The Opium of the Intellectuals

Raymond Aron's 1955 work examines how noble political ideas can devolve into a form of 'secular religion.' He argues that political thought must truthfully reflect social and political reality, critiquing the myths of the Left, the Revolution, and the Proletariat. Aron also offers a sociology of intellectual life and a critique of historical determinism, all presented in his renowned restrained prose.