Stewart, IG;
(2012)
Political Committment and Historical Epistemology: Raymond Aron's Transcendental Relativism Reconsidered.
In: Paul, J and Briggs, V and Giannakopoulos, G and Jensen, ML and Karstadt, E and Mowl, A and Sabbadini, L, (eds.)
Governing Diversities: Democracy, Diversity and Human Nature.
(pp. 107-127).
Cambridge Scholars: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
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Abstract
This chapter examines the French philosopher Raymond Aron’s Introduction à la philosophie de l’histoire (1938) to establish how its historical epistemology informed his understanding of political commitment. Reflecting on a disagreement between its commentators as to whether the book’s relativism undermines its moderate political conclusions, it is argued that this controversy reflects a problematic epistemological agnosticism at the heart of Aron’s political thought. This is encapsulated in his description of a ‘transcendental relativism’ in the Introduction, which this chapter links to Aron’s humanist reworking of Martin Heidegger’s theory of historicality. The recognition of this underacknowledged influence on the Introduction leads into a reconsideration of Aron’s more widely recognised, but somewhat misunderstood, intellectual debt to Max Weber.
Type: | Book chapter |
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Title: | Political Committment and Historical Epistemology: Raymond Aron's Transcendental Relativism Reconsidered |
ISBN: | 144383985X |
ISBN-13: | 9781443839853 |
Publisher version: | http://www.cambridgescholars.com/governing-diversi... |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | Copyright © 2012 by Joanne Paul with Victoria Briggs, Georgios Giannakopoulos, Mads Langballe Jensen, Elliott Karstadt, Adam Mowl and Lorenzo Sabbadini and contributors. |
Keywords: | Raymond Aron, Historical Epistemology, Martin Heidegger |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of History |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1474145 |
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