Raymond Aron and his dialogues in an age of ideologies.

Abstract

This dissertation examines the thought and rhetoric of scholar and editorialist Raymond Aron by exploring his conversations on politics during the Cold War with several of his more well-known interlocutors, including Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Friedrich Hayek, Henry Kissinger, and Charles de Gaulle. Each chapter finds Aron at odds with one of his contemporaries on a particular matter of policy in order to reveal the prudence of Aron’s politics of understanding as well as the emphasis he places on and virtue he demonstrates in public discourse. Through his dialogues, Aron shows us not only how to think politically but also how to engage in constructive public debate.