In search of limits: Raymond Aron on ‘secular religion’ and communism

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-154
Author(s):  
Daniel Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Weak Spot ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
Famous Book ◽  
History Of ◽  
Raymond Aron ◽  
Secular Religion

Beginning in the 1940s, Raymond Aron used the concept of ‘secular religion’ to condemn communism. This article traces the history of ‘secular religion’ within his writings. Aron’s earliest critique of communism, in his doctoral thesis of 1938, entitled Introduction to the Philosophy of History , was philosophically powerful yet did not rely on ‘secular religion.’ The concept first emerged in his wartime writings; it then became central in his famous book The Opium of the Intellectuals (1955). The ambiguities of the concept of ‘secular religion’ are discussed in this article. On the whole, the idea of ‘secular religion’ appears to be a weak spot within the corpus of a thinker who was usually very precise in defining his concepts. The article suggests that Aron is a case study in the failure of many Cold War intellectuals to wrestle productively with the concept of religion.

From evolutionary theory to philosophy of history

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Gabel
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Mendelian Genetics ◽  
Inheritance Of Acquired Characteristics ◽  
Human Autonomy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Raymond Aron

Well into the 1940s, many French biologists rejected both Mendelian genetics and Darwinism in favour of neo-transformism, the claim that evolution proceeds by the inheritance of acquired characteristics. In 1931 the zoologist Maurice Caullery published Le Problème d’évolution, arguing that, while Lamarckian mechanisms could not be demonstrated in the present, they had nevertheless operated in the past. It was in this context that Raymond Aron expressed anxiety about the relationship between biology, history, and human autonomy in his 1938 Introduction à la philosophie de l’histoire: essai sur les limites de l’objectivité historique, in which he rejected both neo-Kantian and biological accounts of human history. Aron aspired to a philosophy of history that could explain the dual nature of human existence as fundamentally rooted in the biological, and at the same time, as a radical transcendence of natural law. I argue that Aron’s encounter with evolutionary theory at this moment of epistemic crisis in evolutionary theory was crucial to the formation of his philosophy of history, and moreover that this case study demonstrates the importance of moving beyond the methodological divisions between intellectual history and history of science.

‘The Timpani Beats Just Hit on My Heart!’ Music, Memory, and Diplomacy in the Philadelphia Orchestra's 1973 China Tour

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-418
Author(s):  
BESS XINTONG LIU
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Western Art ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western Art Music ◽  
Historical Trajectory ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Musical Diplomacy

AbstractThis article examines the underexplored history of the 1973 Philadelphia Orchestra China tour and retheorizes twentieth-century musical diplomacy as a process of ritualization. As a case study, I consult bilingual archives and incorporate interviews with participants in this event, which brings together individual narratives and public opinions. By contextualizing this musical diplomacy in the Cold War détente and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, I argue for the complex set of relations mobilized by Western art music in 1973. This tour first created a sense of co-dependency between musicians and politicians. It also engaged Chinese audiences by revitalizing pre-Cultural Revolution sonic memories. Second, I argue that the significance of the 1973 Orchestra tour lies in the ritualization of Western art music as diplomatic etiquette, based on further contextualization of this event in the historical trajectory of Sino-US relations and within the entrenched Chinese ideology of liyue (ritual and music).

scholarly journals Intervision

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Yulia Yurtaeva
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Administrative Data ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
Basic Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western View ◽  
The Cold War

The research on the “Intervision”, used as an empiric case study about the inter-cultural communication between its participants, consists of examining primary sources spread over several archives throughout Europe to collect structural and administrative data, making interviews with contemporary witnesses and evaluating statistics – with mainly the task to widen the perspective on a subject, that was formerly nation-focused or being described with a Western view only. As the preliminary steps of a basic study on the History of the Program Exchange in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, this research became an example, with which challenges one is confronted within an Media Archaeological task.

Will New Blood in the Leadership Produce New Blood on the Battlefield? The Impact of Regime Changes on Middle East Military Rivalries

2004 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 612-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Tures
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Middle East ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Regime Changes ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Impact

The Middle East has witnessed a recent spate of alterations in rulers and regimes. These new leaders are coming to power in countries having a history of international conflict with other states in the region. Will the change in government exacerbate interstate crises, producing disputes and wars? Or will the nascent leadership steer their countries to peace, choosing instead to focus on an internal consolidation of power? To answer this question, this article examines the theories of foreign policy behavior of new leaders. It discusses the results of a quantitative analysis of an earlier time frame: the initial years of the Cold War. The article then conducts a series of case study analyses of contemporary times to determine if the theory and prior statistical tests remain valid. The results show that new administrations are more likely to target rivals with a threat, display, or limited use of force. Such incoming leaders, however, seem reluctant to drag their countries into a full-scale war. These findings hold for a variety of countries in a number of different contexts. Such results are relevant for Middle East scholars, conflict mediators, as well as American foreign policymakers who seem to have adopted a taste for regime change in the region.

“The Honest Marxist”

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (S1) ◽  
pp. 100-126
Author(s):  
Yakov Feygin
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
The State ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
State University ◽  
Mathematical Economics ◽  
Policy Relevance ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research ◽  
Moscow State University

This article examines the career of Yakov Kronrod, a Soviet economic theorist, in the context of the larger transformation of Soviet economics in the post-Stalin period. It argues that Kronrod’s debates with his rivals in the “Mathematical Economics” and “Moscow State University” approaches to economics open a window on how the changing relationship between the state and the profession of economics created new research agendas. The transformation of economics in the post-Stalin period into a “Cold War Science” from an “ideological science” made “policy relevance” increasingly important to Soviet economic practitioners and allowed once ideologically hostile ideas to become central to economics. This case study makes a larger intervention into the history of late Soviet society, arguing that seemingly arcane intellectual conflicts were, in fact, a reflection of extremely contentious political battles and that ideology remained a key site of politics deep into the Brezhnev era.

scholarly journals Исследования Pоссии/СССР и стран Восточной Европы после холодной войны: новое лицо дисциплины

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 35-48
Author(s):  
Olga Bolshakova
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
New Developments ◽  
East European ◽  
Global Character ◽  
History Of ◽  
Community Of Researchers ◽  
The Cold War

The paper deals with the new developments in the field of Russian and East European studies (REES) after the end of the Cold war, with the focus on the U.S. and Great Britain. Along with organizational and structural changes in the field special attention is devoted to new subjects and trends in the study of the region, with Belarus as a case study. Research in this field began in the 90s and has been booming since the 2000s. Researchers are primarily interested in the history of the country, political science, anthropology, and literary studies. The formation of an international community of researchers allows us to conclude that previously “Western” discipline of REES is gaining a global character.

Marxism: Between the Scientific Theory and "Secular Religion" (Liberal Apologia)

2004 ◽  
pp. 4-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Gaidar ◽  
V. Mau
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
Scientific Heritage ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Secular Religion

Authors address K. Marx's scientific heritage, considering marxism as a multidimensional social science, including economic theory, philosophy of history (theory of social development), theory of class struggle and revolution, theory of economic history, history of economic thought. In their opinion, the most interesting and actual components of Marx's theory are the philosophy of history as a method of historical analysis and the theory of economic history. Therefore the marxist method of historical analysis and the treatment of economic history is the subject of the article. The principles formulated by Marx, the experience of creative rethinking of marxism, its application to social evolution are investigated. Authors make attempt to show which elements of the social theory of marxism were erroneous, which elements have lost their value and which elements are valuable today.

RIAS, 1963–1992

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Rock And Roll ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Unique Case ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War

This concluding chapter briefly charts the history of RIAS until the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. By the late 1960s RIAS had undergone three significant changes. First, the station had become a much more thoroughly German institution. Next was RIAS's decision to broadcast more popular music, especially rock-and-roll. The final significant change for RIAS was the introduction of a new format: television. The chapter shows how these changes coincided with political and generational shifts in the last decades of the Cold War, which at the same time highlights the fact that RIAS is a product of the Cold War. Finally, the chapter turns to a discussion of the legacy of RIAS and of how the station's history serves as an important and unique case study for considering the success and limitations of the American efforts to sway public attitudes behind the Iron Curtain.

scholarly journals Swedish Media Research in the Service of Psychological Defence During the Cold War?

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-144
Author(s):  
Peter Jakobsson ◽  
Fredrik Stiernstedt
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Methodological Development ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
Media Research ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Media And Communication

AbstractIn this article, we address the history of Nordic media research through a case study of the formation of media research in Sweden in the 1950s and 1960s and the role that The Board for Psychological Defence played in the formation of Swedish academic media research during the Cold War era. Based on archival research, we find that the impact of the psychological defence on Swedish media research was mainly concentrated to one Swedish university, and that the impact on the theoretical and methodological development of the discipline has been rather limited. This distinguishes the Swedish case from what has been argued in historical research on the development of media and communication research in the US.

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