Raymond Aron and Alexis de Tocqueville

political moderation, liberty, and the role of the intellectuals

Aurelian Craiutu

pp. 261-274

in: José Colen, Elisabeth Dutartre-Michaut (eds), The companion to Raymond Aron, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015

Abstract

In the French school of political sociology, whose origins can be traced back to Montesquieu and which also includes Alexis de Tocqueville, Raymond Aron (1905–1983) occupies a prominent place. He felt close to those political sociologists who displayed an unfailing commitment to political liberty, emphasized the importance of civil society and intermediary bodies, underscored the autonomy of the political sphere, and defended political moderation.² Although he lived in an age of extremes, Aron retained his moderate voice up to the end of his life. He wrote against the arguments of those with whom he disagreed (first and foremost, Jean-Paul Sartre), but never against them personally, distinguishing sharply between ideas and persons. As Edward Shils once remarked, Aron "was never abusive even when he was abused; he wrote polemics, but they were factual and logical, and he never insulted his adversaries as they insulted him."³ He was, to use a memorable phrase of Claude Lévi-Strauss, "notre dernier professeur d"hygiène intellectuelle."⁴

Cited authors

Lévi-Strauss Claude

Sartre Jean-Paul

Aron Raymond

de Tocqueville Alexis