedroom, bathroom facilities, flat screen TVs, Internet access and expansive audio systems. After the bus' debut in 2007, it was re-painted for 2008, the new images of Machel matching various photos of him from the album artwork of his 2008 CD, Flame on. The bus featured heavily in his videos for "Jumbie" - 2007 and "Rollin/Blazin d Trail" - 2008. In 2012 Macheal Montano won the Road March, Power Soca Monarch and the Groovy Soca Monarch. He won the acclaimed the Road March with his song "Pump yuh Flag" and he won the Groovy Soca Monarch with his rendition "Mr.Fete". THe singer recently launced the music video to his hit single "Bottle Of Rum" in May,2012.

Machel Montano performing at a fete at Brian Lara's house in Barbados (2008)

Xtatik's music[link]

In the last few years the band has risen to a new level of musicality as each performance is very tight musically and has foreign influences such as Ernesto Luis Gutirrez, its Venezuelan percussionist, Shawn Mitchell, bassist from Grenada and musicians from Barbados. Kernal Roberts, the son of the late Lord Kitchener (calypsonian) has picked up the role as Xtatik's drummer and musical director and has brought new life to the band.

Montano was also instrumental in the promotion of soca music in the United Kingdom on the British Broadcasting Corporations' black music digital radio station 1Xtra, where he co-presented the International Sounds of Soca show for four years with DJ Slic. He has released many successful singles, with and without Xtatik, during his career, such as "Big Truck" (Xtatik's most successful single, which won the Road March title in 1997), "Outa Space" (with Beenie Man), "Music Farm" (Xtatik), "It's Carnival" (with Destra), and his most recent back to back Road March title wins for 2006, "Band Of The Year" (with Patrice Roberts) and 2007, "Jumbie".

His 2008 album Flame On, was released in February 2008 and featured collaborations with some of the most esteemed artistes in calypso such as David Rudder on "Oil and Music" and The Mighty Sparrow on "Congo Man". These two collaborations were well-received all around, especially "Congo Man".

Flame On also includes collaborations with other well-known artistes from various genres including soca, reggae, rap and reggaeton. Examples of these partnerships can be heard on the following tracks: Patrice Roberts on "Rollin", Shaggy on "Wining Season", Buju Banton on "Make Love" and finally Lil Jon and Pitbull on "Defense (The Anthem)".

Flame On displays the very strong relationship between Machel Montano and Kernal Roberts, his right-hand man. Roberts was involved in the writing of eight out the 13 tracks on the album.

In Trinidad's Carnival Road March Competition for Carnival 2008, Montano's song "Blazin d Trail" placed third even though it was a crowd favourite^{[citation needed]} when it was played at Carnival fetes during the Carnival season of 2008.

In 2011, Machel won the International Soca Monarch competition defeating the likes of Iwer George (2nd) and Bunji Garlin (3rd) after a fierce night of competition. In the end, Machel walked away with the TT$2 million dollar prize and the first International Soca Monarch title of his career. He then went on to win the Carnival Road March title with the same hit 'Advantage' by a landslide victory.

In 2012,Machel once again won the International Power Soca Monarch with the song "Pump Yuh Flag" beating Iwer George (2nd) Who sang a rendition of the song he did last year. Destra Garcia finished(3rd). Montano once again received the TT$2 million dollar prize and title. Also he entered the Groovy Soca Monarch and was victorious beating out reigning Groovy Soca Monarch King Kes Diffenthaller and crowd favorite Kerwin Du Bois (2nd). Topping off the Carnival Season In Trinidad & Tobago, he Won the Road March Title(Pump Yuh Flag-Played 233 Times) Beating Fay-ann Lyons(96) & Iwer George(84). Montano's last two years have been the most successful of his career and most attribute it to his strong work ethic, relationship with current manager, James Walton and mother Liz Montano.

Discography[link]

Patrice Roberts (left) and Machel perform at UWI Splash in Chaguaramas, Trinidad.

Machel and his band perform in front of a live audience at a fete

Solo albums[link]

• Too Young to Soca? (1986)
• Soca Earthquake (1987)
• Dr. Carnival (1988)
• Katch Ya! (1989)
• Breakin Out! (1990)
• One Step Ahead! (1991)
• 2000 Young To Soca (2000 Re-Edition)
• The Xtatik Experience (2005)
• B.O.D.Y. (2006)
• The Book of Angels (2007)
• Flame on, released as Wining Season in the United States (2008)
• Heavenly Drum (2009)
• Album 34 (2010)
• The Return (2011)

Xtatik albums[link]

• X Amount Ah Sweetnesss (1992)
• Soca Style Hot (1993)
• By All Means (1994)
• Loose Yuh Waist (1995)
• Men At Work (1996)
• Heavy Duty (1997)
• Xtatik Live (1997)
• Charge (1998)
• Any Minute Now (1999)
• Here Comes the Band (2000)
• Same High (2001)
• On the Cusp (2002)
• The Xtatik Circus (2003- as "Xtatik Band 5.0")
• The Xtatik Parade (2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Xtatik
• Answers.com biography on Machel Montano
• BET J to air Machel Montano Trinidad & Tobago special - Saturday, March 24, 2007: CaribbeanNetNews

	Book: Machel Montano
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Nosaj Thing (born Jason Chung) is an American electronic musician based in Los Angeles, California.

History[link]

Nosaj Thing was involved in music at a young age and hip hop has had a profound influence on his music. At the age of 12, he learned the basics of turntables and began to produce on the computer shortly after. Nosaj Thing has since played at various shows and festivals including Sónar Festival^[1] and Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California.

He self-released the first EP Views/Octopus in 2006. He released the debut album Drift on Alpha Pup Records in 2009.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} In 2011, rapper Kendrick Lamar released a single titled "Cloud 10," produced by Nosaj Thing. The song was recorded for Windows Phone promotion.^[7]

Legacy[link]

The track "Aquarium" from the EP Views/Octopus was used by rapper Kid Cudi in "Man on the Moon (The Anthem)" from the mixtape A Kid Named Cudi.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Drift (2009)
• Drift Remixed (2010)^[8]

EPs[link]

• Views/Octopus (2006)

Productions[link]

• "Split Seconds" by Busdriver on Jhelli Beam (2009)
• "Head Static" by Nocando on Jimmy the Lock (2010)
• "Beat My Bitch" by Flash Bang Grenada on 10 Haters (2011)

Remixes[link]

• "More Tongue Less Teeth" by Plastic Little (2007)
• "Tabloid Sores" by Health (2008)
• "Camel" by Flying Lotus (2008)
• "It's Madness" by Daedelus (2008)
• "Eyes Closed" by Blank Blue (2009)
• "Flatlands" by Nalepa (2009)
• "Empires" by STS9 (2009)
• "Nice Tights" by Jogger (2009)
• "Heaven Can Wait" by Charlotte Gainsbourg featuring Beck (2009)
• "Reckoner" by Radiohead (2009)
• "Forever" by Drake (2009)
• "Rock On" by Adam Freeland (2009)
• "Buzz In" by Boris (2009)
• "I Get Money" by 50 Cent (2009)
• "Islands" by The xx (2010)
• "Wandering Star/Coat of Arms" by Portishead (2010)
• "Let 'Em Fall" by Malachai (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Nosaj Thing on Alpha Pup Records
• Nosaj Thing on Myspace

This article on an American electronic musician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Michel Onfray

Born	January 1, 1959
Era	20th century philosophy, 21st century
Region	Western philosophy, Continental philosophy
School	Atheism, Hedonism, Postanarchism
Main interests	Atheism, religion, ethics, Cyrenaic school, Epicureanism, pleasure, history of philosophy, materialism, aesthetics, bioethics
Influenced by Democritus, Aristippus, Epicurus, Friedrich Nietzsche, individualist anarchism, Georges Bataille, Michel de Montaigne, Han Ryner, Gilles Deleuze, Pierre Hadot, Julien Offray de La Mettrie, Michel Foucault, Diogenes of Sinope, Georges Palante, Raoul Vaneigem, Emile Armand, Charles-Auguste Bontemps

Michel Onfray (born January 1, 1959 in Argentan, Orne, France) is a contemporary French philosopher who adheres to hedonism, atheism^[1] and anarchism.^[2] He is a highly prolific author on philosophy with more than 50 written books.^[3][4]

He has gained notoriety for writing such works as Physiologie de Georges Palante, portrait d'un nietzchéen de gauche, Politique du rebelle: traité de résistance et d'insoumission, Traité d'athéologie: Physique de la métaphysique (translated into English as Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, La puissance d'exister and La Sculpture de soi for which he won the annual Prix Médicis in 1993.

His philosophy is mainly influenced by such thinkers as Nietzsche, Epicurus, the cynic and cyrenaic schools, Julien Offray de La Mettrie, and individualist anarchism.^[5]

Life[link]

Born to a family of Norman farmers, he graduated with a Ph.D. in philosophy. He taught this subject to senior students at a technical high school in Caen between 1983 and 2002, before establishing what he and his supporters call the Université populaire de Caen, proclaiming its foundation on a free-of-charge basis and on the manifesto written by Onfray in 2004 (La communauté philosophique).

Onfray's book, Traité d'Athéologie "became the number one best-selling nonfiction book in France for months when it was published in the Spring of 2005 (Onfray borrowed the concept of "atheology" from Georges Bataille). This book later repeated its popular French success in Italy, where it was published in September 2005 and quickly soared to number one on Italy's bestseller lists."^[1]

Onfray endorsed the French Revolutionary Communist League and its candidate for the French presidency, Olivier Besancenot in the 2002 election, although this is somewhat at odds with the libertarian socialism he advocates in his writings.^{[citation needed]} In 2007, he endorsed José Bové, but eventually voted for Olivier Besancenot, and conducted an interview with the future French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whom he declared was an 'ideological enemy' for Philosophie Magazine.^[6]

Onfray himself attributes the birth of philosophic communities such as the université populaire to the results of the French presidential election, 2002.

His latest book "Le crépuscule d'une idole : L'affabulation freudienne" ("The Twilight of an Idol: The Freudian Confabulation"), published in 2010, has been the subject of considerable controversy in France because of its criticism of Freud. He recognizes Freud as a philosopher, but he brings attention to the considerable cost of Freud's treatments and casts doubts on the effectiveness of his methods.^[7]

Philosophy[link]

Onfray writes that there is no philosophy without self-psychoanalysis. He describes himself as an adamant atheist and considers theist religion to be indefensible. He regards himself as being part of the tradition of individualist anarchism, a tradition that he claims is at work throughout the entire history of philosophy and that he is seeking to revive amidst modern schools of philosophy that he regards as cynical.

View on the history of western philosophy and philosophical project[link]

In an interview he establishes his view on the history of philosophy. For him, "There is in fact a multitude of ways to practice philosophy, but out of this multitude, the dominant historiography picks one tradition among others and makes it the truth of philosophy: that is to say the idealist, spiritualist lineage compatible with the Judeo-Christian world view. From that point on, anything that crosses this partial – in both senses of the word – view of things finds itself dismissed. This applies to nearly all non-Western philosophies, Oriental wisdom in particular, but also sensualist, empirical, materialist, nominalist, hedonistic currents and everything that can be put under the heading of “anti-Platonic philosophy”. Philosophy that comes down from the heavens is the kind that - from Plato to Levinas by way of Kant and Christianity - needs a world behind the scenes to understand, explain and justify this world. The other line of force rises from the earth because it is satisfied with the given world, which is already so much."^[8]

"His mission is to rehabilitate materialist and sensualist thinking and use it to re-examine our relationship to the world. Approaching philosophy as a reflection of each individual’s personal experience, Onfray inquires into the capabilities of the body and its senses and calls on us to celebrate them through music, painting, and fine cuisine."^[9]

Hedonism[link]

He defines hedonism "as an introspective attitude to life based on taking pleasure yourself and pleasuring others, without harming yourself or anyone else."^[10] "Onfray's philosophical project is to define an ethical hedonism, a joyous utilitarianism, and a generalized aesthetic of sensual materialism that explores how to use the brain's and the body's capacities to their fullest extent -- while restoring philosophy to a useful role in art, politics, and everyday life and decisions."^[1]

Onfray's works "have explored the philosophical resonances and components of (and challenges to) science, painting, gastronomy, sex and sensuality, bioethics, wine, and writing. His most ambitious project is his projected six-volume Counter-history of Philosophy,"^[1] of which three have been published.

For him "In opposition to the ascetic ideal advocated by the dominant school of thought, hedonism suggests identifying the highest good with your own pleasure and that of others; the one must never be indulged at the expense of sacrificing the other. Obtaining this balance – my pleasure at the same time as the pleasure of others – presumes that we approach the subject from different angles – political, ethical, aesthetic, erotic, bioethical, pedagogical, historiographical…." For this he has "written books on each of these facets of the same world view."^[8]

His philosophy aims "for "micro-revolutions, " or revolutions of the individual and small groups of like-minded people who live by his hedonistic, libertarian values."^[11]

Anarchism[link]

Recently Michel Onfray has embraced the term postanarchism to describe his approach to politics and ethics.^[12] He advocates for an anarchism in line with such intellectuals as "Orwell, la philosophe Simone Weil, Jean Grenier, la French Theory avec Foucault, Deleuze, Bourdieu, Guattari, Lyotard, le Derrida de Politiques de l'amitié et du Droit à la philosophie, mais aussi Mai 68" which for him was "a Nietzschean revolt in order to put an end to the "One" truth, revealed, and to put in evidence the diversity of truths, in order to make disappear ascetic Christian ideas and to help arise new possibilities of existence".^[13]

Relation to hedonism[link]

In La puissance d'exister: Manifeste hédoniste, Onfray claims that the political dimension of hedonism runs from Epicurus to John Stuart Mill through Jeremy Bentham and Claude Adrien Helvétius. What political hedonism aims for is to create the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.

Atheology[link]

Blogger J. M. Cornwell praised Onfray's Atheist Manifesto, claiming it "is a religious and historical time capsule containing"^[14] what he sees as "the true deceptions of theological philosophy. It is divided into four parts: atheology, monotheisms, Christianity and theocracy. Each section details the historical chronology of the three major religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - and atheism. Michel Onfray pulls back the veil on the Holy of Holies, delves into the workings of Islam, and excavates for the true identity of Jesus Christ while uncovering the groundwork laid during the Age of Enlightenment."^[14]

"As Onfray details the myth and bloody history of monotheistic religions, he concludes that monotheism in general, and the religious beliefs of the major players on the Middle Eastern and Western stages in particular, have two ideologies in common: extinguishing the light of reason and total investment in death".^[14]

Recently he has been involved in promoting the work of Jean Meslier,^[1][15] an 18th-century French Catholic priest who was discovered, upon his death, to have written a book-length philosophical essay promoting atheism.^[15]

Criticism[link]

Scholarly criticism of The Atheist Manifesto has included allegations of historical inaccuracies pertaining to the life of Jesus. Among the "incalculable number of contradictions and improbabilities in the body of the text of the synoptic Gospels"^[16] two claims are made: crucifixion victims were not laid to rest in tombs, and in any case Jews were not crucified in this period. Macquarie University historian John Dickson has pointed out that Philo of Alexandria, writing about the time of Jesus, tells us that sometimes the Romans handed the bodies of crucifixion victims over to family members for proper burial. The Roman Jewish historian Flavius Josephus even remarks: "the Jews are so careful about funeral rites that even malefactors who have been sentenced to crucifixion are taken down and buried before sunset".^[17] Regarding the second claim, Dickson calls this a 'clear historical blunder'^[18]:

Varus, governor of Syria, crucified 2000 Jews involved in the rebellion of 4 BC (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 17.295). In the late 40s AD the sons of Judas the Galilean, named James and Simon, were crucified by order of Tiberius Alexander (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 20.102). In the final weeks of the siege of Jerusalem, according to Josephus, the Romans were crucifying 500 Jews a day, stationing the crosses in full view of the city walls: "The soldiers out of rage and hatred amused themselves by nailing their prisoners in different postures; and so great was their number, that space could not be found for the crosses nor crosses for the bodies" (Josephus, The Jewish War 5.451)...

But perhaps the clearest evidence of Onfray's mistake is the discovery in 1968 of archaeological remains of a crucifixion victim in a Jewish tomb. The tomb, just north of Jerusalem, contained numerous ossuaries (burial boxes), one of which bore the inscription "Jehohanan and Jehohanan ben Jehohanan," meaning that the box contained the bones of a father and his son of the same name, "John". Analysis of the bones revealed the remains of a male heel bone which had been pierced through by an iron nail. The nail, which was 11.5 cm long, was badly bent and so had never been removed from the foot. A plaque of wood from an olive tree was still attached. It was a remarkable find and has taught us quite a bit about crucifixion, not the least of which is that Jews were certainly crucified in the first century and some of them were properly buried (admittedly, the settlement of this matter goes no way towards proving the actual existence of a Christian God; it remains merely an abstract historical moot point).

[edit] The Université Populaire

Onfray was a high school philosophy teacher for two decades until he resigned in 2002 to establish a tuition-free Université Populaire (People's University) at Caen, at which he and several colleagues teach philosophy and other subjects to working-class youth.^[1]

"The Université Populaire, which is open to all who cannot access the state university system, and on principle does not accept any money from the State -- Onfray uses the profits from his books to help finance it -- has had enormous success. Based on Onfray's book La Communauté Philosophique: Manifeste pour l'Université Populaire (2004), the original UP now has imitators in Picardie, Arras, Lyon, Narbonne, and Le Mans, with five more in preparation."^[1] "The national public radio network France Culture annually broadcasts his course of lectures to the Universite Populaire on philosophical themes."^[1]

Works[link]

Atheology ;
Jacob fighting the angel, by Delacroix inspired the bookcover of traité d'athéologie

• Le ventre des philosophes, critique de la raison diététique (1989)
• Physiologie de Georges Palante, portrait d'un nietzchéen de gauche (1989)
• Cynismes, portrait du philosophe en chien (1990)
• L'art de jouir : pour un matérialisme hédoniste (1991)
• La sculpture de soi : la morale esthétique (1991)
• L'œil nomade : la peinture de Jacques Pasquier (1992)
• La raison gourmande, philosophie du goût (1995)
• Ars moriendi : cent petits tableaux sur les avantages et les inconvénients de la mort (1995)
• Métaphysique des ruines : la peinture de Monsu Désidério (1995)
• Les formes du temps : théorie du Sauternes (1996)
• Politique du rebelle : traité de résistance et d'insoumission (1997)
• À côté du désir d'éternité : fragments d'Égypte (1998)
• Théorie du corps amoureux : pour une érotique solaire (2000)
• Prêter un livre n'est pas voler son auteur (2000)
• Antimanuel de philosophie : leçons socratiques et alternatives (2001)
• Célébration du génie colérique : tombeau de Pierre Bourdieu (2002)
• L'invention du plaisir : fragments cyréaniques (2002)
• Esthétique du Pôle nord : stèles hyperborréennes (2002)
• Splendeur de la catastrophe : la peinture de Vladimir Velickovic (2002)
• Les icônes païennes : variations sur Ernest Pignon-Ernest (2003)
• Archéologie du présent, manifeste pour l'art contemporain (2003)
• Féeries anatomiques (2003)
• La philosophie féroce La philosophie féroce : exercices anarchistes. (2004)
• La communauté philosophique (2004)
• Traité d'athéologie : Physique de la métaphysique, Paris, Grasset, (2005); English translation by Jeremy Leggatt as Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam (New York: Arcade Publishing, 2007)
• Théorie du voyage : poétique de la géographie, Paris, Galilée, 2005
• La puissance d'exister, (2006) Grasset, ISBN 2-246-71691-8
• Nietzsche: Se créer Liberté. (2010) Les Éditions du Lombard ISBN 978-2-8036-2650-2
• Le Crépuscule d’une idole. L'Affabulation freudienne. (2010) Grasset (ISBN 2-246-76931-0)
• Apostille au Crépuscule. Pour une psychanalyse non freudienne, (2010) Grasset (ISBN 2-246-75781-9)