History as Engagement: The Historical Epistemology of Raymond Aron

Massimiliano Simons

doi:10.1162/posc_a_00410

History as Engagement: The Historical Epistemology of Raymond Aron

Massimiliano Simons^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Raymond Aron was a student of Léon Brunschvicg, a representative of French historical epistemology. This article explores Aron’s relation to this tradition through three claims. First of all, it contests that Raymond Aron’s philosophy of history constituted a complete break with this tradition. Secondly, resituating Aron in this tradition is valuable, because it highlights how Aron’s own philosophy of history is to be understood as a normative project, seen as an alternative to that of Brunschvicg. Finally, Aron’s philosophy can still hold valuable lessons for present-day historical epistemology and history and philosophy of science in general.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	757–782
Journal	Perspectives on Science
Volume	30
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1162/posc_a_00410
Publication status	Published - Jul 2022
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Raymond Aron
Leon Brunschvicg

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10.1162/posc_a_00410

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title = "History as Engagement: The Historical Epistemology of Raymond Aron",

abstract = "Raymond Aron was a student of L{\'e}on Brunschvicg, a representative of French historical epistemology. This article explores Aron{\textquoteright}s relation to this tradition through three claims. First of all, it contests that Raymond Aron{\textquoteright}s philosophy of history constituted a complete break with this tradition. Secondly, resituating Aron in this tradition is valuable, because it highlights how Aron{\textquoteright}s own philosophy of history is to be understood as a normative project, seen as an alternative to that of Brunschvicg. Finally, Aron{\textquoteright}s philosophy can still hold valuable lessons for present-day historical epistemology and history and philosophy of science in general.",

keywords = "Raymond Aron, Leon Brunschvicg",

author = "Massimiliano Simons",

note = "Funding Information: The research for this article was funded by the Research Foundations Flanders (FWO). An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 6{\`e}mes Journ{\'e}es d{\textquoteright}{\'e}tudes sur l{\textquoteright}{\'E}pist{\'e}mologie Historique, held online during November 2020. I moreover want to thank Hannes Van Engeland and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.",

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KW - Leon Brunschvicg

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DO - 10.1162/posc_a_00410

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History as Engagement: The Historical Epistemology of Raymond Aron

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Keywords

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