Description
Book SynopsisRaymond 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.
For this new edition, prepared by Daniel J. Mahoney and Brian C. Anderson as part of Transaction's ongoing Aron Project, political scientist Harvey Mansfield provides a luminous introduction that underscores the permanent
Table of Contents
PART ONE POLITICAL MYTHS CHAPTER I. THE MYTH OF THE LEFT CHAPTER II. THE MYTH OF THE REVOLUTION CHAPTER III. THE MYTH OF THE PROLETARIAT PART TWO THE IDOLATRY OF HISTORY CHAPTER IV. CHURCHMEN AND THE FAITHFUL CHAPTER VI. THE ILLUSION OF NECESSITY PART THREE THE ALIENATION OF THE INTELLECTUALS CHAPTER VII. THE INTELLECTUALS AND THEIR HOMELAND CHAPTER VIII. THE INTELLECTUALS AND THEIR IDEOLOGIES CHAPTER IX. THE INTELLECTUALS IN SEARCH OF A RELIGION, CONCLUSION THE END OF THE IDEOLOGICAL AGE?
