DIANA PINTO
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thought, political choices, and philosophical outlook, became an
unlikely best-seller and dominated all intellectual debate during last
autumn's Parisian
rentree.
Much has been written on the causes of Aron's late triumph.
Some saw his success as proof that his thought finally "won" over that
of his youthful friend and ideological rival, Jean-Paul Sartre. Others
saw in Aron's current popularity a sign of the times. The collapse of
a strong and confident left-wing intellectual milieu left the road open
for the solitary voice from the liberal right, whose words of reason
soothed after much revolutionary nonsense. In both cases, Aron's
image of political-philosophical liberalism was best conveyed in his
editorials in
Le Figaro
and later in
L'Express
rather than in his
numerous books on philosophy, sociology, and international rela–
tions.
It
was less his opus than his philosophical stance of triumphant
reason, combined with his superb pamphleteering skills, which was
being acclaimed.
If
he was a
maitre
a
penser,
Aron founded no school
of thought; his was not a creative but a critical outlook with which he
commented on all aspects of French economic, political, and intel–
lectual life.
Aron based his philosophical and political writings on the belief
that one had to criticize the realm of politics from the "inside" and
not in absolute moral terms. Political criticism had to take into ac–
count what decision-makers could actually do in a given set of cir–
cumstances . For him, absolute judgements of good and evil ala Sar–
tre were of no use. Aron pleaded for a division of intellectual labor,
and while he covered more than his share of fields (sociology, phi–
losophy, economics, and international relations), he always opposed
the global thinking of radical and Marxist philosophers who sought
to judge human development in terms of philosophical "wholes," and
in the name of lay religions, the most dangerous of which was, of
course, communism.
Aron was the master of "l'intelligence raisonneuse," but his su–
premely rational bent was also his weakness. Human life and history
are often shaped by irrational forces and motives; individuals do
make a difference and their passions do precipitate decisions. The
"spectateur engage' Aron prided himself in being lacked a living
sense of history, perhaps because he was guided from the onset by
his fascination with the philosophy of history, most notably in its
German incarnation. Although he was more than acquainted with
tragedy in personal as well as in national terms, he sought to trans–
cend its impact with the antidote of rational, some said cold, analy-
