Christianity Archives

Books

Paul de Lagarde

– "Paul de Lagarde," Der Jude, Vol. 8, No. 1 (January 1924). Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2. Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.

Excerpt: The Jew is in need of an extraordinary measure of reflectiveness; while for the peoples of the world a distance is given from the start, he must first attain it by a great… More

Cohen’s Analysis of Spinoza’s Bible Science

– "Cohens Analyse der Bibel-Wissenchaft Spinozas," Der Jude, Vol. 8, No. 5-6 (May-June 1924). Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 1. Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.

Excerpt: It is typical of Hermann Cohen’s style that he couches the critique of an idea in the critique of the possibly accidental expression of that idea. This is the way of our… More

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

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

Review of Karl Lowith: From Hegel to Nietzsche

– Review of Von Hegel bis Nietzsche, by Karl Lowith, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 4 (November 1941). Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: This book should be of interest to all who wish to understand the emergence of European, and in particular of German, nihilism. Its subject may be said to be the transformation… 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

Review of Heinrich A. Rommen: The State in Catholic Thought

– Review of The State in Catholic Thought: A Treatise in Political Philosophy, by Heinrich A. Rommen, Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 2 (June 1946). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: Anyone who wishes to judge impartially of the legitimacy or the prospects of the great design of modern man to erect the City of Man on what appear to him to be the ruins of the… More

Review of Ernst Cassirer: The Myth of the State

– Review of The Myth of the State, by Ernst Cassirer, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: However one may have to judge this view of myth, Cassirer is certainly right in negatively characterizing philosophy proper by its “struggle against myth.” In Greek… More

How to Study Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise

– "How to Study Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 17 (1948). Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.

Excerpt: The reason why a fresh investigation of Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise’ is in order, is obvious. The chief aim of the Treatise is to refute the claims which… More

On Locke’s Doctrine of Natural Right

– "On Locke's Doctrine of Natural Right," Philosophical Review, Vol. 61, No. 4 (October 1952). Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 5B).

It is on the basis of Hobbes’s view of the law of nature that Locke opposes Hobbes’s conclusions. He tries to show that Hobbes’s principle–the right of… 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

Walker’s Machiavelli

– "Walker's Machiavelli," review of Discourses of Niccolò Machiavelli, ed. L. J. Walker, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 6, No. 3 (March 1953).

Excerpt: Walker is not the first to contend that Machiavelli’s achievement consists chiefly or exclusively in the discovery of a new method. In fact, it would appear that the view… More

Machiavelli’s Intention: The Prince

– "Machiavelli's Intention: The Prince," American Political Science Review, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1957). Reprinted in Thoughts on Machiavelli (Ch. 2).

Excerpt: Let us follow this movement somewhat more closely. At first sight The Prince belongs to the traditional genre of Mirrors of Princes, which are primarily addressed to legitimate… More

On the Basis of Hobbes’s Political Philosophy

– "On the Basis of Hobbes's Political Philosophy," What Is Political Philosophy?, The Free Press, 1959. First printing of English original of "Les fondements de la philosophie politque de Hobbes," Critique, Vol. 10, No. 83 (April 1954).

Excerpt: We begin by wondering why we should study Hobbes. This question implies that we doubt whether Hobbes’s teaching is the true teaching. It implies, therefore, that our… More

Comment on W. S. Hudson: The Weber Thesis Re-examined

– "Comment on W. S. Hudson: The Weber Thesis Re-examined," Church History, Vol. 30, No. 1 (March 1961).

Excerpt: This meeting, I gather, is concerned with the need for reinterpretation. I am not at all certain that reinterpretation is a universal necessity, i.e., that there cannot be final or… More

Perspectives on the Good Society

– "Perspectives on the Good Society," Criterion, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Summer 1963). Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.

Excerpt: Not a few people who have come to despair of the possibility of a decent secularist society, without having been induced by their despair to question secularism as such, escape… More

Marsilius of Padua

– "Marsilius of Padua," 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.

Excerpt: As regards the principles of political philosophy, Marsilius presents himself as a strict follower of Aristotle, “the divine philosopher” or “the pagan… More

Preface to the English Translation of Spinoza’s Critique of Religion

– "Preface to the English Translation," Spinoza's Critique of Religion, trans. E. M. Sinclair, Schocken Books, 1965. Reprinted in English translation of Spinoza's Critique of Religion and Liberalism Ancient and Modern.

Excerpt: It is safer to try to understand the low in the light of the high than the high in the light of the low. In doing the latter one necessarily distorts the high, whereas in doing the… More

John Locke as “Authoritarian”

– "John Locke as 'Authoritarian,'" review of John Locke: Two Tracts on Government, by Philip Abrams, Intercollegiate Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (November-December 1967).

Excerpt: The question regarding the Hobbianism of the young Locke may be said to be of sonic importance with a view to the fundamental question regarding the political philosophy of the… More

Niccolo Machiavelli

– 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.

Excerpt: Men often speak of virtue without using the word but saying instead “the quality of life” or “the great society” or “ethical” or even… More

Note on the Plan of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil

– "Note on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil," Interpretation, Vol. 3, No. 2-3 (Winter 1973). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.

Excerpt: Beyond Good and Evil always seemed to me to be the most beautiful of Nietzsche’s books. This impression could be thought to be contradicted by his judgement, for he was… More

An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John’s

– "An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John's," Interpretation, Vol. 7, No. 3 (September 1978).

Excerpt: Nothing affected us as profoundly in the years in which our minds took their lasting directions as the thought of Heidegger. This is not the place for speaking of that thought… More

The Mutual Influence of Theology and Philosophy

– "The Mutual Influence of Theology and Philosophy," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 3 (1979).

Excerpt: When we attempt to return to the roots of Western civilization , we observe soon that Western civilization has two r0ots which are in conflict with each other, the biblical and the… More

How to Begin to Study Medieval Philosophy

– "How to Begin to Study Medieval Philosophy," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Complete, unedited version published as "How to Study Medieval Philosophy," Interpretation, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Spring 1996).

Excerpt: The attempt to understand a philosopher of the past better than he understood himself presupposes that the interpreter considers his insight superior to the insight of the old… More

On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin

– Thomas L. Pangle, "On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: The philosophic correspondence between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, stretching over thirty years, sheds some helpful light on each of the thinkers’ philosophic… More

A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas

– James V. Schall, "A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: Leo Strauss often spoke of Jerusalem and Athens.2 He never spoke of Rome in the same context, never of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Western civilization, in his view, was… More

Blasphemy and Leo Strauss’s Machiavelli

– Dante Germino, "Blasphemy and Leo Strauss's Machiavelli," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: In 1966, I published a review article hailing Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli as an instant classic. I also expressed some reservations or “second thoughts”… More

Leo Strauss and the American Founding

– Thomas G. West, "Leo Strauss and the American Founding," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: Strauss devoted his life to the recovery of classical political philosophy. The incentive for this enterprise was what Strauss called “the crisis of the West.” That… More

The Strauss – Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964

– "The Strauss - Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964," Faith and Political Philosophy, translated and edited by Perry Emberley and Barry Cooper, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.

Excerpt: People like Cairns (perhaps without knowing it) arrived from the Platonic-Aristotelian concept of science–indeed, not at their position, which is not worth… More

Reason and Revelation

– "Reason and Revelation," Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem, Cambridge University Press, 2006. Talk given on April 27, 1948, at Hartford Theological Seminary.

Excerpt: Today, we do not have a direct access to what philosophy originally meant. Our concept of philosophy is derived from modern philosophy, i.e. a derivative form of philosophy. Modern… More

The Re-education of Axis Countries Concerning the Jews

– "The Re-education of Axis Countries Concerning the Jews," Review of Politics, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Fall 2007). Talk given on November 7, 1943, at the New School for Social Research.

Excerpt: A nation may take another nation as its model: but no nation can presume to educate another nation which has a high tradition of its own. Such a presumption creates resentment, and… More

Die Religionskritik des Hobbes

– "Die Religionskritik des Hobbes: Ein Beitrag zum verstandnis der Aufklarung," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3, Heinrich Meier, ed., 2008.

Korrespondenz Leo Strauss – Karl Lowith

– "Korrespondenz Leo Strauss - Karl Lowith," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3, Heinrich Meier, ed., 2008.

Essays

Paul de Lagarde

– "Paul de Lagarde," Der Jude, Vol. 8, No. 1 (January 1924). Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2. Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.

Excerpt: The Jew is in need of an extraordinary measure of reflectiveness; while for the peoples of the world a distance is given from the start, he must first attain it by a great… More

Cohen’s Analysis of Spinoza’s Bible Science

– "Cohens Analyse der Bibel-Wissenchaft Spinozas," Der Jude, Vol. 8, No. 5-6 (May-June 1924). Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 1. Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.

Excerpt: It is typical of Hermann Cohen’s style that he couches the critique of an idea in the critique of the possibly accidental expression of that idea. This is the way of our… More

On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors

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

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

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

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

Review of Karl Lowith: From Hegel to Nietzsche

– Review of Von Hegel bis Nietzsche, by Karl Lowith, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 4 (November 1941). Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: This book should be of interest to all who wish to understand the emergence of European, and in particular of German, nihilism. Its subject may be said to be the transformation… 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

Review of Heinrich A. Rommen: The State in Catholic Thought

– Review of The State in Catholic Thought: A Treatise in Political Philosophy, by Heinrich A. Rommen, Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 2 (June 1946). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: Anyone who wishes to judge impartially of the legitimacy or the prospects of the great design of modern man to erect the City of Man on what appear to him to be the ruins of the… More

Review of Ernst Cassirer: The Myth of the State

– Review of The Myth of the State, by Ernst Cassirer, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: However one may have to judge this view of myth, Cassirer is certainly right in negatively characterizing philosophy proper by its “struggle against myth.” In Greek… More

How to Study Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise

– "How to Study Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 17 (1948). Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.

Excerpt: The reason why a fresh investigation of Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise’ is in order, is obvious. The chief aim of the Treatise is to refute the claims which… More

On Locke’s Doctrine of Natural Right

– "On Locke's Doctrine of Natural Right," Philosophical Review, Vol. 61, No. 4 (October 1952). Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 5B).

It is on the basis of Hobbes’s view of the law of nature that Locke opposes Hobbes’s conclusions. He tries to show that Hobbes’s principle–the right of… 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

Walker’s Machiavelli

– "Walker's Machiavelli," review of Discourses of Niccolò Machiavelli, ed. L. J. Walker, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 6, No. 3 (March 1953).

Excerpt: Walker is not the first to contend that Machiavelli’s achievement consists chiefly or exclusively in the discovery of a new method. In fact, it would appear that the view… More

Machiavelli’s Intention: The Prince

– "Machiavelli's Intention: The Prince," American Political Science Review, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1957). Reprinted in Thoughts on Machiavelli (Ch. 2).

Excerpt: Let us follow this movement somewhat more closely. At first sight The Prince belongs to the traditional genre of Mirrors of Princes, which are primarily addressed to legitimate… More

On the Basis of Hobbes’s Political Philosophy

Excerpt: We begin by wondering why we should study Hobbes. This question implies that we doubt whether Hobbes’s teaching is the true teaching. It implies, therefore, that our… More

Comment on W. S. Hudson: The Weber Thesis Re-examined

– "Comment on W. S. Hudson: The Weber Thesis Re-examined," Church History, Vol. 30, No. 1 (March 1961).

Excerpt: This meeting, I gather, is concerned with the need for reinterpretation. I am not at all certain that reinterpretation is a universal necessity, i.e., that there cannot be final or… More

Perspectives on the Good Society

– "Perspectives on the Good Society," Criterion, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Summer 1963). Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.

Excerpt: Not a few people who have come to despair of the possibility of a decent secularist society, without having been induced by their despair to question secularism as such, escape… More

Marsilius of Padua

Excerpt: As regards the principles of political philosophy, Marsilius presents himself as a strict follower of Aristotle, “the divine philosopher” or “the pagan… More

Preface to the English Translation of Spinoza’s Critique of Religion

Excerpt: It is safer to try to understand the low in the light of the high than the high in the light of the low. In doing the latter one necessarily distorts the high, whereas in doing the… More

John Locke as “Authoritarian”

– "John Locke as 'Authoritarian,'" review of John Locke: Two Tracts on Government, by Philip Abrams, Intercollegiate Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (November-December 1967).

Excerpt: The question regarding the Hobbianism of the young Locke may be said to be of sonic importance with a view to the fundamental question regarding the political philosophy of the… More

Niccolo Machiavelli

– 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.

Excerpt: Men often speak of virtue without using the word but saying instead “the quality of life” or “the great society” or “ethical” or even… More

Note on the Plan of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil

– "Note on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil," Interpretation, Vol. 3, No. 2-3 (Winter 1973). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.

Excerpt: Beyond Good and Evil always seemed to me to be the most beautiful of Nietzsche’s books. This impression could be thought to be contradicted by his judgement, for he was… More

An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John’s

– "An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John's," Interpretation, Vol. 7, No. 3 (September 1978).

Excerpt: Nothing affected us as profoundly in the years in which our minds took their lasting directions as the thought of Heidegger. This is not the place for speaking of that thought… More

The Mutual Influence of Theology and Philosophy

– "The Mutual Influence of Theology and Philosophy," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 3 (1979).

Excerpt: When we attempt to return to the roots of Western civilization , we observe soon that Western civilization has two r0ots which are in conflict with each other, the biblical and the… More

How to Begin to Study Medieval Philosophy

Excerpt: The attempt to understand a philosopher of the past better than he understood himself presupposes that the interpreter considers his insight superior to the insight of the old… More

On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin

– Thomas L. Pangle, "On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: The philosophic correspondence between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, stretching over thirty years, sheds some helpful light on each of the thinkers’ philosophic… More

A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas

– James V. Schall, "A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: Leo Strauss often spoke of Jerusalem and Athens.2 He never spoke of Rome in the same context, never of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Western civilization, in his view, was… More

Blasphemy and Leo Strauss’s Machiavelli

– Dante Germino, "Blasphemy and Leo Strauss's Machiavelli," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: In 1966, I published a review article hailing Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli as an instant classic. I also expressed some reservations or “second thoughts”… More

Leo Strauss and the American Founding

– Thomas G. West, "Leo Strauss and the American Founding," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: Strauss devoted his life to the recovery of classical political philosophy. The incentive for this enterprise was what Strauss called “the crisis of the West.” That… More

The Strauss – Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964

– "The Strauss - Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964," Faith and Political Philosophy, translated and edited by Perry Emberley and Barry Cooper, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.

Excerpt: People like Cairns (perhaps without knowing it) arrived from the Platonic-Aristotelian concept of science–indeed, not at their position, which is not worth… More

Reason and Revelation

– "Reason and Revelation," Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem, Cambridge University Press, 2006. Talk given on April 27, 1948, at Hartford Theological Seminary.

Excerpt: Today, we do not have a direct access to what philosophy originally meant. Our concept of philosophy is derived from modern philosophy, i.e. a derivative form of philosophy. Modern… More

The Re-education of Axis Countries Concerning the Jews

– "The Re-education of Axis Countries Concerning the Jews," Review of Politics, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Fall 2007). Talk given on November 7, 1943, at the New School for Social Research.

Excerpt: A nation may take another nation as its model: but no nation can presume to educate another nation which has a high tradition of its own. Such a presumption creates resentment, and… More

Die Religionskritik des Hobbes

– "Die Religionskritik des Hobbes: Ein Beitrag zum verstandnis der Aufklarung," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3, Heinrich Meier, ed., 2008.

Korrespondenz Leo Strauss – Karl Lowith

– "Korrespondenz Leo Strauss - Karl Lowith," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3, Heinrich Meier, ed., 2008.

Commentary

Paul de Lagarde

– "Paul de Lagarde," Der Jude, Vol. 8, No. 1 (January 1924). Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2. Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.

Excerpt: The Jew is in need of an extraordinary measure of reflectiveness; while for the peoples of the world a distance is given from the start, he must first attain it by a great… More

Cohen’s Analysis of Spinoza’s Bible Science

– "Cohens Analyse der Bibel-Wissenchaft Spinozas," Der Jude, Vol. 8, No. 5-6 (May-June 1924). Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 1. Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.

Excerpt: It is typical of Hermann Cohen’s style that he couches the critique of an idea in the critique of the possibly accidental expression of that idea. This is the way of our… More

On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors

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

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

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

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

Review of Karl Lowith: From Hegel to Nietzsche

– Review of Von Hegel bis Nietzsche, by Karl Lowith, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 4 (November 1941). Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: This book should be of interest to all who wish to understand the emergence of European, and in particular of German, nihilism. Its subject may be said to be the transformation… 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

Review of Heinrich A. Rommen: The State in Catholic Thought

– Review of The State in Catholic Thought: A Treatise in Political Philosophy, by Heinrich A. Rommen, Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 2 (June 1946). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: Anyone who wishes to judge impartially of the legitimacy or the prospects of the great design of modern man to erect the City of Man on what appear to him to be the ruins of the… More

Review of Ernst Cassirer: The Myth of the State

– Review of The Myth of the State, by Ernst Cassirer, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: However one may have to judge this view of myth, Cassirer is certainly right in negatively characterizing philosophy proper by its “struggle against myth.” In Greek… More

How to Study Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise

– "How to Study Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 17 (1948). Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.

Excerpt: The reason why a fresh investigation of Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise’ is in order, is obvious. The chief aim of the Treatise is to refute the claims which… More

On Locke’s Doctrine of Natural Right

– "On Locke's Doctrine of Natural Right," Philosophical Review, Vol. 61, No. 4 (October 1952). Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 5B).

It is on the basis of Hobbes’s view of the law of nature that Locke opposes Hobbes’s conclusions. He tries to show that Hobbes’s principle–the right of… 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

Walker’s Machiavelli

– "Walker's Machiavelli," review of Discourses of Niccolò Machiavelli, ed. L. J. Walker, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 6, No. 3 (March 1953).

Excerpt: Walker is not the first to contend that Machiavelli’s achievement consists chiefly or exclusively in the discovery of a new method. In fact, it would appear that the view… More

Machiavelli’s Intention: The Prince

– "Machiavelli's Intention: The Prince," American Political Science Review, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1957). Reprinted in Thoughts on Machiavelli (Ch. 2).

Excerpt: Let us follow this movement somewhat more closely. At first sight The Prince belongs to the traditional genre of Mirrors of Princes, which are primarily addressed to legitimate… More

On the Basis of Hobbes’s Political Philosophy

Excerpt: We begin by wondering why we should study Hobbes. This question implies that we doubt whether Hobbes’s teaching is the true teaching. It implies, therefore, that our… More

Comment on W. S. Hudson: The Weber Thesis Re-examined

– "Comment on W. S. Hudson: The Weber Thesis Re-examined," Church History, Vol. 30, No. 1 (March 1961).

Excerpt: This meeting, I gather, is concerned with the need for reinterpretation. I am not at all certain that reinterpretation is a universal necessity, i.e., that there cannot be final or… More

Perspectives on the Good Society

– "Perspectives on the Good Society," Criterion, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Summer 1963). Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.

Excerpt: Not a few people who have come to despair of the possibility of a decent secularist society, without having been induced by their despair to question secularism as such, escape… More

Marsilius of Padua

Excerpt: As regards the principles of political philosophy, Marsilius presents himself as a strict follower of Aristotle, “the divine philosopher” or “the pagan… More

Preface to the English Translation of Spinoza’s Critique of Religion

Excerpt: It is safer to try to understand the low in the light of the high than the high in the light of the low. In doing the latter one necessarily distorts the high, whereas in doing the… More

John Locke as “Authoritarian”

– "John Locke as 'Authoritarian,'" review of John Locke: Two Tracts on Government, by Philip Abrams, Intercollegiate Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (November-December 1967).

Excerpt: The question regarding the Hobbianism of the young Locke may be said to be of sonic importance with a view to the fundamental question regarding the political philosophy of the… More

Niccolo Machiavelli

– 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.

Excerpt: Men often speak of virtue without using the word but saying instead “the quality of life” or “the great society” or “ethical” or even… More

Note on the Plan of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil

– "Note on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil," Interpretation, Vol. 3, No. 2-3 (Winter 1973). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.

Excerpt: Beyond Good and Evil always seemed to me to be the most beautiful of Nietzsche’s books. This impression could be thought to be contradicted by his judgement, for he was… More

An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John’s

– "An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John's," Interpretation, Vol. 7, No. 3 (September 1978).

Excerpt: Nothing affected us as profoundly in the years in which our minds took their lasting directions as the thought of Heidegger. This is not the place for speaking of that thought… More

The Mutual Influence of Theology and Philosophy

– "The Mutual Influence of Theology and Philosophy," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 3 (1979).

Excerpt: When we attempt to return to the roots of Western civilization , we observe soon that Western civilization has two r0ots which are in conflict with each other, the biblical and the… More

How to Begin to Study Medieval Philosophy

Excerpt: The attempt to understand a philosopher of the past better than he understood himself presupposes that the interpreter considers his insight superior to the insight of the old… More

On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin

– Thomas L. Pangle, "On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: The philosophic correspondence between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, stretching over thirty years, sheds some helpful light on each of the thinkers’ philosophic… More

A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas

– James V. Schall, "A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: Leo Strauss often spoke of Jerusalem and Athens.2 He never spoke of Rome in the same context, never of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Western civilization, in his view, was… More

Blasphemy and Leo Strauss’s Machiavelli

– Dante Germino, "Blasphemy and Leo Strauss's Machiavelli," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: In 1966, I published a review article hailing Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli as an instant classic. I also expressed some reservations or “second thoughts”… More

Leo Strauss and the American Founding

– Thomas G. West, "Leo Strauss and the American Founding," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: Strauss devoted his life to the recovery of classical political philosophy. The incentive for this enterprise was what Strauss called “the crisis of the West.” That… More

The Strauss – Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964

– "The Strauss - Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964," Faith and Political Philosophy, translated and edited by Perry Emberley and Barry Cooper, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.

Excerpt: People like Cairns (perhaps without knowing it) arrived from the Platonic-Aristotelian concept of science–indeed, not at their position, which is not worth… More

Reason and Revelation

– "Reason and Revelation," Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem, Cambridge University Press, 2006. Talk given on April 27, 1948, at Hartford Theological Seminary.

Excerpt: Today, we do not have a direct access to what philosophy originally meant. Our concept of philosophy is derived from modern philosophy, i.e. a derivative form of philosophy. Modern… More

The Re-education of Axis Countries Concerning the Jews

– "The Re-education of Axis Countries Concerning the Jews," Review of Politics, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Fall 2007). Talk given on November 7, 1943, at the New School for Social Research.

Excerpt: A nation may take another nation as its model: but no nation can presume to educate another nation which has a high tradition of its own. Such a presumption creates resentment, and… More

Die Religionskritik des Hobbes

– "Die Religionskritik des Hobbes: Ein Beitrag zum verstandnis der Aufklarung," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3, Heinrich Meier, ed., 2008.

Korrespondenz Leo Strauss – Karl Lowith

– "Korrespondenz Leo Strauss - Karl Lowith," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3, Heinrich Meier, ed., 2008.

Multimedia

Paul de Lagarde

– "Paul de Lagarde," Der Jude, Vol. 8, No. 1 (January 1924). Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2. Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.

Excerpt: The Jew is in need of an extraordinary measure of reflectiveness; while for the peoples of the world a distance is given from the start, he must first attain it by a great… More

Cohen’s Analysis of Spinoza’s Bible Science

– "Cohens Analyse der Bibel-Wissenchaft Spinozas," Der Jude, Vol. 8, No. 5-6 (May-June 1924). Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 1. Reprinted in Leo Strauss: The Early Writings.

Excerpt: It is typical of Hermann Cohen’s style that he couches the critique of an idea in the critique of the possibly accidental expression of that idea. This is the way of our… More

On the Bible Science of Spinoza and His Precursors

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

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

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

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

Review of Karl Lowith: From Hegel to Nietzsche

– Review of Von Hegel bis Nietzsche, by Karl Lowith, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 4 (November 1941). Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: This book should be of interest to all who wish to understand the emergence of European, and in particular of German, nihilism. Its subject may be said to be the transformation… 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

Review of Heinrich A. Rommen: The State in Catholic Thought

– Review of The State in Catholic Thought: A Treatise in Political Philosophy, by Heinrich A. Rommen, Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 2 (June 1946). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: Anyone who wishes to judge impartially of the legitimacy or the prospects of the great design of modern man to erect the City of Man on what appear to him to be the ruins of the… More

Review of Ernst Cassirer: The Myth of the State

– Review of The Myth of the State, by Ernst Cassirer, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?

Excerpt: However one may have to judge this view of myth, Cassirer is certainly right in negatively characterizing philosophy proper by its “struggle against myth.” In Greek… More

How to Study Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise

– "How to Study Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 17 (1948). Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.

Excerpt: The reason why a fresh investigation of Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise’ is in order, is obvious. The chief aim of the Treatise is to refute the claims which… More

On Locke’s Doctrine of Natural Right

– "On Locke's Doctrine of Natural Right," Philosophical Review, Vol. 61, No. 4 (October 1952). Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 5B).

It is on the basis of Hobbes’s view of the law of nature that Locke opposes Hobbes’s conclusions. He tries to show that Hobbes’s principle–the right of… 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

Walker’s Machiavelli

– "Walker's Machiavelli," review of Discourses of Niccolò Machiavelli, ed. L. J. Walker, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 6, No. 3 (March 1953).

Excerpt: Walker is not the first to contend that Machiavelli’s achievement consists chiefly or exclusively in the discovery of a new method. In fact, it would appear that the view… More

Machiavelli’s Intention: The Prince

– "Machiavelli's Intention: The Prince," American Political Science Review, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1957). Reprinted in Thoughts on Machiavelli (Ch. 2).

Excerpt: Let us follow this movement somewhat more closely. At first sight The Prince belongs to the traditional genre of Mirrors of Princes, which are primarily addressed to legitimate… More

On the Basis of Hobbes’s Political Philosophy

Excerpt: We begin by wondering why we should study Hobbes. This question implies that we doubt whether Hobbes’s teaching is the true teaching. It implies, therefore, that our… More

Comment on W. S. Hudson: The Weber Thesis Re-examined

– "Comment on W. S. Hudson: The Weber Thesis Re-examined," Church History, Vol. 30, No. 1 (March 1961).

Excerpt: This meeting, I gather, is concerned with the need for reinterpretation. I am not at all certain that reinterpretation is a universal necessity, i.e., that there cannot be final or… More

Perspectives on the Good Society

– "Perspectives on the Good Society," Criterion, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Summer 1963). Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.

Excerpt: Not a few people who have come to despair of the possibility of a decent secularist society, without having been induced by their despair to question secularism as such, escape… More

Marsilius of Padua

Excerpt: As regards the principles of political philosophy, Marsilius presents himself as a strict follower of Aristotle, “the divine philosopher” or “the pagan… More

Preface to the English Translation of Spinoza’s Critique of Religion

Excerpt: It is safer to try to understand the low in the light of the high than the high in the light of the low. In doing the latter one necessarily distorts the high, whereas in doing the… More

John Locke as “Authoritarian”

– "John Locke as 'Authoritarian,'" review of John Locke: Two Tracts on Government, by Philip Abrams, Intercollegiate Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (November-December 1967).

Excerpt: The question regarding the Hobbianism of the young Locke may be said to be of sonic importance with a view to the fundamental question regarding the political philosophy of the… More

Niccolo Machiavelli

– 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.

Excerpt: Men often speak of virtue without using the word but saying instead “the quality of life” or “the great society” or “ethical” or even… More

Note on the Plan of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil

– "Note on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil," Interpretation, Vol. 3, No. 2-3 (Winter 1973). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.

Excerpt: Beyond Good and Evil always seemed to me to be the most beautiful of Nietzsche’s books. This impression could be thought to be contradicted by his judgement, for he was… More

An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John’s

– "An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John's," Interpretation, Vol. 7, No. 3 (September 1978).

Excerpt: Nothing affected us as profoundly in the years in which our minds took their lasting directions as the thought of Heidegger. This is not the place for speaking of that thought… More

The Mutual Influence of Theology and Philosophy

– "The Mutual Influence of Theology and Philosophy," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 3 (1979).

Excerpt: When we attempt to return to the roots of Western civilization , we observe soon that Western civilization has two r0ots which are in conflict with each other, the biblical and the… More

How to Begin to Study Medieval Philosophy

Excerpt: The attempt to understand a philosopher of the past better than he understood himself presupposes that the interpreter considers his insight superior to the insight of the old… More

On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin

– Thomas L. Pangle, "On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: The philosophic correspondence between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, stretching over thirty years, sheds some helpful light on each of the thinkers’ philosophic… More

A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas

– James V. Schall, "A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: Leo Strauss often spoke of Jerusalem and Athens.2 He never spoke of Rome in the same context, never of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Western civilization, in his view, was… More

Blasphemy and Leo Strauss’s Machiavelli

– Dante Germino, "Blasphemy and Leo Strauss's Machiavelli," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: In 1966, I published a review article hailing Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli as an instant classic. I also expressed some reservations or “second thoughts”… More

Leo Strauss and the American Founding

– Thomas G. West, "Leo Strauss and the American Founding," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).

Excerpt: Strauss devoted his life to the recovery of classical political philosophy. The incentive for this enterprise was what Strauss called “the crisis of the West.” That… More

The Strauss – Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964

– "The Strauss - Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964," Faith and Political Philosophy, translated and edited by Perry Emberley and Barry Cooper, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.

Excerpt: People like Cairns (perhaps without knowing it) arrived from the Platonic-Aristotelian concept of science–indeed, not at their position, which is not worth… More

Reason and Revelation

– "Reason and Revelation," Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem, Cambridge University Press, 2006. Talk given on April 27, 1948, at Hartford Theological Seminary.

Excerpt: Today, we do not have a direct access to what philosophy originally meant. Our concept of philosophy is derived from modern philosophy, i.e. a derivative form of philosophy. Modern… More

The Re-education of Axis Countries Concerning the Jews

– "The Re-education of Axis Countries Concerning the Jews," Review of Politics, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Fall 2007). Talk given on November 7, 1943, at the New School for Social Research.

Excerpt: A nation may take another nation as its model: but no nation can presume to educate another nation which has a high tradition of its own. Such a presumption creates resentment, and… More

Die Religionskritik des Hobbes

– "Die Religionskritik des Hobbes: Ein Beitrag zum verstandnis der Aufklarung," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3, Heinrich Meier, ed., 2008.

Korrespondenz Leo Strauss – Karl Lowith

– "Korrespondenz Leo Strauss - Karl Lowith," Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3, Heinrich Meier, ed., 2008.

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