Tag: Maimonides

Books

On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors

– "On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors," Korrespondenzblatt des Vereins zur Grundung Erhaltung einer Akademie fur die Wissenschaft des Judentums, Vol. 7 (1926).  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 1.  Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.
Excerpt: Spinoza’s bible science is first of all a fact in the history of the sciences.  Spinoza has the undisputed merit of having established Bible science as a science “free… More

Spinoza’s Critique of Religion

– Spinoza's Critique of Religion, trans. E. M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1997. Originally published as Die Religionskritik Spinozas als Grundlage seiner Bibelwissenschaft Untersuchungen zu Spinozas Theologisch-Politischem Traktat, Akademie-Verlag, 1930.
Excerpt from the preface to the English translation: Considerations like those sketched in the preceding paragraphs made one wonder whether an unqualified return to Jewish orthodoxy was not… More

Introductions to Pope ein Metaphysiker!

– Introductions to "Pope ein Metaphysiker!" "Sendschreiben an den Herrn Magister Lessing in Leipzig," "Kommentar zu den 'Termini der Logik' des Mose ben Maimon," and "Abhandlung über die Evidenz," Moses Mendelssohn Gesammelte Schriften: Jubiläumsausgabe: Band 2, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1931.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.

Maimonides’s Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources

– "Maimonides's Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources," Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala), Vol. 28 (1934).  Reprinted in Philosophy and Law.
Excerpt: One can with a certain right call Maimonides’s position “medieval religious Enlightenment.”  With a certain right: namely if one accepts the view that not only… More

Philosophy and Law

Philosophy and Law: Contributions to the Understanding of Maimonides and His Predecessors, trans. Eve Adler, State University of New York Press, 1995. Originally published as Philosophie und Gesetz: Beiträge zum Verständnis Maimunis und Seiner Vorlaüfer, Schocken Verlag, 1935.
Excerpt: The latecomers, who saw that the attacks of Hobbes, Spinoza, Bayle, Voltaire, and Reimarus could not be parried by defensive measures such as Moses Mendelssohn’s, agreed,… More

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

– "On Abravanel's Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching," Isaac Abravanel: Six Lectures, ed. J. B. Trend and H. Leowe, Cambridge University Press, 1937.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.
Abravanel may be called the last of the Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. He belongs to the Middle Ages, as far as the framework and the main content of his doctrine are concerned. It… More

The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed

– "The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed," Essays on Maimonides, ed. S. W. Baron, Columbia University Press, 1941.   Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Among the many historians who have interpreted Maimonides’ teaching, or who are making efforts to interpret it, there is scarcely one who would not agree to the principle… More

Review of John O. Riedl’s Edition of Errores Philosophorum

– Review of Errores Philosophorum, by Giles of Rome, ed. John O. Riedl, Church History, Vol. 15, No. 1 (March 1946).
Excerpt: The Errores is a valuable document of the thirteenth century conflict between the Christian teaching and the teaching of “the philosophers,” i.e., of Aristotle and the… More

Persecution and the Art of Writing

Persecution and the Art of Writing, The Free Press, 1952.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: Plato substituted for it a more conservative way of action, namely, the gradual replacement of the accepted opinions by the truth or an approximation to the truth. The replacement… More

Maimonides’ Statement on Political Science

– "Maimonides' Statement on Political Science," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 22 (1953).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Whereas the nomos entails a religion that is in the service of government, the divinely revealed law which is a subject of the same branch of political philosophy as the nomos puts… More

What Is Political Philosophy?

What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies, The Free Press, 1959.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: The meaning off political philosophy and its meaningful character are as evident today as they have been since the time when political philosophy first made its appearance in… More

How to Begin to Study The Guide of the Perplexed

– "How to Begin to Study The Guide of the Perplexed," Moses Maimonides: The Guide of the Perplexed, trans. Shlomo Pines, University of Chicago Press, 1963.  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.
Excerpt: The simple statement of the plan of the Guide suffices to show that the book is sealed with many seals.  At the end of its Introduction, Maimonides describes the preceding passage… More

History of Political Philosophy

History of Political Philosophy, ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, Rand McNally, 1963.  Second Edition: Rand McNally, 1972.  Third Edition, University of Chicago Press, 1987.
The third edition of Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey’s History of Political Philosophy is the definitive introduction for students interested in the great thinkers of political… More

Notes on Maimonides’ Book of Knowledge

– "Notes on Maimonides' Book of Knowledge," Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershom G. Scholem on His Seventieth Birthday by Pupils, Colleagues, and Friends, Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1967.  Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: If it is true that the Guide of the Perplexed is not a philosophic book but a Jewish book, it is surely not a Jewish book in the same manner in which the Mishneh Torah is a Jewish… More

Liberalism Ancient and Modern

Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: Liberal education is education in culture or toward culture.  The finished product of a liberal education is a cultured human being.  “Culture” (cultura) means… More

Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973

– Allan Bloom, "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973," Political Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Nov. 1974).
Excerpt: On October 18, 1973, Leo Strauss died in Annapolis, Maryland.  He was one of the very small number of men whose thought has had seminal influence in political theory in our time.… More

Progress or Return?

– "Progress or Return? The Contemporary Crisis in Western Civilization," Modern Judaism, Vol. 1, No. 1 (May 1981).  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: The title of this lecture indicates that progress has become a problem-that it could seem as if progress has led us to the brink of an abyss, and it is therefore necessary to… More

Note on Maimonides’ Letter on Astrology

– "Note on Maimonides' Letter on Astrology," Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Excerpt: The addressees of this Letter had asked Maimonides for his view about astrology.  After having praised their question, he says that if they had known his Mishneh Torah, they would… More

Note on Maimonides’ Treatise on the Art of Logic

– "Note on Maimonides' Treatise on the Art of Logic," Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Excerpt: Toward the end of chapter 11 and in chapter 13, Maimonides begins to refer again to the Arabic grammarian.  In chapter 14, the concluding chapter, he speaks above all of the… More

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.  Reprint: University of Chicago, 1986.
Whoever is concerned with political philosophy must face the fact that in the last two generations political philosophy has lost its credibility.  Political philosophy has lost its… More

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Excerpt: Humanism is today understood in contradistinction to science, on the one hand, and to the civic art, on the other.  It is thus suggested to us that the social sciences are shaped… More

Philosophy and Law: Leo Strauss as a Student of Medieval Jewish Thought

– Hillel Fradkin, "Philosophy and Law: Leo Strauss as a Student of Medieval Jewish Thought," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: It is therefore necessary to try to address not only his contributions to the understanding of medieval Jewish thought but the latter’s role in his general legacy. It is only… More

Leo Strauss: Between Athens and Jerusalem

– Steven B. Smith, "Leo Strauss: Between Athens and Jerusalem," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Harold Bloom, the Yale literary critic, once described Leo Strauss as “political philosopher and Hebraic sage.”‘ This always seemed to me unusually prescient. For… More

Cohen und Maimuni

– "Cohen und Maimuni," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2, Heinrich Meier, ed.,  1997.

Freud on Moses and Monotheism

– "Freud on Moses and Monotheism," Jewish Philosophy and the Crisis of Modernity, Kenneth Hart Green, ed., State University of New York Press, 1997.
Excerpt: The first sentence is: “To deny a people the man whom it praises as the greatest of its sons is not a deed to be undertaken lightheartedly–especially by one belonging… More

Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life ed. Rafael Major

Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life, ed. Rafael Major, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s What Is Political Philosophy? addresses almost every major theme in his life’s work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic… More

Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics

– Aryeh Tepper, Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics: Leo Strauss's Later Writings on Maimonides, Albany: 2014.
An Israeli scholar considers Leo Strauss’s later writings on Maimonides.

Essays

On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors

– "On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors," Korrespondenzblatt des Vereins zur Grundung Erhaltung einer Akademie fur die Wissenschaft des Judentums, Vol. 7 (1926).  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 1.  Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.
Excerpt: Spinoza’s bible science is first of all a fact in the history of the sciences.  Spinoza has the undisputed merit of having established Bible science as a science “free… More

Spinoza’s Critique of Religion

– Spinoza's Critique of Religion, trans. E. M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1997. Originally published as Die Religionskritik Spinozas als Grundlage seiner Bibelwissenschaft Untersuchungen zu Spinozas Theologisch-Politischem Traktat, Akademie-Verlag, 1930.
Excerpt from the preface to the English translation: Considerations like those sketched in the preceding paragraphs made one wonder whether an unqualified return to Jewish orthodoxy was not… More

Introductions to Pope ein Metaphysiker!

– Introductions to "Pope ein Metaphysiker!" "Sendschreiben an den Herrn Magister Lessing in Leipzig," "Kommentar zu den 'Termini der Logik' des Mose ben Maimon," and "Abhandlung über die Evidenz," Moses Mendelssohn Gesammelte Schriften: Jubiläumsausgabe: Band 2, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1931.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.

Maimonides’s Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources

– "Maimonides's Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources," Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala), Vol. 28 (1934).  Reprinted in Philosophy and Law.
Excerpt: One can with a certain right call Maimonides’s position “medieval religious Enlightenment.”  With a certain right: namely if one accepts the view that not only… More

Philosophy and Law

Philosophy and Law: Contributions to the Understanding of Maimonides and His Predecessors, trans. Eve Adler, State University of New York Press, 1995. Originally published as Philosophie und Gesetz: Beiträge zum Verständnis Maimunis und Seiner Vorlaüfer, Schocken Verlag, 1935.
Excerpt: The latecomers, who saw that the attacks of Hobbes, Spinoza, Bayle, Voltaire, and Reimarus could not be parried by defensive measures such as Moses Mendelssohn’s, agreed,… More

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

– "On Abravanel's Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching," Isaac Abravanel: Six Lectures, ed. J. B. Trend and H. Leowe, Cambridge University Press, 1937.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.
Abravanel may be called the last of the Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. He belongs to the Middle Ages, as far as the framework and the main content of his doctrine are concerned. It… More

The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed

– "The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed," Essays on Maimonides, ed. S. W. Baron, Columbia University Press, 1941.   Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Among the many historians who have interpreted Maimonides’ teaching, or who are making efforts to interpret it, there is scarcely one who would not agree to the principle… More

Review of John O. Riedl’s Edition of Errores Philosophorum

– Review of Errores Philosophorum, by Giles of Rome, ed. John O. Riedl, Church History, Vol. 15, No. 1 (March 1946).
Excerpt: The Errores is a valuable document of the thirteenth century conflict between the Christian teaching and the teaching of “the philosophers,” i.e., of Aristotle and the… More

Persecution and the Art of Writing

Persecution and the Art of Writing, The Free Press, 1952.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: Plato substituted for it a more conservative way of action, namely, the gradual replacement of the accepted opinions by the truth or an approximation to the truth. The replacement… More

Maimonides’ Statement on Political Science

– "Maimonides' Statement on Political Science," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 22 (1953).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Whereas the nomos entails a religion that is in the service of government, the divinely revealed law which is a subject of the same branch of political philosophy as the nomos puts… More

What Is Political Philosophy?

What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies, The Free Press, 1959.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: The meaning off political philosophy and its meaningful character are as evident today as they have been since the time when political philosophy first made its appearance in… More

How to Begin to Study The Guide of the Perplexed

– "How to Begin to Study The Guide of the Perplexed," Moses Maimonides: The Guide of the Perplexed, trans. Shlomo Pines, University of Chicago Press, 1963.  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.
Excerpt: The simple statement of the plan of the Guide suffices to show that the book is sealed with many seals.  At the end of its Introduction, Maimonides describes the preceding passage… More

History of Political Philosophy

History of Political Philosophy, ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, Rand McNally, 1963.  Second Edition: Rand McNally, 1972.  Third Edition, University of Chicago Press, 1987.
The third edition of Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey’s History of Political Philosophy is the definitive introduction for students interested in the great thinkers of political… More

Notes on Maimonides’ Book of Knowledge

– "Notes on Maimonides' Book of Knowledge," Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershom G. Scholem on His Seventieth Birthday by Pupils, Colleagues, and Friends, Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1967.  Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: If it is true that the Guide of the Perplexed is not a philosophic book but a Jewish book, it is surely not a Jewish book in the same manner in which the Mishneh Torah is a Jewish… More

Liberalism Ancient and Modern

Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: Liberal education is education in culture or toward culture.  The finished product of a liberal education is a cultured human being.  “Culture” (cultura) means… More

Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973

– Allan Bloom, "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973," Political Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Nov. 1974).
Excerpt: On October 18, 1973, Leo Strauss died in Annapolis, Maryland.  He was one of the very small number of men whose thought has had seminal influence in political theory in our time.… More

Progress or Return?

– "Progress or Return? The Contemporary Crisis in Western Civilization," Modern Judaism, Vol. 1, No. 1 (May 1981).  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: The title of this lecture indicates that progress has become a problem-that it could seem as if progress has led us to the brink of an abyss, and it is therefore necessary to… More

Note on Maimonides’ Letter on Astrology

– "Note on Maimonides' Letter on Astrology," Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Excerpt: The addressees of this Letter had asked Maimonides for his view about astrology.  After having praised their question, he says that if they had known his Mishneh Torah, they would… More

Note on Maimonides’ Treatise on the Art of Logic

– "Note on Maimonides' Treatise on the Art of Logic," Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Excerpt: Toward the end of chapter 11 and in chapter 13, Maimonides begins to refer again to the Arabic grammarian.  In chapter 14, the concluding chapter, he speaks above all of the… More

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.  Reprint: University of Chicago, 1986.
Whoever is concerned with political philosophy must face the fact that in the last two generations political philosophy has lost its credibility.  Political philosophy has lost its… More

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Excerpt: Humanism is today understood in contradistinction to science, on the one hand, and to the civic art, on the other.  It is thus suggested to us that the social sciences are shaped… More

Philosophy and Law: Leo Strauss as a Student of Medieval Jewish Thought

– Hillel Fradkin, "Philosophy and Law: Leo Strauss as a Student of Medieval Jewish Thought," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: It is therefore necessary to try to address not only his contributions to the understanding of medieval Jewish thought but the latter’s role in his general legacy. It is only… More

Leo Strauss: Between Athens and Jerusalem

– Steven B. Smith, "Leo Strauss: Between Athens and Jerusalem," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Harold Bloom, the Yale literary critic, once described Leo Strauss as “political philosopher and Hebraic sage.”‘ This always seemed to me unusually prescient. For… More

Cohen und Maimuni

– "Cohen und Maimuni," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2, Heinrich Meier, ed.,  1997.

Freud on Moses and Monotheism

– "Freud on Moses and Monotheism," Jewish Philosophy and the Crisis of Modernity, Kenneth Hart Green, ed., State University of New York Press, 1997.
Excerpt: The first sentence is: “To deny a people the man whom it praises as the greatest of its sons is not a deed to be undertaken lightheartedly–especially by one belonging… More

Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life ed. Rafael Major

Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life, ed. Rafael Major, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s What Is Political Philosophy? addresses almost every major theme in his life’s work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic… More

Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics

– Aryeh Tepper, Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics: Leo Strauss's Later Writings on Maimonides, Albany: 2014.
An Israeli scholar considers Leo Strauss’s later writings on Maimonides.

Commentary

On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors

– "On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors," Korrespondenzblatt des Vereins zur Grundung Erhaltung einer Akademie fur die Wissenschaft des Judentums, Vol. 7 (1926).  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 1.  Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.
Excerpt: Spinoza’s bible science is first of all a fact in the history of the sciences.  Spinoza has the undisputed merit of having established Bible science as a science “free… More

Spinoza’s Critique of Religion

– Spinoza's Critique of Religion, trans. E. M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1997. Originally published as Die Religionskritik Spinozas als Grundlage seiner Bibelwissenschaft Untersuchungen zu Spinozas Theologisch-Politischem Traktat, Akademie-Verlag, 1930.
Excerpt from the preface to the English translation: Considerations like those sketched in the preceding paragraphs made one wonder whether an unqualified return to Jewish orthodoxy was not… More

Introductions to Pope ein Metaphysiker!

– Introductions to "Pope ein Metaphysiker!" "Sendschreiben an den Herrn Magister Lessing in Leipzig," "Kommentar zu den 'Termini der Logik' des Mose ben Maimon," and "Abhandlung über die Evidenz," Moses Mendelssohn Gesammelte Schriften: Jubiläumsausgabe: Band 2, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1931.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.

Maimonides’s Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources

– "Maimonides's Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources," Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala), Vol. 28 (1934).  Reprinted in Philosophy and Law.
Excerpt: One can with a certain right call Maimonides’s position “medieval religious Enlightenment.”  With a certain right: namely if one accepts the view that not only… More

Philosophy and Law

Philosophy and Law: Contributions to the Understanding of Maimonides and His Predecessors, trans. Eve Adler, State University of New York Press, 1995. Originally published as Philosophie und Gesetz: Beiträge zum Verständnis Maimunis und Seiner Vorlaüfer, Schocken Verlag, 1935.
Excerpt: The latecomers, who saw that the attacks of Hobbes, Spinoza, Bayle, Voltaire, and Reimarus could not be parried by defensive measures such as Moses Mendelssohn’s, agreed,… More

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

– "On Abravanel's Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching," Isaac Abravanel: Six Lectures, ed. J. B. Trend and H. Leowe, Cambridge University Press, 1937.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.
Abravanel may be called the last of the Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. He belongs to the Middle Ages, as far as the framework and the main content of his doctrine are concerned. It… More

The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed

– "The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed," Essays on Maimonides, ed. S. W. Baron, Columbia University Press, 1941.   Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Among the many historians who have interpreted Maimonides’ teaching, or who are making efforts to interpret it, there is scarcely one who would not agree to the principle… More

Review of John O. Riedl’s Edition of Errores Philosophorum

– Review of Errores Philosophorum, by Giles of Rome, ed. John O. Riedl, Church History, Vol. 15, No. 1 (March 1946).
Excerpt: The Errores is a valuable document of the thirteenth century conflict between the Christian teaching and the teaching of “the philosophers,” i.e., of Aristotle and the… More

Persecution and the Art of Writing

Persecution and the Art of Writing, The Free Press, 1952.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: Plato substituted for it a more conservative way of action, namely, the gradual replacement of the accepted opinions by the truth or an approximation to the truth. The replacement… More

Maimonides’ Statement on Political Science

– "Maimonides' Statement on Political Science," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 22 (1953).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Whereas the nomos entails a religion that is in the service of government, the divinely revealed law which is a subject of the same branch of political philosophy as the nomos puts… More

What Is Political Philosophy?

What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies, The Free Press, 1959.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: The meaning off political philosophy and its meaningful character are as evident today as they have been since the time when political philosophy first made its appearance in… More

How to Begin to Study The Guide of the Perplexed

– "How to Begin to Study The Guide of the Perplexed," Moses Maimonides: The Guide of the Perplexed, trans. Shlomo Pines, University of Chicago Press, 1963.  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.
Excerpt: The simple statement of the plan of the Guide suffices to show that the book is sealed with many seals.  At the end of its Introduction, Maimonides describes the preceding passage… More

History of Political Philosophy

History of Political Philosophy, ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, Rand McNally, 1963.  Second Edition: Rand McNally, 1972.  Third Edition, University of Chicago Press, 1987.
The third edition of Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey’s History of Political Philosophy is the definitive introduction for students interested in the great thinkers of political… More

Notes on Maimonides’ Book of Knowledge

– "Notes on Maimonides' Book of Knowledge," Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershom G. Scholem on His Seventieth Birthday by Pupils, Colleagues, and Friends, Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1967.  Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: If it is true that the Guide of the Perplexed is not a philosophic book but a Jewish book, it is surely not a Jewish book in the same manner in which the Mishneh Torah is a Jewish… More

Liberalism Ancient and Modern

Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: Liberal education is education in culture or toward culture.  The finished product of a liberal education is a cultured human being.  “Culture” (cultura) means… More

Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973

– Allan Bloom, "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973," Political Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Nov. 1974).
Excerpt: On October 18, 1973, Leo Strauss died in Annapolis, Maryland.  He was one of the very small number of men whose thought has had seminal influence in political theory in our time.… More

Progress or Return?

– "Progress or Return? The Contemporary Crisis in Western Civilization," Modern Judaism, Vol. 1, No. 1 (May 1981).  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: The title of this lecture indicates that progress has become a problem-that it could seem as if progress has led us to the brink of an abyss, and it is therefore necessary to… More

Note on Maimonides’ Letter on Astrology

– "Note on Maimonides' Letter on Astrology," Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Excerpt: The addressees of this Letter had asked Maimonides for his view about astrology.  After having praised their question, he says that if they had known his Mishneh Torah, they would… More

Note on Maimonides’ Treatise on the Art of Logic

– "Note on Maimonides' Treatise on the Art of Logic," Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Excerpt: Toward the end of chapter 11 and in chapter 13, Maimonides begins to refer again to the Arabic grammarian.  In chapter 14, the concluding chapter, he speaks above all of the… More

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.  Reprint: University of Chicago, 1986.
Whoever is concerned with political philosophy must face the fact that in the last two generations political philosophy has lost its credibility.  Political philosophy has lost its… More

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Excerpt: Humanism is today understood in contradistinction to science, on the one hand, and to the civic art, on the other.  It is thus suggested to us that the social sciences are shaped… More

Philosophy and Law: Leo Strauss as a Student of Medieval Jewish Thought

– Hillel Fradkin, "Philosophy and Law: Leo Strauss as a Student of Medieval Jewish Thought," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: It is therefore necessary to try to address not only his contributions to the understanding of medieval Jewish thought but the latter’s role in his general legacy. It is only… More

Leo Strauss: Between Athens and Jerusalem

– Steven B. Smith, "Leo Strauss: Between Athens and Jerusalem," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Harold Bloom, the Yale literary critic, once described Leo Strauss as “political philosopher and Hebraic sage.”‘ This always seemed to me unusually prescient. For… More

Cohen und Maimuni

– "Cohen und Maimuni," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2, Heinrich Meier, ed.,  1997.

Freud on Moses and Monotheism

– "Freud on Moses and Monotheism," Jewish Philosophy and the Crisis of Modernity, Kenneth Hart Green, ed., State University of New York Press, 1997.
Excerpt: The first sentence is: “To deny a people the man whom it praises as the greatest of its sons is not a deed to be undertaken lightheartedly–especially by one belonging… More

Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life ed. Rafael Major

Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life, ed. Rafael Major, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s What Is Political Philosophy? addresses almost every major theme in his life’s work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic… More

Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics

– Aryeh Tepper, Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics: Leo Strauss's Later Writings on Maimonides, Albany: 2014.
An Israeli scholar considers Leo Strauss’s later writings on Maimonides.

Multimedia

On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors

– "On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors," Korrespondenzblatt des Vereins zur Grundung Erhaltung einer Akademie fur die Wissenschaft des Judentums, Vol. 7 (1926).  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 1.  Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.
Excerpt: Spinoza’s bible science is first of all a fact in the history of the sciences.  Spinoza has the undisputed merit of having established Bible science as a science “free… More

Spinoza’s Critique of Religion

– Spinoza's Critique of Religion, trans. E. M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1997. Originally published as Die Religionskritik Spinozas als Grundlage seiner Bibelwissenschaft Untersuchungen zu Spinozas Theologisch-Politischem Traktat, Akademie-Verlag, 1930.
Excerpt from the preface to the English translation: Considerations like those sketched in the preceding paragraphs made one wonder whether an unqualified return to Jewish orthodoxy was not… More

Introductions to Pope ein Metaphysiker!

– Introductions to "Pope ein Metaphysiker!" "Sendschreiben an den Herrn Magister Lessing in Leipzig," "Kommentar zu den 'Termini der Logik' des Mose ben Maimon," and "Abhandlung über die Evidenz," Moses Mendelssohn Gesammelte Schriften: Jubiläumsausgabe: Band 2, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1931.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.

Maimonides’s Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources

– "Maimonides's Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources," Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala), Vol. 28 (1934).  Reprinted in Philosophy and Law.
Excerpt: One can with a certain right call Maimonides’s position “medieval religious Enlightenment.”  With a certain right: namely if one accepts the view that not only… More

Philosophy and Law

Philosophy and Law: Contributions to the Understanding of Maimonides and His Predecessors, trans. Eve Adler, State University of New York Press, 1995. Originally published as Philosophie und Gesetz: Beiträge zum Verständnis Maimunis und Seiner Vorlaüfer, Schocken Verlag, 1935.
Excerpt: The latecomers, who saw that the attacks of Hobbes, Spinoza, Bayle, Voltaire, and Reimarus could not be parried by defensive measures such as Moses Mendelssohn’s, agreed,… More

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

– "On Abravanel's Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching," Isaac Abravanel: Six Lectures, ed. J. B. Trend and H. Leowe, Cambridge University Press, 1937.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.
Abravanel may be called the last of the Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. He belongs to the Middle Ages, as far as the framework and the main content of his doctrine are concerned. It… More

The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed

– "The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed," Essays on Maimonides, ed. S. W. Baron, Columbia University Press, 1941.   Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Among the many historians who have interpreted Maimonides’ teaching, or who are making efforts to interpret it, there is scarcely one who would not agree to the principle… More

Review of John O. Riedl’s Edition of Errores Philosophorum

– Review of Errores Philosophorum, by Giles of Rome, ed. John O. Riedl, Church History, Vol. 15, No. 1 (March 1946).
Excerpt: The Errores is a valuable document of the thirteenth century conflict between the Christian teaching and the teaching of “the philosophers,” i.e., of Aristotle and the… More

Persecution and the Art of Writing

Persecution and the Art of Writing, The Free Press, 1952.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: Plato substituted for it a more conservative way of action, namely, the gradual replacement of the accepted opinions by the truth or an approximation to the truth. The replacement… More

Maimonides’ Statement on Political Science

– "Maimonides' Statement on Political Science," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 22 (1953).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Whereas the nomos entails a religion that is in the service of government, the divinely revealed law which is a subject of the same branch of political philosophy as the nomos puts… More

What Is Political Philosophy?

What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies, The Free Press, 1959.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: The meaning off political philosophy and its meaningful character are as evident today as they have been since the time when political philosophy first made its appearance in… More

How to Begin to Study The Guide of the Perplexed

– "How to Begin to Study The Guide of the Perplexed," Moses Maimonides: The Guide of the Perplexed, trans. Shlomo Pines, University of Chicago Press, 1963.  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.
Excerpt: The simple statement of the plan of the Guide suffices to show that the book is sealed with many seals.  At the end of its Introduction, Maimonides describes the preceding passage… More

History of Political Philosophy

History of Political Philosophy, ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, Rand McNally, 1963.  Second Edition: Rand McNally, 1972.  Third Edition, University of Chicago Press, 1987.
The third edition of Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey’s History of Political Philosophy is the definitive introduction for students interested in the great thinkers of political… More

Notes on Maimonides’ Book of Knowledge

– "Notes on Maimonides' Book of Knowledge," Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershom G. Scholem on His Seventieth Birthday by Pupils, Colleagues, and Friends, Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1967.  Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: If it is true that the Guide of the Perplexed is not a philosophic book but a Jewish book, it is surely not a Jewish book in the same manner in which the Mishneh Torah is a Jewish… More

Liberalism Ancient and Modern

Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: Liberal education is education in culture or toward culture.  The finished product of a liberal education is a cultured human being.  “Culture” (cultura) means… More

Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973

– Allan Bloom, "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973," Political Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Nov. 1974).
Excerpt: On October 18, 1973, Leo Strauss died in Annapolis, Maryland.  He was one of the very small number of men whose thought has had seminal influence in political theory in our time.… More

Progress or Return?

– "Progress or Return? The Contemporary Crisis in Western Civilization," Modern Judaism, Vol. 1, No. 1 (May 1981).  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: The title of this lecture indicates that progress has become a problem-that it could seem as if progress has led us to the brink of an abyss, and it is therefore necessary to… More

Note on Maimonides’ Letter on Astrology

– "Note on Maimonides' Letter on Astrology," Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Excerpt: The addressees of this Letter had asked Maimonides for his view about astrology.  After having praised their question, he says that if they had known his Mishneh Torah, they would… More

Note on Maimonides’ Treatise on the Art of Logic

– "Note on Maimonides' Treatise on the Art of Logic," Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Excerpt: Toward the end of chapter 11 and in chapter 13, Maimonides begins to refer again to the Arabic grammarian.  In chapter 14, the concluding chapter, he speaks above all of the… More

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.  Reprint: University of Chicago, 1986.
Whoever is concerned with political philosophy must face the fact that in the last two generations political philosophy has lost its credibility.  Political philosophy has lost its… More

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Excerpt: Humanism is today understood in contradistinction to science, on the one hand, and to the civic art, on the other.  It is thus suggested to us that the social sciences are shaped… More

Philosophy and Law: Leo Strauss as a Student of Medieval Jewish Thought

– Hillel Fradkin, "Philosophy and Law: Leo Strauss as a Student of Medieval Jewish Thought," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: It is therefore necessary to try to address not only his contributions to the understanding of medieval Jewish thought but the latter’s role in his general legacy. It is only… More

Leo Strauss: Between Athens and Jerusalem

– Steven B. Smith, "Leo Strauss: Between Athens and Jerusalem," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Harold Bloom, the Yale literary critic, once described Leo Strauss as “political philosopher and Hebraic sage.”‘ This always seemed to me unusually prescient. For… More

Cohen und Maimuni

– "Cohen und Maimuni," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2, Heinrich Meier, ed.,  1997.

Freud on Moses and Monotheism

– "Freud on Moses and Monotheism," Jewish Philosophy and the Crisis of Modernity, Kenneth Hart Green, ed., State University of New York Press, 1997.
Excerpt: The first sentence is: “To deny a people the man whom it praises as the greatest of its sons is not a deed to be undertaken lightheartedly–especially by one belonging… More

Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life ed. Rafael Major

Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life, ed. Rafael Major, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s What Is Political Philosophy? addresses almost every major theme in his life’s work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic… More

Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics

– Aryeh Tepper, Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics: Leo Strauss's Later Writings on Maimonides, Albany: 2014.
An Israeli scholar considers Leo Strauss’s later writings on Maimonides.

Teaching

On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors

– "On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors," Korrespondenzblatt des Vereins zur Grundung Erhaltung einer Akademie fur die Wissenschaft des Judentums, Vol. 7 (1926).  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 1.  Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.
Excerpt: Spinoza’s bible science is first of all a fact in the history of the sciences.  Spinoza has the undisputed merit of having established Bible science as a science “free… More

Spinoza’s Critique of Religion

– Spinoza's Critique of Religion, trans. E. M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1997. Originally published as Die Religionskritik Spinozas als Grundlage seiner Bibelwissenschaft Untersuchungen zu Spinozas Theologisch-Politischem Traktat, Akademie-Verlag, 1930.
Excerpt from the preface to the English translation: Considerations like those sketched in the preceding paragraphs made one wonder whether an unqualified return to Jewish orthodoxy was not… More

Introductions to Pope ein Metaphysiker!

– Introductions to "Pope ein Metaphysiker!" "Sendschreiben an den Herrn Magister Lessing in Leipzig," "Kommentar zu den 'Termini der Logik' des Mose ben Maimon," and "Abhandlung über die Evidenz," Moses Mendelssohn Gesammelte Schriften: Jubiläumsausgabe: Band 2, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1931.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.

Maimonides’s Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources

– "Maimonides's Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources," Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala), Vol. 28 (1934).  Reprinted in Philosophy and Law.
Excerpt: One can with a certain right call Maimonides’s position “medieval religious Enlightenment.”  With a certain right: namely if one accepts the view that not only… More

Philosophy and Law

Philosophy and Law: Contributions to the Understanding of Maimonides and His Predecessors, trans. Eve Adler, State University of New York Press, 1995. Originally published as Philosophie und Gesetz: Beiträge zum Verständnis Maimunis und Seiner Vorlaüfer, Schocken Verlag, 1935.
Excerpt: The latecomers, who saw that the attacks of Hobbes, Spinoza, Bayle, Voltaire, and Reimarus could not be parried by defensive measures such as Moses Mendelssohn’s, agreed,… More

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

– "On Abravanel's Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching," Isaac Abravanel: Six Lectures, ed. J. B. Trend and H. Leowe, Cambridge University Press, 1937.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.
Abravanel may be called the last of the Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. He belongs to the Middle Ages, as far as the framework and the main content of his doctrine are concerned. It… More

The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed

– "The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed," Essays on Maimonides, ed. S. W. Baron, Columbia University Press, 1941.   Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Among the many historians who have interpreted Maimonides’ teaching, or who are making efforts to interpret it, there is scarcely one who would not agree to the principle… More

Review of John O. Riedl’s Edition of Errores Philosophorum

– Review of Errores Philosophorum, by Giles of Rome, ed. John O. Riedl, Church History, Vol. 15, No. 1 (March 1946).
Excerpt: The Errores is a valuable document of the thirteenth century conflict between the Christian teaching and the teaching of “the philosophers,” i.e., of Aristotle and the… More

Persecution and the Art of Writing

Persecution and the Art of Writing, The Free Press, 1952.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: Plato substituted for it a more conservative way of action, namely, the gradual replacement of the accepted opinions by the truth or an approximation to the truth. The replacement… More

Maimonides’ Statement on Political Science

– "Maimonides' Statement on Political Science," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 22 (1953).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Whereas the nomos entails a religion that is in the service of government, the divinely revealed law which is a subject of the same branch of political philosophy as the nomos puts… More

What Is Political Philosophy?

What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies, The Free Press, 1959.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: The meaning off political philosophy and its meaningful character are as evident today as they have been since the time when political philosophy first made its appearance in… More

How to Begin to Study The Guide of the Perplexed

– "How to Begin to Study The Guide of the Perplexed," Moses Maimonides: The Guide of the Perplexed, trans. Shlomo Pines, University of Chicago Press, 1963.  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.
Excerpt: The simple statement of the plan of the Guide suffices to show that the book is sealed with many seals.  At the end of its Introduction, Maimonides describes the preceding passage… More

History of Political Philosophy

History of Political Philosophy, ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, Rand McNally, 1963.  Second Edition: Rand McNally, 1972.  Third Edition, University of Chicago Press, 1987.
The third edition of Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey’s History of Political Philosophy is the definitive introduction for students interested in the great thinkers of political… More

Notes on Maimonides’ Book of Knowledge

– "Notes on Maimonides' Book of Knowledge," Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershom G. Scholem on His Seventieth Birthday by Pupils, Colleagues, and Friends, Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1967.  Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: If it is true that the Guide of the Perplexed is not a philosophic book but a Jewish book, it is surely not a Jewish book in the same manner in which the Mishneh Torah is a Jewish… More

Liberalism Ancient and Modern

Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: Liberal education is education in culture or toward culture.  The finished product of a liberal education is a cultured human being.  “Culture” (cultura) means… More

Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973

– Allan Bloom, "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973," Political Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Nov. 1974).
Excerpt: On October 18, 1973, Leo Strauss died in Annapolis, Maryland.  He was one of the very small number of men whose thought has had seminal influence in political theory in our time.… More

Progress or Return?

– "Progress or Return? The Contemporary Crisis in Western Civilization," Modern Judaism, Vol. 1, No. 1 (May 1981).  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: The title of this lecture indicates that progress has become a problem-that it could seem as if progress has led us to the brink of an abyss, and it is therefore necessary to… More

Note on Maimonides’ Letter on Astrology

– "Note on Maimonides' Letter on Astrology," Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Excerpt: The addressees of this Letter had asked Maimonides for his view about astrology.  After having praised their question, he says that if they had known his Mishneh Torah, they would… More

Note on Maimonides’ Treatise on the Art of Logic

– "Note on Maimonides' Treatise on the Art of Logic," Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Excerpt: Toward the end of chapter 11 and in chapter 13, Maimonides begins to refer again to the Arabic grammarian.  In chapter 14, the concluding chapter, he speaks above all of the… More

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, 1983.  Reprint: University of Chicago, 1986.
Whoever is concerned with political philosophy must face the fact that in the last two generations political philosophy has lost its credibility.  Political philosophy has lost its… More

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Excerpt: Humanism is today understood in contradistinction to science, on the one hand, and to the civic art, on the other.  It is thus suggested to us that the social sciences are shaped… More

Philosophy and Law: Leo Strauss as a Student of Medieval Jewish Thought

– Hillel Fradkin, "Philosophy and Law: Leo Strauss as a Student of Medieval Jewish Thought," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: It is therefore necessary to try to address not only his contributions to the understanding of medieval Jewish thought but the latter’s role in his general legacy. It is only… More

Leo Strauss: Between Athens and Jerusalem

– Steven B. Smith, "Leo Strauss: Between Athens and Jerusalem," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Harold Bloom, the Yale literary critic, once described Leo Strauss as “political philosopher and Hebraic sage.”‘ This always seemed to me unusually prescient. For… More

Cohen und Maimuni

– "Cohen und Maimuni," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2, Heinrich Meier, ed.,  1997.

Freud on Moses and Monotheism

– "Freud on Moses and Monotheism," Jewish Philosophy and the Crisis of Modernity, Kenneth Hart Green, ed., State University of New York Press, 1997.
Excerpt: The first sentence is: “To deny a people the man whom it praises as the greatest of its sons is not a deed to be undertaken lightheartedly–especially by one belonging… More

Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life ed. Rafael Major

Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life, ed. Rafael Major, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s What Is Political Philosophy? addresses almost every major theme in his life’s work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic… More

Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics

– Aryeh Tepper, Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics: Leo Strauss's Later Writings on Maimonides, Albany: 2014.
An Israeli scholar considers Leo Strauss’s later writings on Maimonides.