Michel Onfray
Philosopher, Author
Michel Onfray, born in 1959. Doctor in philosophy. Twenty years as a teacher in a technological high school in Caen, resigned from the National Education in 2002. Philosopher, author of more than fifty books translated in more than twenty five countries.
He created in October 2002 the Popular University of Caen.
The Popular University of Caen
The principle
The Université Populaire retains from the traditional University the quality of the information transmitted, the principle of the cycle which allows for a personal progression, the necessity of a content transmitted before any debate. It keeps from the café philosophique the openness to all audiences, the critical use of knowledge, the interactivity and the practice of dialogue as a means to access the content.
How it works
The basic principle is that the course is free: no age requirement, no qualifications or levels required, no enrolment or knowledge control, no exams, no diplomas issued. The course is given once a week in a two-hour session: the first is a lecture, the second a discussion of it. The cycle runs from mid-October to mid-May. It is organized around the school vacations of the Académie de Caen.
