The Opium of the Intellectuals

The Opium of the Intellectuals PDF Author: Raymond Aron
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351478125
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
Raymond Aron's 1955 masterpiece The Opium of the Intellectuals, is one of the great works of twentieth- century political reflection. Aron shows how noble ideas can slide into the tyranny of "secular religion" and emphasizes how political thought has the profound responsibility of telling the truth about social and political reality-in all its mundane imperfections and tragic complexities.Aron explodes the three "myths" of radical thought: the Left, the Revolution, and the Proletariat. Each of these ideas, Aron shows, are ideological, mystifying rather than illuminating. He also provides a fascinating sociology of intellectual life and a powerful critique of historical determinism in the classically restrained prose for which he is justly famous.For this new edition, prepared by Daniel J. Mahoney and Brian C. Anderson as part of Transaction's ongoing "Aron Project," political scientist Harvey Mansfield provides a luminous introduction that underscores the permanent relevance of Aron's work. The new edition also includes as an appendix "Fanaticism, Prudence, and Faith," a remarkable essay that Aron wrote to defend Opium from its critics and to explain further his view of the proper role of political thinking. The book will be of interest to all students of political theory, history, and sociology.

The Opium of the Intellectuals

The Opium of the Intellectuals PDF Author: Raymond Aron
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351478125
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 383

Get Book Here

Book Description
Raymond Aron's 1955 masterpiece The Opium of the Intellectuals, is one of the great works of twentieth- century political reflection. Aron shows how noble ideas can slide into the tyranny of "secular religion" and emphasizes how political thought has the profound responsibility of telling the truth about social and political reality-in all its mundane imperfections and tragic complexities.Aron explodes the three "myths" of radical thought: the Left, the Revolution, and the Proletariat. Each of these ideas, Aron shows, are ideological, mystifying rather than illuminating. He also provides a fascinating sociology of intellectual life and a powerful critique of historical determinism in the classically restrained prose for which he is justly famous.For this new edition, prepared by Daniel J. Mahoney and Brian C. Anderson as part of Transaction's ongoing "Aron Project," political scientist Harvey Mansfield provides a luminous introduction that underscores the permanent relevance of Aron's work. The new edition also includes as an appendix "Fanaticism, Prudence, and Faith," a remarkable essay that Aron wrote to defend Opium from its critics and to explain further his view of the proper role of political thinking. The book will be of interest to all students of political theory, history, and sociology.

Thinking Politically

Thinking Politically PDF Author: Raymond Aron
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 9781412839907
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
Thinking Politically brings together a series of remarkable interviews with Raymond Aron that form a political history of our time. Ranging over an entire lifetime, from his youthful experience with the rise of Nazi totalitarianism in Berlin to the denouement of the cold war, Aron meditates on the threats to liberty and reason in the bloody twentieth century. In addition to the interviews published in the original edition, Thinking Politically incorporates three interviews never before published in book form. This supplemental material clarifies Aron's role as a voice of prudential reason in an unreasonable age and allows unparalleled access to the principal influences on Aron's thought. The volume concludes with "Democratic States and Totalitarian States," an address by Aron to the French Philosophical Society as well as the accompanying debate with Jacques Maritain, Victor Basch, and other intellectuals.

A Politics of Understanding

A Politics of Understanding PDF Author: Reed M. Davis
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 080713659X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Frequently hailed as one of the greatest defenders of democratic liberalism in postwar Europe, Raymond Aron left behind a staggering amount of published work on a remarkably wide range of topics, both scholarly and popular. While trained in philosophy, Aron nevertheless left his mark on such fields as economics, sociology, nuclear strategic thought, and international relations. A Politics of Understanding assesses the originality and consistency in Aron's corpus, especially in the areas of international relations theory and strategic thought, and provides a concise and clearly written explanation of the basic concepts at work in Aron's philosophy.

Imperial Twilight

Imperial Twilight PDF Author: Stephen R. Platt
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307961745
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 609

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Book Description
As China reclaims its position as a world power, Imperial Twilight looks back to tell the story of the country’s last age of ascendance and how it came to an end in the nineteenth-century Opium War. As one of the most potent turning points in the country’s modern history, the Opium War has since come to stand for everything that today’s China seeks to put behind it. In this dramatic, epic story, award-winning historian Stephen Platt sheds new light on the early attempts by Western traders and missionaries to “open” China even as China’s imperial rulers were struggling to manage their country’s decline and Confucian scholars grappled with how to use foreign trade to China’s advantage. The book paints an enduring portrait of an immensely profitable—and mostly peaceful—meeting of civilizations that was destined to be shattered by one of the most shockingly unjust wars in the annals of imperial history. Brimming with a fascinating cast of British, Chinese, and American characters, this riveting narrative of relations between China and the West has important implications for today’s uncertain and ever-changing political climate.

Raymond Aron and Liberal Thought in the Twentieth Century

Raymond Aron and Liberal Thought in the Twentieth Century PDF Author: Iain Stewart
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108484441
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
The first historical account of Raymond Aron's role in the reconfiguration of liberal thought in the short twentieth century.

Technology and Values

Technology and Values PDF Author: Kristin Sharon Shrader-Frechette
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780847686315
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description
Technology and Values provides a highly useful collection of essays organized around issues related to science, technology, public health, economics, the environment, and ethical theory. The editors present effective introductions that provide background information as well as philosophical tools and case studies to facilitate understanding of the variety of issues emanating from the most significant developments in technology, including the effects on privacy of the widespread use of computers to store and retrieve personal information and the ethical considerations of genetic engineering.

The Opium War

The Opium War PDF Author: Julia Lovell
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1468313231
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
This “crisp and readable account” of the nineteenth century British campaign sheds light on modern Chinese identity through “a heartbreaking story of war” (The Wall Street Journal). In October 1839, a Windsor cabinet meeting voted to begin the first Opium War against China. Bureaucratic fumbling, military missteps, and a healthy dose of political opportunism and collaboration followed. Rich in tragicomedy, The Opium War explores the disastrous British foreign-relations move that became a founding myth of modern Chinese nationalism, and depicts China’s heroic struggle against Western conspiracy. Julia Lovell examines the causes and consequences of the Opium War, interweaving tales of the opium pushers and dissidents. More importantly, she analyses how the Opium Wars shaped China’s self-image and created an enduring model for its interactions with the West, plagued by delusion and prejudice.

Main Currents in Sociological Thought: Durkheim, Pareto, Weber

Main Currents in Sociological Thought: Durkheim, Pareto, Weber PDF Author: Raymond Aron
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Sociology
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
For many years now, Professor Aron's course of lectures at the Sorbonne on "Les Grandes doctrines de l'histoire sociologique" has been a mecca for students from the United States, Europe, and the rest of the world. These lectures now serve as the basis for this major work--to be completed in succeeding volumes--on the history of man's understanding of his social order"--Book jacket.

Faces of Moderation

Faces of Moderation PDF Author: Aurelian Craiutu
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812248767
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Examining the writings of twentieth-century thinkers such as Raymond Aron, Isaiah Berlin, Norberto Bobbio, Michael Oakeshott, and Adam Michnik, Faces of Moderation argues that moderation remains crucial for today's encounters with new forms of extremism.

The Captive Mind

The Captive Mind PDF Author: Czesław Miłosz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Communism
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description