The threat of danger: decadence and virtù

Raymond Aron was one among several thinkers who have been noticed for their awareness (in the case of Aron, a melancholy awareness) of the frailty of what we can call "civilization". "Civilization", then, seems worthy of protection; it seems to be the good that allows the enjoyment of all remaining goods. Liberal and democratic freedoms, or Western freedoms, are indeed "humanity's most precious" "acquisitions"; but they are also their most "tenuous" acquisitions. Thedifference between "absolute" Machiavellianism and "moderate" Machiavellianism became the main point of Aron's critique of Jacques Maritain's politics. For Machiavelli, virtù is the only adequate response to danger. Either danger is opposedby virtù or it brings servitude and destruction. The loss of "historical vitality" has an immediate political consequence, which is the loss of resoluteness, or the ability to choose decidedly. Aron would never forget what his former teacher, Léon Brunschvicg, had told him: "Fortunately my political opinions have no consequences".