Raymond Aron, the history of ideas and the idea of France

European Journal of Political Theory

Volumn 2, Issue 4, 2003, Pages 383-399

  Gowan, Richard ^a,b  

^a OSCE Mission   (Croatia)

^b NONE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Aron; French liberalism; History of ideas; Renan; Thibaudet

Indexed keywords

EID: 34247438636     PISSN: 14748851     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/14748851030024003     Document Type: Article

References (85)

1. Raymond Aron (1944) 'Redevenir une grande puissance', La France Libre 8(47): 330. It should be remembered that many of Aron's pieces for La France Libre (although not that cited here) appeared unsigned or under the pseudonym 'René Avord'. In the notes that follow, I simply attribute them to Aron.
2. Raymond Aron (1972) Études politiques, p. 236. Paris: Gallimard.
3. Raymond Aron (1968) Democracy and Totalitarianism, pp. 39-51. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
4. First published 1965 as Démocratie et totalitarisme. Paris: Gallimard.
5. as Démocratie et totalitarisme. Ibid. p. 43.
6. Aron (n. 2), pp. 152-3.
7. Raymond Aron (1990) Memoirs: Fifty Years of Political Reflection, p. 121. New York: Holmes & Meier.
8. First published 1983 as Mémoires: 50 ans de réflexion politique. Paris: Julliard.
9. Aron's debt has not, to my knowledge, been discussed elsewhere. Christian Bachelier gives a short comment on Thibaudet in Raymond Aron (1990) Chroniques de guerre: La France libre, 1940-7945, p. 689, n. 74. Paris: Gallimard. Bachelier's note provided the stimulus for this article.
10. Sudhir Hazareesingh (1994) Political Traditions in Modern France. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
11. Albert Thibaudet (1932) Les Idées politiques de la France, pp. 49-50. Paris: Stock.
12. Les Idées politiques de la France, Ibid. p. 7.
13. See Aron (n. 6), pp. 50ff. Also Nicolas Baverez (1993) Raymond Aron, p. 117. Paris: Flammarion.
14. See Aron (n. 6), p. 51. Also Raymond Aron (1964) 'Témoinage', in Anne-Heurgon-Desjardins (ed.) Paul Desjardins et les décades de Pontigny. Paris: PUF.
15. Raymond Aron (1997) Thinking Politically: A Liberal in the Age of Ideology, p. 29. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. First published in Paris in 1981 as Le Spectateur engagé.
16. For the politics of the NSF, see Martyn Cornick (1995) Intellectuals in History: The 'Nouvelle revue française' under Jean Paulhan. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
17. Albert Thibaudet (1927) La République des professeurs, p. 230. Paris: Bernard Grasset.
18. Aron (n. 13), p. 60.
19. See Aron (n. 6), p. 140.
20. Raymond Aron (1986) Introduction à la philosophie de l'histoire, pp. 88-9. Paris: Gallimard.
21. First published 1938, Paris: Gallimard. My account of l'esprit objectif draws heavily on that of Stephen Launay (1995) La Pensée politique de Raymond Aron, pp. 23-8. Paris: PUF.
22. Aron (n. 18), pp. 416 and 94.
23. George W.F. Hegel (1991) Elements of the Philosophy of Right, p. 372ff. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. First published 1820 as the Rechtsphilosophie.
24. Aron (n. 2), p. 351.
25. Debeny, Eugene (1929) 'Armée nationale ou armée de métier', Revue des Deux Mondes 53: 254.
26. Raymond Aron (1957) German Sociology, p. 88. London: Heinemann.
27. First published 1935 as La Sociologie allemande contemporaine. Paris: Alcan.
28. as La Sociologie allemande contemporaine. Ibid. p. 85.
29. as La Sociologie allemande contemporaine. p. 85. Ibid.
30. Aron (n. 13), p. 338. From a translation of 'États démocratiques et états totalitaires', a lecture given to the Société Française de Philosophie on 17 June 1939 and first published in the Society's Bulletin in 1946.
31. Ibid. p. 335.
32. Mantoux to Aron, 15/6/39, Box 207, Archives Raymond Aron, Centre de Recherches Politiques Raymond Aron, Paris. This letter is an effort to pre-empt the arguments of 'États démocratiques et états totalitaires'.
33. Aron (n. 13), p. 339.
34. Quoted in Julian Jackson (2001) France: The Dark Years, p. 149. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
35. Quoted in Raymond Aron (1943) 'Pensée française en exil: I. Le Message de Bernanos', La France Libre 6(32) : 25.
36. Raymond Aron La France Libre Ibid. p. 28.
37. Raymond Aron (1943) 'Destin des nationalités', La France Libre 5(29): 342.
38. Thibaudet (n. 9), p. 263.
39. Ibid. p. 128.
40. Barrès, Maurice (1917) Les Diverses Familles spirituelles de la France. Paris.
41. Thibaudet (n. 9), pp. 9-10.
42. Ibid. p. 263.
43. These were Raymond Aron (1942a) 'De la liberté politique: Montesquieu et Jean-Jacques Rousseau', La France Libre 3(17): 374-83
44. and (1942b) 'Aux sources de la pensée française', La France Libre 4(24): 441-8.
45. Aron (1942a, in n. 39,), p. 374.
46. Aron (1942b, in n. 39), p. 448.
47. Aron (1942a, in n. 39), p. 383.
48. Aron (1942b, in n. 39), p. 448.
49. Aron (n. 18), p. 160.
50. Raymond Aron (1944) 'Organisation des partis', La France Libre 8(48): 406-7.
51. Raymond Aron (2001) 'Apres l'événement, avant l'histoire', Commentaire 96: 885. First published 1945 in Les Temps Modernes 1.
52. See, for example, Raymond Aron (1950) 'Social Structure and the Ruling Class', British Journal of Sociology 1.
53. David C.J. Lee (1996) Ernest Renan: In the Shadow of Faith, p. 229. London: Duckworth.
54. Ernest Renan (1990) La Réforme intellectuelle et morale, p. 65.
55. Ernest Renan (La Réforme intellectuelle et morale, Ibid. p. 82.
56. Raymond Aron (1944) 'Remarques sur l'instabilité politique de la France', La France Libre 7(40): 268.
57. Laurent de Meauce (1943) 'Le Génie liberal de la France: Un essai sur Renan', La France Libre 5: 398.
58. Raymond Aron (1942) 'Chronique de France: Au service de l'ennemi', La France Libre 5(25): 70.
59. Raymond Aron (1944) 'Le Renforcement de pouvoir: II. De l'efficacité gouvernementale', La France Libre 7(42): 447.
60. Raymond Aron (1942) 'Défaite d'hier, leçons actuelles: Le Problème militaire au procès de Riom', La France Libre 4(21): 209-24.
61. Raymond Aron (La France Libre Ibid. p. 222.
62. Aron (n. 54), p. 450.
63. Raymond Aron (1947) 'Méditations sur la défaite', Critique 2: 444.
64. Raymond Aron (Critique Ibid. p. 446.
65. Marc Bloch (1949) Strange Defeat, pp. 166-7. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
66. Robert Gildea (1994) The Past in French History, p. 167. New Haven: Yale University Press.
67. Aron (n. 58), p. 447.
68. Renan (n. 46), pp. x-xi.
69. Ibid. p. 178.
70. Ibid. p. 158.
71. Ibid. p. 131.
72. Ibid. pp. 124-5.
73. Albert Thibaudet (1932) 'Réflexions: Les Europes', Nouvelle Revue Française 41: 726-7.
74. Raymond Aron (1945) 'Révolution et rénovation - II', La France Libre 10(59): 356.
75. Raymond Aron (1944) 'Pour l'alliance de l'Occident', La France Libre 7(39): 186.
76. Renan (n. 46), p. 199.
77. Aron (1996) 'La Paix belliqueuse', Commentaire 917.
78. First published in Promtions 1 (1946).
79. Raymond Aron (1959) Immuable et changeante, p. 250. Paris: Calmann-Lévy.
80. Raymond Aron (1997) Introduction à la philosophie politique, p. 16. Paris: Fallois.
81. Raymond Aron (Introduction à la philosophie politique, Ibid. p. 35.
82. Raymond Aron (1957) Peur et espoir de siècle, pp. 134-8. Paris: Calmann-Lévy.
83. See, for example, Aron (n. 6), pp. 416-17 and 419.
84. Raymond Aron (1962) Paix et guerre entre les nations, p. 108. Paris: Calmann-Lévy.
85. Raymond Aron (Paix et guerre entre les nations, Ibid. p. 108, n. 1.