So Onfray portrays six thinkers: Pierre Charron, La Mothe Le Vayer, Gassendi, Two Cities, Cyrano de Bergerac (the real, not the novel) and Spinoza. The first question one might ask is: All these characters can they be regarded as philosophers. If we take the definition of Deleuze, a philosopher is a creator of concepts that address a specific problem. If you look at the angle defined by Pierre Hadot, philosophy is first practice in the life of every day a doctrine as in all ancient philosophies. Thus, if there is no doubt that Pierre Charron and Spinoza are many philosophers can be included Two Cities and Cyrano de Bergerac in this category? I think the answer is no, we can consider them as great novelists and moralists but they do not cross the stage of conceptualisation.
The portraits of different thinkers of this Volume 3 are rather uneven. That of Pierre Charron is excellent, this priest tried to make a synthesis between Christianity and epicurean continuing the thought of his master, Montaigne, and all the calumnies he suffered especially from the Jesuit François Garasse. A beautiful portrait of Spinoza also seen as eudemonistic philosopher. As against the portrait of La Mothe le Vayer is rather vague and obscure, to the character image. Finally, Onfray speaks Cyrano as a pioneer in extraordinary invention. For him Cyrano is the inspiration behind the megaphone, the tape recorder, the light bulb, caravans or motor magnetic propulsion! All this is a bit exaggerated anyway, Cyrano wrote fiction but really was not an inventor or scientist.
Finally it is a pity qu'Onfray waited the last ten pages of conclusions to develop a real alternative portrait of the seventeenth century and is only focused on six individuals. However like every time the reader has extensive annotated bibliography to discover more about the subject. The "baroque libertines" of the seventeenth century have prepared the Enlightenment while en route to Volume 4.
