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Raymond Aron

File:Raymond_Aron_Studio_Harcourt_1956_(4x5_cropped).png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Raymond Aron

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French philosopher, sociologist, journalist, and political scientist (1905–1983)

OverviewAI-generated

Raymond Aron (1905–1983) was a French journalist, philosopher, writer, and political scientist. Born in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, he was educated at Lycée Condorcet, the University of Paris, Sciences Po, and the École Normale Supérieure. He served in the French Air Force and was a member of the Rally of the French People and the French Section of the Workers' International. Aron worked for Le Figaro, L'Express, Sciences Po, and the Collège de France.

His intellectual influences included Montesquieu, Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, and Max Weber. He was a member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the German Academy for Language and Literature, and the American Philosophical Society. Among his students were Pierre Hassner, Claude Lefort, Neagu Djuvara, Jon Elster, and Jean-Pierre Faye. His notable works include *L'homme contre les tyrans*, *The century of total war*, *Imperial Republic*, and *Le développment de la société industrielle et la stratification sociale*.

Aron died of natural causes in the 4th arrondissement of Paris and was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery. He was the father of Dominique Schnapper.

Synthesized by Vinony from 38 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Crossref, Last.fm, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1905
Died
1983
Works
317

Top works

  • L'homme contre les tyrans
  • Hauptströmungen des klassischen soziologischen Denkens
  • The century of total war
  • Le développment de la société industrielle et la stratification sociale
  • Imperial Republic

via Open Library + Wikidata

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Ferdinand
Gender
male
Citizenship
France
Occupation
economist
Educated at
Lycée Hoche
Languages spoken
German
Academic degree
doctorate
Doctoral advisor
Léon Brunschvicg
Student of
Leo Spitzer
Doctoral student
Jean-Pierre Faye
Sport
tennis
Conflict
World War II
Military branch
French Air Force
Image
RaymondAron-StudioHarcourt-1956.png
Residence
France
Significant event
military service
Show 14 more facts
place of burial
Montparnasse Cemetery
Commons category
Raymond Aron
date of birth
1905-00-00
date of death
1983-00-00
influenced by
Immanuel Kant
name in native language
Raymond Claude Ferdinand Aron
ethnic group
French
manner of death
natural causes
cause of death
myocardial infarction
significant person
Georges Canguilhem
birth name
Raymond Claude Ferdinand Aron
on focus list of Wikimedia project
Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
writing language
French
Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

Raymond Claude Ferdinand Aron (/ɑːˈrɒn/; French: [ʁɛmɔ̃ aʁɔ̃]; 14 March 1905 – 17 October 1983) was a French philosopher, sociologist, political scientist, historian and journalist, one of France's most prominent thinkers of the 20th century.

Aron is best known for his 1955 book The Opium of the Intellectuals, the title of which inverts Karl Marx's claim that religion was the opium of the people; he argues that Marxism was the opium of the intellectuals in post-war France. In the book, Aron chastised French intellectuals for what he described as their harsh criticism of capitalism and democracy and their simultaneous defense of the actions of the communist governments of the East. Critic Roger Kimball suggests that Opium is "a seminal book of the twentieth century". Aron is also known for his lifelong friendship, sometimes fractious, with philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. The saying "Better be wrong with Sartre than right with Aron" became popular among French intellectuals.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Raymond Aron” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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