Raymond Aron
RAYMOND ARON (1905-1983) He was a small man with big ears, blue eyes, and a melancholic gaze, always extremely courteous. He had been born into a secular, assimilated, and quite well-off Jewish family. He spent his childhood in Versailles, in a house with a tennis court, and in his early years he was quite a successful tennis player until his intellectual calling took him away from sporting activities. But he remained a rugby enthusiast, though he only followed games on television. In the Ecole Normale, where he studied in the 1920s, he obtained the best marks in his year but he was so discreet and cautious in class discussions that his friend and fellow student Jean-Paul Sartre said to him one day: "Mon petit camarade, pourquoi as-tu peur déconner?" (My little friend, why are you so afraid of putting your foot...