French scientist of Jewish origin, philosopher and sociologist, political scientist, politically liberal Aron Raymond is the founder of the epistemological trend in the philosophy of history, whose supporters opposed the interpretation of history from the point of view of positivism. Raymond himself advocated the globalization and de-ideologization of science. He is also an adherent of the theory of industrial society. Aron Raymond contributed to the reception of German sociology, for example, the system of ideas of M. Weber in France. As a publicist, he has written over 30 books. For some time he was a political columnist for the Le Figaro newspaper. Based on his political convictions, he believed that the state should create laws that will guarantee freedom, equality, pluralism, and ensure their implementation.
Aron Raymond: biography
The future scientist was born in 1905 in Lorraine, in the city of Ramberviller, in a family of Jewish emigrants who were completely assimilated into their environment. Hishis father, Gustave Aron, was a professor of law, and his mother, Susan Levy, was a secular woman, a native of Alsace. Soon the family moved to Paris.
Aron Raymond received his education at the École normale supérieure. Here he met Jean-Paul Sartre. Throughout their lives they were best friends, but at the same time intellectual adversaries. Raymond shone with his knowledge and in passing the exam in philosophy for the degree of agrégé, he collected the highest number of points and won first place. It was truly a great task! Meanwhile, Sartre failed and failed the exam. At the age of 25, Raymond received a doctorate in the history of philosophy.
In Germany
After graduating from the Paris school, Aron went to Germany to lecture at the Universities of Cologne and Berlin. Here he sees how the Nazis burn "smart" books. It was after this that he developed an aversion to totalitarianism, and even to fascism. When Hitler came to power in Germany, he had to return to France for his safety.
Teaching activities
Returning to his homeland, he begins to teach social philosophy and sociology at the University of Le Havre (not to be confused with Harvard). Since 1934, he has been teaching for about 5 years and working as a secretary at the Higher Normal School, which he once graduated from.
Then Aaron Raymond moves to Toulouse, where he lectures on social philosophy. Before the start of the Second World War, he takes part in the W alter Lippmann Colloquium in Paris,named after the famous American journalist. This intellectual meeting was hosted by Louis Rougier.
War in the life of Aaron Raymond
As already noted, before the outbreak of the war, he was a teacher of social philosophy at the University of Toulouse. Having quit teaching, he went to the front to serve in the French Air Force, and after the army was defeated and his native country was under Nazi occupation, he went across the English Channel, to Foggy Albion.
Here he joins the Fighting France movement, which was under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle himself and under which the patriotic magazine Free France operated. Aaron becomes its editor. By printing abroad, they try to boost the morale of their compatriots.
Raymond Aron: stages in the development of sociological thought
After the German invaders leave France, the scientist returns to his homeland and resumes teaching. This time he gets a job at the National School of Administration, as well as at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, where he teaches sociology.
Aron's early sociological views are influenced by neo-Kantianism (the Baden school). In his writings, he denied the laws of development and society, preaching extreme relativism, which bordered on irrationalism.
Later he moved away from the extremes of apriorism andrelativism and approached the position of M. Weber in his theory of "ideal types" in the study of history. In his scientific works on the history of sociology, Aron sympathized with the conservative tendencies of Durkheim and Tocqueville. He kept trying to create an " alternative" version of historical materialism.
Teachings of Aron
He is one of the authors of the concept of de-ideologization. He adhered to a negative position regarding objective historical regularity, the dialectics of the interaction of production relations and productive forces, as well as the concept of an economic and social formation.
The sociology of Aron Raymond takes as the object of social research a derivative of subjective moments, for example, motivation, value orientations of this or that action of subjects, the point of view of the one who is engaged in research. This approach, according to Aron's views, is a new, "non-ideological" theory of society. It is the only true theory, because it studies "what really exists".
As already noted, Aron is also the founder of the theory of the general for the entire industrial society. He considered himself a follower of Saint-Simon and Long and often referred to them.
Raymond's most famous work
As already noted, he is also a publicist, and he has written more than 30 books, and among them the most famous is "The Opium of Intellectuals". Raymond Aron wrote it in 1955. She created a real sensation. controversyabout this book they do not stop talking today. It is still relevant.
