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The opium of the intellectuals / Raymond Aron ; with a new introduction by Harvey C. Mansfield ; foreword by Daniel J. Mahoney and Brian C. Anderson.

Title
The opium of the intellectuals / Raymond Aron ; with a new introduction by Harvey C. Mansfield ; foreword by Daniel J. Mahoney and Brian C. Anderson.
Author
Aron, Raymond, 1905-1983
Publication
New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction, c2001.

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Description
xxiv, 358 p.; 23 cm.
Summary
"Raymond Aron's 1955 masterpiece The Opium of the Intellectuals, is one of the great works of twentieth-century political reflection. Aron shows how noble ideas can slide into the tyranny of "secular religion" and emphasizes how political thought has the profound responsibility of telling the truth about social and political reality - in all its mundane imperfections and tragic complexities." "Aron explodes the three "myths" of radical thought: the Left, the Revolution, and the Proletariat. Each of these ideas, Aron shows, are ideological, mystifying rather than illuminating. He also provides a fascinating sociology of intellectual life and a powerful critique of historical determinism in the classically restrained prose for which he is justly famous."--BOOK JACKET.
Uniform Title
Opium des intellectuels. English
Alternative Title
Opium des intellectuels.
Subject
  • Intellectuals
  • Communism and intellectuals
  • Right and left (Political science)
  • Ideology
  • France > Intellectual life
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Processing Action (note)
  • committed to retain
Contents
Pt. 1. Political Myths -- Ch. I. Myth of the Left -- Ch. II. Myth of the Revolution -- Ch. III. Myth of the Proletariat. Concerning Political Optimism -- Pt. 2. Idolatry of History -- Ch. IV. Churchmen and the Faithful -- Ch. V. Meaning of History -- Ch. VI. Illusion of Necessity. Control of History -- Pt. 3. Alienation of the Intellectuals -- Ch. VII. Intellectuals and their Homeland -- Ch. VIII. Intellectuals and their Ideologies -- Ch. IX. Intellectuals in Search of a Religion. Destiny of the Intellectuals -- Conclusion: The End of the Ideological Age?
ISBN
  • 0765807009 (pbk. : alk. paper)
  • 0130123811
LCCN
^^^00056795^
OCLC
  • 44518083
  • SCSB-10840469
Owning Institutions
Harvard Library