Abstract
The question of the political regime is at the heart of the work—and one could say the life—of Raymond Aron. The thinking of this French philosopher and sociologist demonstrates how and to what extent this question is at the heart of the human problem qua political problem. Aron’s lucidity in the face of a century marked by hyperbolic drama and process, by extreme hopes and fears, is well known. It is useful to recall the starting point of his intellectual journey in order to introduce our reflection on the science that informed his judgment of historical actuality.
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Notes
“De la condition historique du sociologue” (1971), in Raymond Aron, Les Sociétés modernes, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2006, 1073.
Cf. Raymond Aron, Le Spectateur engagé. Entretiens avec Jean-Louis Missika et Dominique Wolton, Paris, Julliard, 1981; Editions de Fallois, Paris, 2004, 73–74, 419.
Raymond Aron, Les Etapes de la pensée sociologique, Paris, Gallimard, 1967, 295–296.
Raymond Aron, Mémoires. 50 ans de réflexion politique, (1983) Paris, Laffont, 2003, 351–352.
Raymond Aron, Les Désillusions du progrès. Essai sur la dialectique de la modernité, Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1969, 20.
“Élie Halévy et l’ère des tyrannies,” in E. Halévy, L’Ère des tyrannies, Paris, Gallimard, 1990, 273.
“Introduction,” to A. Ponceau, Timoléon: réflexions sur la tyrannie, Edition du Myrte, Paris, 1950, 13–14.
“Les sociologues et les institutions représentatives” (1960), in Raymond Aron, Les Sociétés modernes, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2006, 714.
Cf. Raymond Aron, Démocratie et totalitarisme, Paris, Gallimard, 1965, 32–37.
On the primacy of the political see also Raymond Aron, Paix et guerre entre les nations (1962), Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 2004, 56–57
“Thucydide et le récit historique” (1960), in Raymond Aron, Dimensions de la conscience historique, Paris, Plon, 1964, 146.
“Max Weber et la politique de puissance” (1964), in Raymond Aron, Machiavel et les tyrannies modernes, Paris, Editions de Fallois, 1993, 227.
Cf. “L’avenir des religions séculières” (1944), in Raymond Aron, Chroniques de guerre: La France libre 1940–1945, Paris, Gallimard, 1990
Raymond Aron, Introduction à la philosophie politique: démocratie et révolution (1952), Paris, Le Livre de Poche, 1997, 218–220
“Millénarisme ou sagesse?” (1955), in Raymond Aron, Penser la liberté, penser la démocratie, Paris, Gallimard, 2005, 457.
“Le fanatisme, la prudence et la foi” (1956), in Raymond Aron, Marxismes imaginaires, Paris, Gallimard, 1970, 146.
“Remarques sur la classification des régimes politiques” (1965), in Raymond Aron, Les Sociétés modernes, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2006, 765.
“L’aube de l’histoire universelle” (1960), in Raymond Aron, Dimensions de la conscience historique, Paris, Plon, 1961, 233.
“L’âge des empires” (1945), in Raymond Aron, Chroniques de guerre: La France libre 1940–1945, Paris, Gallimard, 1990, 984–985.
Cf. “États démocratiques et états totalitaires” (1939), in Raymond Aron, Penser la liberté, penser la démocratie, 55–106.
“Naissance des tyrannies” (1941), in Raymond Aron, Chroniques de guerre, 516.
“La définition libérale de la liberté” (1961), in Raymond Aron, Les Sociétés modernes, 642.
Raymond Aron, L’Opium des intellectuels, Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1955; reissue: Paris, Hachette, 2002, 127–128; “Millénarisme ou sagesse?” 455–457.
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© 2015 José Colen and Elisabeth Dutartre-Michaut
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De Ligio, G. (2015). The Question of Political Regime and the Problems of Democracy: Aron and the Alternative of Tocqueville. In: Colen, J., Dutartre-Michaut, E. (eds) The Companion to Raymond Aron. Recovering Political Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-52243-6_10
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