Now Available for the First Time in English
INTRODUCTION
TO THE PHILOSOPHY
OF HISTORY
An Essay on the Limits of Historical Objectivity
By Raymond Aron
Translated
by
George
/.
Irwin
Already a classic in its French original, here is the first
English version of Raymond Aron's masterwork on the
philosophy of history. He asks: Does history move according
to fixed laws? What do we know of the past? Can we pre–
dict future human development? Is mankind the victim of
"historical inevitability"? Can there, in fact, be a science of
history? Professor Aron's book stands as the definitive
treatment of these questions from a skeptical and anti–
historicist point of view. His answers will be much debated,
but the erudition supporting them is beyond challenge.
Author of On War, A Century of Total War, and France: The
New Republic, Raymond Aron is professor of sociology at
the Sorbonne.
BEACON PRESS
25 BEACON STREET
BOSTON 8, MASS.
