This summer, Michel Onfray, the popular philosopher who founded the Université Populaire, has a series of lectures available on France Culture. As the site says, "he invites you to delve into the thought of radical existential philosophers and the formation of modern individualism with Emerson, Thoreau, Stirner and Schopenhauer." I listened to all of the lectures on Thoreau and they are all worth it. Start with the podcast of August 1 where he takes questions from his audience. The first student asks him to explain Hegel, which takes about 20 minutes, then someone asked if the idea of manifest destiny couldn't be blamed, in a way, on Thoreau. The answer, 30 minutes long, is no.Onfray for iTunes.
