Books
The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon
– "The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon," Social Research, Vol. 6, No. 4 (November 1939).Excerpt: Xenophon’s treatise Constitution of the Lacedemonians appears to be devoted to praise of the Spartan constitution, or, which amounts to the same thing, of the Spartan mode of… More
On Classical Political Philosophy
– "On Classical Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 12, No. 1 (February 1945). Reprinted (revised) in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: TODAY the status of political philosophy is more precarious, and its meaning is more blurred, than at any time since political philosophy emerged many centuries ago, somewhere in… More
On Tyranny
– On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000. Originally Published as On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Political Science Classics, 1948.Excerpt: While Xenophon seems to have believed that beneficent tyranny or the rule of a tyrant who listens to the counsels of the wise is, as a matter of principle, preferable to the rule… More
Audio of Courses Taught by Leo Strauss
– Audio of courses taught by Leo Strauss, 1958 - 1973, provided by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago.Courses include: Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Vico, Grotius, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Relativism
Thoughts on Machiavelli
– Thoughts on Machiavelli, The Free Press, 1958. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1978.Excerpt: We shall not shock anyone, we shall merely expose ourselves to good-natured or at any rate harmless ridicule, if we profess ourselves inclined to the old-fashioned and simple… More
Restatement on Xenophon’s Hiero
– "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero," What Is Political Philosophy? The Free Press, 1959. Reprinted in On Tyranny.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… 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
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
Socrates and Aristophanes
– Socrates and Aristophanes, Basic Books, 1966. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1980.Excerpt: Since Socrates did not write books or speeches, we depend entirely on other men’s reports for our knowledge of the circumstances in which, or of the reasons for which,… More
Greek Historians
– "Greek Historians," review of Greek Historical Writing: A Historiographical Essay Based on Xenophon's "Hellenica," by W. P. Henry, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 21, No. 4 (June 1968).Excerpt: The author starts from the premiss that “the most important aspect of the study of history is . . . historiography.” He means by this that the most important aspect of… More
Philosophy and Politics I and II
– Victor Gourevitch, "Philosophy and Politics I," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Sep. 1968). Victor Gourevitch, "Philosophy and Politics I," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Dec. 1968).Excerpt: On the face of it, On Tyranny is a straightforward commentary on Xenophon’s dialogue Hiero or Tyrannicus. As such it is a very model of thoroughness and learning. It amply… More
Machiavelli and Classical Literature
– "Machiavelli and Classical Literature," Review of National Literatures, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1970).Excerpt: I shall speak somewhat less briefly on La Vita de Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, For this graceful little work reveals Machiavelli s moral taste in a more direct or simple and… More
Xenophon’s Socratic Discourse
– Xenophon's Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the Oeconomicus, Cornell University Press, 1970. Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.Excerpt: The Great Tradition of political philosophy was originated by Socrates. Socrates is said to have disregarded the whole of nature altogether in order to devote himself entirely to… More
Xenophon’s Socrates
– Xenophon's Socrates, Cornell University Press, 1972. Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.Excerpt: The title Apomnemoneumata may be rendered provisionally by “Recollections.” Apomnemoneuein (or derivatives) occurs only once within the Memorabilia (I.2.31); there it… More
Xenophon’s Anabasis
– "Xenophon's Anabasis," Interpretation, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Spring 1975). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.Excerpt: Xenophon’s Anabasis seems today to be regarded universally as his most beautiful book. I do not quarrel with this judgment. I merely wonder what its grounds are. The question… More
Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode
– "Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).But what is the basis of these and similar difficulties which I encountered in reading your book 9. You are fundamentally concerned with “Wirkungsgeschichte,” with something… More
Strauss on Xenophon’s Socrates
– Christopher Bruell, "Strauss on Xenophon's Socrates," The Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1983.Excerpt: The following study of Professor Leo Strauss’s writings on Xenophon’s presentation of Socrates will be devoted chiefly to a discussion of his interpretation 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
Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History
– "Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.Excerpt: This lecture forms part of a series: The Western Tradition–Its Great Ideas and Issues, The Western tradition is threatened today as it never was heretofore. For it is now… More
The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures
– "The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Published, complete and unedited, as "The Origins of Political Science and the Problem of Socrates: Six Public Lectures," Interpretation, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter 1996).Excerpt: For according to Plato as well as to Aristotle, to the extent to which the human problem cannot be solved by political means it can be solved only by philosophy, by and through the… 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
The Problem of Socrates
– "The Problem of Socrates," Interpretation, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 1995). Talk given on April 17, 1970, at St. John's College, Annapolis.Excerpt: [I was told that the local paper has announced that I lecture tonight on “The problems of Socrates.” This was an engaging printing error; for there is more than one… More
What was Leo Strauss up to? by Steven Lenzner and William Kristol
– Steven Lenzner and William Kristol, "What Was Leo Strauss Up To?," Public Interest, Fall 2003.Excerpt: Strauss set himself a remarkable task: the revival of Western reading, and therefore, of philosophizing. Strauss claimed that he had rediscovered “a forgotten kind of… More
Restatement
– "Restatement," Interpretation, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Fall 2008). Reprinted in On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… More
Ancients and Moderns: Did Leo Strauss Exaggerate the Break?
– "Ancients and Moderns: Did Leo Strauss Exaggerate the Break?," A Faculty Roundtable, featuring Leo Paul de Alvarez, Jonathan Culp, Richard Dougherty, Tiffany Jones Miller, and Thomas G. West, University of Dallas, February 22, 2012.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
Essays
The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon
– "The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon," Social Research, Vol. 6, No. 4 (November 1939).Excerpt: Xenophon’s treatise Constitution of the Lacedemonians appears to be devoted to praise of the Spartan constitution, or, which amounts to the same thing, of the Spartan mode of… More
On Classical Political Philosophy
– "On Classical Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 12, No. 1 (February 1945). Reprinted (revised) in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: TODAY the status of political philosophy is more precarious, and its meaning is more blurred, than at any time since political philosophy emerged many centuries ago, somewhere in… More
On Tyranny
– On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000. Originally Published as On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Political Science Classics, 1948.Excerpt: While Xenophon seems to have believed that beneficent tyranny or the rule of a tyrant who listens to the counsels of the wise is, as a matter of principle, preferable to the rule… More
Audio of Courses Taught by Leo Strauss
– Audio of courses taught by Leo Strauss, 1958 - 1973, provided by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago.Courses include: Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Vico, Grotius, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Relativism
Thoughts on Machiavelli
– Thoughts on Machiavelli, The Free Press, 1958. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1978.Excerpt: We shall not shock anyone, we shall merely expose ourselves to good-natured or at any rate harmless ridicule, if we profess ourselves inclined to the old-fashioned and simple… More
Restatement on Xenophon’s Hiero
– "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero," What Is Political Philosophy? The Free Press, 1959. Reprinted in On Tyranny.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… 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
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
Socrates and Aristophanes
– Socrates and Aristophanes, Basic Books, 1966. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1980.Excerpt: Since Socrates did not write books or speeches, we depend entirely on other men’s reports for our knowledge of the circumstances in which, or of the reasons for which,… More
Greek Historians
– "Greek Historians," review of Greek Historical Writing: A Historiographical Essay Based on Xenophon's "Hellenica," by W. P. Henry, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 21, No. 4 (June 1968).Excerpt: The author starts from the premiss that “the most important aspect of the study of history is . . . historiography.” He means by this that the most important aspect of… More
Philosophy and Politics I and II
– Victor Gourevitch, "Philosophy and Politics I," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Sep. 1968). Victor Gourevitch, "Philosophy and Politics I," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Dec. 1968).Excerpt: On the face of it, On Tyranny is a straightforward commentary on Xenophon’s dialogue Hiero or Tyrannicus. As such it is a very model of thoroughness and learning. It amply… More
Machiavelli and Classical Literature
– "Machiavelli and Classical Literature," Review of National Literatures, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1970).Excerpt: I shall speak somewhat less briefly on La Vita de Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, For this graceful little work reveals Machiavelli s moral taste in a more direct or simple and… More
Xenophon’s Socratic Discourse
– Xenophon's Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the Oeconomicus, Cornell University Press, 1970. Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.Excerpt: The Great Tradition of political philosophy was originated by Socrates. Socrates is said to have disregarded the whole of nature altogether in order to devote himself entirely to… More
Xenophon’s Socrates
– Xenophon's Socrates, Cornell University Press, 1972. Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.Excerpt: The title Apomnemoneumata may be rendered provisionally by “Recollections.” Apomnemoneuein (or derivatives) occurs only once within the Memorabilia (I.2.31); there it… More
Xenophon’s Anabasis
– "Xenophon's Anabasis," Interpretation, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Spring 1975). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.Excerpt: Xenophon’s Anabasis seems today to be regarded universally as his most beautiful book. I do not quarrel with this judgment. I merely wonder what its grounds are. The question… More
Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode
– "Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).But what is the basis of these and similar difficulties which I encountered in reading your book 9. You are fundamentally concerned with “Wirkungsgeschichte,” with something… More
Strauss on Xenophon’s Socrates
– Christopher Bruell, "Strauss on Xenophon's Socrates," The Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1983.Excerpt: The following study of Professor Leo Strauss’s writings on Xenophon’s presentation of Socrates will be devoted chiefly to a discussion of his interpretation 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
Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History
– "Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.Excerpt: This lecture forms part of a series: The Western Tradition–Its Great Ideas and Issues, The Western tradition is threatened today as it never was heretofore. For it is now… More
The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures
– "The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Published, complete and unedited, as "The Origins of Political Science and the Problem of Socrates: Six Public Lectures," Interpretation, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter 1996).Excerpt: For according to Plato as well as to Aristotle, to the extent to which the human problem cannot be solved by political means it can be solved only by philosophy, by and through the… 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
The Problem of Socrates
– "The Problem of Socrates," Interpretation, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 1995). Talk given on April 17, 1970, at St. John's College, Annapolis.Excerpt: [I was told that the local paper has announced that I lecture tonight on “The problems of Socrates.” This was an engaging printing error; for there is more than one… More
What was Leo Strauss up to? by Steven Lenzner and William Kristol
– Steven Lenzner and William Kristol, "What Was Leo Strauss Up To?," Public Interest, Fall 2003.Excerpt: Strauss set himself a remarkable task: the revival of Western reading, and therefore, of philosophizing. Strauss claimed that he had rediscovered “a forgotten kind of… More
Restatement
– "Restatement," Interpretation, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Fall 2008). Reprinted in On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… More
Ancients and Moderns: Did Leo Strauss Exaggerate the Break?
– "Ancients and Moderns: Did Leo Strauss Exaggerate the Break?," A Faculty Roundtable, featuring Leo Paul de Alvarez, Jonathan Culp, Richard Dougherty, Tiffany Jones Miller, and Thomas G. West, University of Dallas, February 22, 2012.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
Commentary
The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon
– "The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon," Social Research, Vol. 6, No. 4 (November 1939).Excerpt: Xenophon’s treatise Constitution of the Lacedemonians appears to be devoted to praise of the Spartan constitution, or, which amounts to the same thing, of the Spartan mode of… More
On Classical Political Philosophy
– "On Classical Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 12, No. 1 (February 1945). Reprinted (revised) in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: TODAY the status of political philosophy is more precarious, and its meaning is more blurred, than at any time since political philosophy emerged many centuries ago, somewhere in… More
On Tyranny
– On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000. Originally Published as On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Political Science Classics, 1948.Excerpt: While Xenophon seems to have believed that beneficent tyranny or the rule of a tyrant who listens to the counsels of the wise is, as a matter of principle, preferable to the rule… More
Audio of Courses Taught by Leo Strauss
– Audio of courses taught by Leo Strauss, 1958 - 1973, provided by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago.Courses include: Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Vico, Grotius, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Relativism
Thoughts on Machiavelli
– Thoughts on Machiavelli, The Free Press, 1958. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1978.Excerpt: We shall not shock anyone, we shall merely expose ourselves to good-natured or at any rate harmless ridicule, if we profess ourselves inclined to the old-fashioned and simple… More
Restatement on Xenophon’s Hiero
– "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero," What Is Political Philosophy? The Free Press, 1959. Reprinted in On Tyranny.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… 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
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
Socrates and Aristophanes
– Socrates and Aristophanes, Basic Books, 1966. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1980.Excerpt: Since Socrates did not write books or speeches, we depend entirely on other men’s reports for our knowledge of the circumstances in which, or of the reasons for which,… More
Greek Historians
– "Greek Historians," review of Greek Historical Writing: A Historiographical Essay Based on Xenophon's "Hellenica," by W. P. Henry, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 21, No. 4 (June 1968).Excerpt: The author starts from the premiss that “the most important aspect of the study of history is . . . historiography.” He means by this that the most important aspect of… More
Philosophy and Politics I and II
– Victor Gourevitch, "Philosophy and Politics I," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Sep. 1968). Victor Gourevitch, "Philosophy and Politics I," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Dec. 1968).Excerpt: On the face of it, On Tyranny is a straightforward commentary on Xenophon’s dialogue Hiero or Tyrannicus. As such it is a very model of thoroughness and learning. It amply… More
Machiavelli and Classical Literature
– "Machiavelli and Classical Literature," Review of National Literatures, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1970).Excerpt: I shall speak somewhat less briefly on La Vita de Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, For this graceful little work reveals Machiavelli s moral taste in a more direct or simple and… More
Xenophon’s Socratic Discourse
– Xenophon's Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the Oeconomicus, Cornell University Press, 1970. Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.Excerpt: The Great Tradition of political philosophy was originated by Socrates. Socrates is said to have disregarded the whole of nature altogether in order to devote himself entirely to… More
Xenophon’s Socrates
– Xenophon's Socrates, Cornell University Press, 1972. Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.Excerpt: The title Apomnemoneumata may be rendered provisionally by “Recollections.” Apomnemoneuein (or derivatives) occurs only once within the Memorabilia (I.2.31); there it… More
Xenophon’s Anabasis
– "Xenophon's Anabasis," Interpretation, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Spring 1975). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.Excerpt: Xenophon’s Anabasis seems today to be regarded universally as his most beautiful book. I do not quarrel with this judgment. I merely wonder what its grounds are. The question… More
Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode
– "Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).But what is the basis of these and similar difficulties which I encountered in reading your book 9. You are fundamentally concerned with “Wirkungsgeschichte,” with something… More
Strauss on Xenophon’s Socrates
– Christopher Bruell, "Strauss on Xenophon's Socrates," The Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1983.Excerpt: The following study of Professor Leo Strauss’s writings on Xenophon’s presentation of Socrates will be devoted chiefly to a discussion of his interpretation 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
Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History
– "Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.Excerpt: This lecture forms part of a series: The Western Tradition–Its Great Ideas and Issues, The Western tradition is threatened today as it never was heretofore. For it is now… More
The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures
– "The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Published, complete and unedited, as "The Origins of Political Science and the Problem of Socrates: Six Public Lectures," Interpretation, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter 1996).Excerpt: For according to Plato as well as to Aristotle, to the extent to which the human problem cannot be solved by political means it can be solved only by philosophy, by and through the… 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
The Problem of Socrates
– "The Problem of Socrates," Interpretation, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 1995). Talk given on April 17, 1970, at St. John's College, Annapolis.Excerpt: [I was told that the local paper has announced that I lecture tonight on “The problems of Socrates.” This was an engaging printing error; for there is more than one… More
What was Leo Strauss up to? by Steven Lenzner and William Kristol
– Steven Lenzner and William Kristol, "What Was Leo Strauss Up To?," Public Interest, Fall 2003.Excerpt: Strauss set himself a remarkable task: the revival of Western reading, and therefore, of philosophizing. Strauss claimed that he had rediscovered “a forgotten kind of… More
Restatement
– "Restatement," Interpretation, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Fall 2008). Reprinted in On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… More
Ancients and Moderns: Did Leo Strauss Exaggerate the Break?
– "Ancients and Moderns: Did Leo Strauss Exaggerate the Break?," A Faculty Roundtable, featuring Leo Paul de Alvarez, Jonathan Culp, Richard Dougherty, Tiffany Jones Miller, and Thomas G. West, University of Dallas, February 22, 2012.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
Multimedia
The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon
– "The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon," Social Research, Vol. 6, No. 4 (November 1939).Excerpt: Xenophon’s treatise Constitution of the Lacedemonians appears to be devoted to praise of the Spartan constitution, or, which amounts to the same thing, of the Spartan mode of… More
On Classical Political Philosophy
– "On Classical Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 12, No. 1 (February 1945). Reprinted (revised) in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: TODAY the status of political philosophy is more precarious, and its meaning is more blurred, than at any time since political philosophy emerged many centuries ago, somewhere in… More
On Tyranny
– On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000. Originally Published as On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Political Science Classics, 1948.Excerpt: While Xenophon seems to have believed that beneficent tyranny or the rule of a tyrant who listens to the counsels of the wise is, as a matter of principle, preferable to the rule… More
Audio of Courses Taught by Leo Strauss
– Audio of courses taught by Leo Strauss, 1958 - 1973, provided by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago.Courses include: Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Vico, Grotius, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Relativism
Thoughts on Machiavelli
– Thoughts on Machiavelli, The Free Press, 1958. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1978.Excerpt: We shall not shock anyone, we shall merely expose ourselves to good-natured or at any rate harmless ridicule, if we profess ourselves inclined to the old-fashioned and simple… More
Restatement on Xenophon’s Hiero
– "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero," What Is Political Philosophy? The Free Press, 1959. Reprinted in On Tyranny.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… 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
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
Socrates and Aristophanes
– Socrates and Aristophanes, Basic Books, 1966. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1980.Excerpt: Since Socrates did not write books or speeches, we depend entirely on other men’s reports for our knowledge of the circumstances in which, or of the reasons for which,… More
Greek Historians
– "Greek Historians," review of Greek Historical Writing: A Historiographical Essay Based on Xenophon's "Hellenica," by W. P. Henry, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 21, No. 4 (June 1968).Excerpt: The author starts from the premiss that “the most important aspect of the study of history is . . . historiography.” He means by this that the most important aspect of… More
Philosophy and Politics I and II
– Victor Gourevitch, "Philosophy and Politics I," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Sep. 1968). Victor Gourevitch, "Philosophy and Politics I," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Dec. 1968).Excerpt: On the face of it, On Tyranny is a straightforward commentary on Xenophon’s dialogue Hiero or Tyrannicus. As such it is a very model of thoroughness and learning. It amply… More
Machiavelli and Classical Literature
– "Machiavelli and Classical Literature," Review of National Literatures, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1970).Excerpt: I shall speak somewhat less briefly on La Vita de Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, For this graceful little work reveals Machiavelli s moral taste in a more direct or simple and… More
Xenophon’s Socratic Discourse
– Xenophon's Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the Oeconomicus, Cornell University Press, 1970. Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.Excerpt: The Great Tradition of political philosophy was originated by Socrates. Socrates is said to have disregarded the whole of nature altogether in order to devote himself entirely to… More
Xenophon’s Socrates
– Xenophon's Socrates, Cornell University Press, 1972. Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.Excerpt: The title Apomnemoneumata may be rendered provisionally by “Recollections.” Apomnemoneuein (or derivatives) occurs only once within the Memorabilia (I.2.31); there it… More
Xenophon’s Anabasis
– "Xenophon's Anabasis," Interpretation, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Spring 1975). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.Excerpt: Xenophon’s Anabasis seems today to be regarded universally as his most beautiful book. I do not quarrel with this judgment. I merely wonder what its grounds are. The question… More
Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode
– "Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).But what is the basis of these and similar difficulties which I encountered in reading your book 9. You are fundamentally concerned with “Wirkungsgeschichte,” with something… More
Strauss on Xenophon’s Socrates
– Christopher Bruell, "Strauss on Xenophon's Socrates," The Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1983.Excerpt: The following study of Professor Leo Strauss’s writings on Xenophon’s presentation of Socrates will be devoted chiefly to a discussion of his interpretation 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
Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History
– "Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.Excerpt: This lecture forms part of a series: The Western Tradition–Its Great Ideas and Issues, The Western tradition is threatened today as it never was heretofore. For it is now… More
The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures
– "The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Published, complete and unedited, as "The Origins of Political Science and the Problem of Socrates: Six Public Lectures," Interpretation, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter 1996).Excerpt: For according to Plato as well as to Aristotle, to the extent to which the human problem cannot be solved by political means it can be solved only by philosophy, by and through the… 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
The Problem of Socrates
– "The Problem of Socrates," Interpretation, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 1995). Talk given on April 17, 1970, at St. John's College, Annapolis.Excerpt: [I was told that the local paper has announced that I lecture tonight on “The problems of Socrates.” This was an engaging printing error; for there is more than one… More
What was Leo Strauss up to? by Steven Lenzner and William Kristol
– Steven Lenzner and William Kristol, "What Was Leo Strauss Up To?," Public Interest, Fall 2003.Excerpt: Strauss set himself a remarkable task: the revival of Western reading, and therefore, of philosophizing. Strauss claimed that he had rediscovered “a forgotten kind of… More
Restatement
– "Restatement," Interpretation, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Fall 2008). Reprinted in On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… More
Ancients and Moderns: Did Leo Strauss Exaggerate the Break?
– "Ancients and Moderns: Did Leo Strauss Exaggerate the Break?," A Faculty Roundtable, featuring Leo Paul de Alvarez, Jonathan Culp, Richard Dougherty, Tiffany Jones Miller, and Thomas G. West, University of Dallas, February 22, 2012.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
Teaching
The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon
– "The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon," Social Research, Vol. 6, No. 4 (November 1939).Excerpt: Xenophon’s treatise Constitution of the Lacedemonians appears to be devoted to praise of the Spartan constitution, or, which amounts to the same thing, of the Spartan mode of… More
On Classical Political Philosophy
– "On Classical Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 12, No. 1 (February 1945). Reprinted (revised) in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: TODAY the status of political philosophy is more precarious, and its meaning is more blurred, than at any time since political philosophy emerged many centuries ago, somewhere in… More
On Tyranny
– On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000. Originally Published as On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Political Science Classics, 1948.Excerpt: While Xenophon seems to have believed that beneficent tyranny or the rule of a tyrant who listens to the counsels of the wise is, as a matter of principle, preferable to the rule… More
Audio of Courses Taught by Leo Strauss
– Audio of courses taught by Leo Strauss, 1958 - 1973, provided by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago.Courses include: Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Vico, Grotius, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Relativism
Thoughts on Machiavelli
– Thoughts on Machiavelli, The Free Press, 1958. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1978.Excerpt: We shall not shock anyone, we shall merely expose ourselves to good-natured or at any rate harmless ridicule, if we profess ourselves inclined to the old-fashioned and simple… More
Restatement on Xenophon’s Hiero
– "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero," What Is Political Philosophy? The Free Press, 1959. Reprinted in On Tyranny.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… 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
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
Socrates and Aristophanes
– Socrates and Aristophanes, Basic Books, 1966. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1980.Excerpt: Since Socrates did not write books or speeches, we depend entirely on other men’s reports for our knowledge of the circumstances in which, or of the reasons for which,… More
Greek Historians
– "Greek Historians," review of Greek Historical Writing: A Historiographical Essay Based on Xenophon's "Hellenica," by W. P. Henry, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 21, No. 4 (June 1968).Excerpt: The author starts from the premiss that “the most important aspect of the study of history is . . . historiography.” He means by this that the most important aspect of… More
Philosophy and Politics I and II
– Victor Gourevitch, "Philosophy and Politics I," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Sep. 1968). Victor Gourevitch, "Philosophy and Politics I," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Dec. 1968).Excerpt: On the face of it, On Tyranny is a straightforward commentary on Xenophon’s dialogue Hiero or Tyrannicus. As such it is a very model of thoroughness and learning. It amply… More
Machiavelli and Classical Literature
– "Machiavelli and Classical Literature," Review of National Literatures, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1970).Excerpt: I shall speak somewhat less briefly on La Vita de Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, For this graceful little work reveals Machiavelli s moral taste in a more direct or simple and… More
Xenophon’s Socratic Discourse
– Xenophon's Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the Oeconomicus, Cornell University Press, 1970. Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.Excerpt: The Great Tradition of political philosophy was originated by Socrates. Socrates is said to have disregarded the whole of nature altogether in order to devote himself entirely to… More
Xenophon’s Socrates
– Xenophon's Socrates, Cornell University Press, 1972. Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.Excerpt: The title Apomnemoneumata may be rendered provisionally by “Recollections.” Apomnemoneuein (or derivatives) occurs only once within the Memorabilia (I.2.31); there it… More
Xenophon’s Anabasis
– "Xenophon's Anabasis," Interpretation, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Spring 1975). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.Excerpt: Xenophon’s Anabasis seems today to be regarded universally as his most beautiful book. I do not quarrel with this judgment. I merely wonder what its grounds are. The question… More
Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode
– "Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).But what is the basis of these and similar difficulties which I encountered in reading your book 9. You are fundamentally concerned with “Wirkungsgeschichte,” with something… More
Strauss on Xenophon’s Socrates
– Christopher Bruell, "Strauss on Xenophon's Socrates," The Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1983.Excerpt: The following study of Professor Leo Strauss’s writings on Xenophon’s presentation of Socrates will be devoted chiefly to a discussion of his interpretation 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
Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History
– "Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.Excerpt: This lecture forms part of a series: The Western Tradition–Its Great Ideas and Issues, The Western tradition is threatened today as it never was heretofore. For it is now… More
The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures
– "The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Published, complete and unedited, as "The Origins of Political Science and the Problem of Socrates: Six Public Lectures," Interpretation, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter 1996).Excerpt: For according to Plato as well as to Aristotle, to the extent to which the human problem cannot be solved by political means it can be solved only by philosophy, by and through the… 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
The Problem of Socrates
– "The Problem of Socrates," Interpretation, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 1995). Talk given on April 17, 1970, at St. John's College, Annapolis.Excerpt: [I was told that the local paper has announced that I lecture tonight on “The problems of Socrates.” This was an engaging printing error; for there is more than one… More
What was Leo Strauss up to? by Steven Lenzner and William Kristol
– Steven Lenzner and William Kristol, "What Was Leo Strauss Up To?," Public Interest, Fall 2003.Excerpt: Strauss set himself a remarkable task: the revival of Western reading, and therefore, of philosophizing. Strauss claimed that he had rediscovered “a forgotten kind of… More
Restatement
– "Restatement," Interpretation, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Fall 2008). Reprinted in On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… More
Ancients and Moderns: Did Leo Strauss Exaggerate the Break?
– "Ancients and Moderns: Did Leo Strauss Exaggerate the Break?," A Faculty Roundtable, featuring Leo Paul de Alvarez, Jonathan Culp, Richard Dougherty, Tiffany Jones Miller, and Thomas G. West, University of Dallas, February 22, 2012.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