Introduction by the Blog
Author
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.
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 relevance of Aron's work. The new edition also includes as an appendix "Fanaticism, Prudence, and Faith," a remarkable essay that Aron wrote to defend Opium from its critics and to explain further his view of the proper role of political thinking. The book will be of interest to all students of political theory, history, and sociology.
Yesterday’s entry dealt with biographical details of 20th
century French intellectual Raymond Aron.
Today’s entry follows that on with Amazon.com reviews of Aron’s
signature book, The Opium of the
Intellectuals.
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The Opium of the
Intellectuals
By Raymond Aron
Book Description
From Amazon.comRaymond 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 relevance of Aron's work. The new edition also includes as an appendix "Fanaticism, Prudence, and Faith," a remarkable essay that Aron wrote to defend Opium from its critics and to explain further his view of the proper role of political thinking. The book will be of interest to all students of political theory, history, and sociology.
Editorial Review
"Raymond Aron's analysis of French intellectual
culture of the 1940s and 1950s retains its relevance into the 21st century,
helping to illuminate the minds of intellectuals so that we can understand
their penchant for irrational utopianism. Although the particular controversies
have changed somewhat, our modern intellectuals partake of the same
opium."
– Ideas on Liberty
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
200 of 212 people found the
following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most
profound books of the 20th century! November 23, 1999
By T. Rosati
Aron's book deserves recognition
as one of the classic works of 20th century intellectual history.
Written 40
years ago during the battle of ideas between communism and liberal democracy,
"The Opium of the Intellectuals" provided profound insight into the
mind of the communist intellectual. Aron, a renowned French historian and
philosopher, wrote this devastating critique of French radicals (such as John
Paul Sartre) during the height of the Cold War. Unlike Albert Camus in his
famous book "The Rebel", Aron fires his guns without mercy and
exposes these intellectuals' penchant for irrationalism and extremism.
The book's title was derived from Marx's famous quote "Religion is the
opium of the people". Marx's belief was that religion diverted people's
attention from misery on earth by promising a glorious afterlife. Aron explains
communism served this role for radical intellectuals who eloquently
rationalized and apologized for communism's barbarism because its promise to
deliver utopia on earth. In a nutshell, communism replaced Christianity and
other established religions as a new faith, but one grounded in the secular
world, not in the heavens. As in all religions, faith is paramount, not reason.
Communism's monstrous crimes and wholesale destruction of the individual did
not bother these radicals because they believed in the ultimate "means /
ends" justification. Since only communism could deliver humanity to the
promised-land, it was privileged by its goal, thus any crime could be
rationalized as the part of the twisted path to salvation.
This masterpiece illustrates the dangers of radical intellectuals who take a
wild leap into political fantasy for the sake of an idea. Fredrich Hayek, the
famous Austrian economist, summarized it best 50 years ago when he stated
"The distance between a single-minded idealist and a fanatic is just one
step".
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46 of 57 people found the
following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Continuing
relevance of Aron's classic March 18, 2000
By MARGARET&
PETER
Although Aron's treatise was
published many decades ago as a brilliant and unsurpassed analysis of French
intellectual culture, it has direct relevance for contemporary fads and foibles
of Western cultural and intellectual life. Much of what goes on in the academy
today becomes lucid when read within Aron's analytical framework. This book
should be read by all who care about the education of their children.
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73 of 103 people found the
following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars a book for our
time August 8, 2003
By Inna Tysoe
VINE VOICE
Raymond Aron wrote this
brilliant book as a devastating attack on intellectuals who were then much
taken with communism, revolution and the proletariat. But it has, as he
recognized, obvious relevance to the intellectual climate in the post Cold War
world.
Consider, for example, this his profound insight that the intellectual
"protests against police brutality, the inhuman rhythm of industrial
production, the severity of bourgeois courts, the execution of prisoners whose
guilt has not been proved beyond doubt.... But as soon as he decides to give
his allegiance to a party which is implacably hostile as he is himself to the
established order, we find him forgiving.. everything he has hitherto
relentlessly denounced. The revolutionary myth bridges the gap between moral
intransigence and terrorism."
Hence today's intellectuals no longer defend Stalin; they applaud Arafat. They
do not question whether Western democratic values are superior to those of the USSR but whether Western values are superior to
those of Mid-East and Africa . It is no longer
fashionable to question whether the way we see communist countries is
culturally apt; instead we question whether how we see terrorists is culturally
apt. After all, should we not look for "root causes" of terrorism?
That question is still asked. It's just that before 1989 intellectuals asked
that question about communist terrorism; today they ask it about Mid-East
terrorism.
The myth of the revolution has moved to a new continent and intellectuals, the
Revolution's devotees, have a new Pope.
What a difference a few years make!
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16 of 22 people found the
following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Heavy
philosophical discourse, but very worthy for serious readers
July 1, 2006
By brian komyathy
VINE VOICE
Format:Paperback
Intellectuals "are always
inclined to judge their country and its institutions by comparing present
realities with theoretical ideals rather than with other realitities."
It's evocative of "...the monumental impatience of intellectuals with
human complexity and imperfection," and the inability to (quoting from the
intro by H. Mansfield) "appreciate the inevitability of partisanship;
hence they do not understand politics." But one does not understand
politics until one sees that it is a permanent feature of human life, and that
it defines human imperfection as the striving for perfection of beings
incapable of it." After all, man (as in people-kind) is not God. But for
those without any faith in a higher being it is far easier to imagine the
feasibility of utopian perfection on earth. Marxism is a 'religion' that
supplants religion (& faith in a higher being) and "Marxism is in
itself a synthesis of all the principal themes of progressive thought."
So, it does not beg credulity to see why intellectuals (inclined to
"progressive" beliefs & less inclined to be religious---in a
traditional sense) imagine anything to be possible. And it explains why many
such people excused away the "terrorism erected into a system of
government" in the Soviet Union utilizing
a belief that any "progressive" government must be given the benefit
of any possible doubts: such is the faith of progressives, easily inebriated on
great collective utopian schemes. People
are imperfect, though, are they not? Yet intellectuals (far more prone than
workers or oppressed minorities) are "merciless toward the failings of
democracies but ready to tolerate the worst crimes as long as they are
committed in the name of the proper doctrines." It's an inclination that
betrays a penchant for aristocratic values and contempt for average people. A
little historical context: After the fall of the aristocratic French monarchy
"the revolutionary fervour...split into two separate channels, nationalist
and socialist," but "the nationalist ideology is nonetheless
condemned in Western Europe ." After all,
how can European 'powers' "get excited about the temporal grandeur of a
collectivity which is incapable of manufacturing its own arms" or
unwilling to do so. It is much more economical to free-ride off 'nationalist' America America
(who see the proverbial glass more than half-empty) are no different and
"are more pained than simpler mortals by the hegemony of the United States
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