Faces of moderation: Raymond Aron as committed observer

Raymond Aron's books stand out as an example of lucid political judgment in an age of extremes in which many intellectuals shunned moderation and were attracted to various forms of irresponsible metaphysics and political radicalism. By drawing on a representative selection from Aron's writings covering more than three decades of his life, this paper concentrates on the "committed observer" (specta…