ABSTRACT
The philosophy of history appears at the outset and at the end of Aron's intellectual itinerary. The transition from the philosophy of history to international relations therefore occurred rather naturally, although one cannot find in Aron's pre-1940 works the structural categories he would develop later. In his dissertation, Introduction to the Philosophy of History: An Essay on the Limits of Historical Objectivity (1938), certain readers, as well as the members of his jury or examination board, have been able to discern a profession of relativistic faith. One fundamental idea emerges, it seems, from the preceding discussions: the dissolution of the object. No such thing as a historical reality exists ready made, so that science merely has to reproduce it faithfully. The morality of prudence, the best on both the level of facts and that of values, does not resolve the antinomies of strategic-diplomatic conduct, but it does attempt to find in each case the most acceptable compromise.
