Raymond Aron (Hardcover)

by Brian C. Anderson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This concise and penetrating analysis introduces students to the life and thought of one of the giants of twentieth- century French intellectual life. Portraying Raymond Aron as a great defender of reason, moderation, and political sobriety in an era dominated by ideological fervor and philosophical fashion, Brian Anderson demonstrates the centrality of political reason to Aron's philosophy of history, his critique of ideological thinking, his meditations on the perennial problems of peace and war, and the nature of conservative liberalism. This accessible study of Aron's thought and the thought of his contemporaries will enhance any syllabus for classes on modern and contemporary political thought.

About the Author
Brian C. Anderson is senior editor at City Journal and the editor of "Cultivating Liberty: Writings on Moral Ecology", by Michael Novak (Rowman & Littlefield, 1998).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847687570
• ISBN-13: 978-0847687572
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,635,047 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A marvelous treatment of a great political thinker, September 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Raymond Aron: The Recovery of the Political (Paperback)

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in contemporary political philosophy or, for that matter, 20th century history. It is briskly written, and really explores Aron's thought on history, totalitarianism, pluralism, and other imprtant debates.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Prudence and Conservatism?, September 18, 2006

By	V. Kanwar "International Lawyer" (Formerly the City and the Century) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Raymond Aron: The Recovery of the Political (Paperback)

Anderson identifies Aron with a range of thinkers from Max Weber to Carl Schmitt, and the idea that prudence is the central quality of political responsibility, moreover it is anti-nomic, in other words, not particularly concerned with legality. According to Aron: "[t]o be prudent is to act in accordance with the particular situation and the concrete data, and not in accordance with some system or out of passive obedience to a norm... it is to prefer the limitation of violence to the punishment of the presumably guilty party or to a so-called absolute justice; it is to establish concrete accessible objectives... and not limitless and perhaps meaningless [ones], such as "a world safe for democracy" or a world from which power politics has disappeared." Anderson argues that this connects to a "conservative" tradition of prudence. Whatever he means by that, it cannot be of much use to the current generation neo-conservatives and their world-made-saving rhetoric.