Author: Stewart, Iain

Source: Sartre Studies International, Volume 17, Number 1, Spring 2011 , pp. 41-60(20)

Publisher: Berghahn Journals

Abstract:

Taking as its starting point recent claims that Jean-Paul Sartre's Critique de la Raison Dialectique was written as an attempt to overcome the historical relativism of Raymond Aron's Introduction à la philosophie de l'histoire, the present article traces this covert dialogue back to a fundamental disagreement between the two men over the interpretation of Wilhelm Dilthey's anti-positivist theory of Verstehen or 'understanding'. In so doing it counters a longstanding tendency to emphasise the convergence of Aron and Sartre's philosophical interests prior to the break in their friendship occasioned by the onset of the Cold War, suggesting that the causes of their later, radical political divergence were pregnant within this earlier philosophical divergence.

Keywords: RAYMOND ARON; JEAN-PAUL SARTRE; WILHELM DILTHEY; ANTI-POSITIVISM; EXISTENTIALISM; FRENCH INTELLECTUALS

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/ssi.2011.170103

Publication date: 2011-03-01

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• Published in association with the UK Sartre Society Studies and the North American Sartre Society
  
  Sartre Studies International publishes articles of a multidisciplinary, cross-cultural and international character reflecting the full range and complexity of Sartre's own work. It focuses on the philosophical, literary and political issues originating in existentialism, and explores the continuing vitality of existentialist and Sartrean ideas in contemporary society and contemporary culture. Each issue contains a reviews section and a notice board of current events, such as conferences, publications and media broadcasts linked to Sartre's life, work and intellectual legacy.
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