Tag: Hobbes

Topics

Books

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

Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political

– "Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political," Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. 67, No. 6 (August-September 1932).  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3.  Reprinted in Heinrich Meier, Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue, University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: [1] The treatise by Schmitt serves the question of the “order of the human things” (95), that is, the question of the state. In view of the fact that in the present age… More

Quelques Remarques sur la Science Politique de Hobbes

– "Quelques Remarques sur la Science Politique de Hobbes a propos du livre recent de M. Lubienski," trans. Alexandre Kojève, Recherches Philosphiques, Vol. 2 (April 1933).  Original Typescript: "Einige Anmerkungen uber die Politische Wissenschaft des Hobbes."  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3.

Philosophy and Law

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

The Political Philosophy of Hobbes

– The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis, trans. Elsa M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1952. Originally published as The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis, Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1936.
Excerpt: Hobbes’s political philosophy is the first peculiarly modern attempt to give a coherent and exhaustive answer to the question of man’s right life, which is at the same… More

On the Intention of Rousseau

– "On the Intention of Rousseau," Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 4 (December 1947).
Excerpt: The antiquarian controversy about the intention of Rousseau conceals a political controversy about the nature of democracy. Modern democracy might seem to stand or fell by the… More

On the Spirit of Hobbes’s Political Philosophy

– "On the Spirit of Hobbes's Political Philosophy," Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Vol. 4, No. 14 (October 1950).  Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 3A).
Excerpt: Hobbes rejects the idealistic tradition on the basis of a fundamental agreement with it.  he means to do adequately what the Socratic tradition did in a wholly inadequate… 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

Natural Right and History

– Natural Right and History, University of Chicago Press, 1953.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1965.
Excerpt: It would seem, then, that the rejection of natural right is bound to lead to disastrous consequences. And it is obvious that consequences which are regarded as disastrous by many… More

Locke’s Doctrine of Natural Law

– "Locke's Doctrine of Natural Law," American Political Science Review, Vol. 52, No. 2 (June 1958).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Let us not be shocked by this shocking self-contra- diction but rather limit ourselves to noting that according to Locke’s most frequent assertion it is only knowledge of the… More

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

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

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

Review of C. B. Macpherson: The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism

– Review of The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism, by C. B. Macpherson, Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 1 (June 1964).  Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: This serious and lucidly written book starts from the contemporary crisis in political theory which is diagnosed by the author as a crisis of the theory of liberal democracy. … More

Review of Samuel I. Mintz: The Hunting of Leviathan

– Review of The Hunting of Leviathan: Seventeenth-Century Reactions to the Materialism and Moral Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, by Samuel I. Mintz, Modern Philology, Vol. 62, No. 3 (February 1965).
Excerpt: Hobbes was attacked in the first place on account of his materialism, materialism being regarded by all of his critics as the “main root of atheism” (p. 67).… 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

Natural Law

– "Natural Law," International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 2 (1968).   Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: Natural law, which was for many centuries the basis of the predominant Western political thought, is rejected in our time by almost all students of society who are not Roman… More

Liberalism Ancient and Modern

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

Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas

– Quentin Skinner, "Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas," History and Theory, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1969).
Excerpt: My aim is to consider what I take to be the basic question which necessarily arises whenever an historian of ideas’ confronts a work which he hopes to understand. Such an… 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

Strauss’ Natural Right and History

– Richard Kennington, "Strauss' Natural Right and History," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Sep. 1981).
Excerpt: At the time Strauss published Natural Right and History (1953)  the state of the question of natural right was a mixture of oblivion and fitful restoration. Natural right had… More

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy

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

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

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

Strauss before Straussianism: Reason, Revelation, and Nature

– John G. Gunnell, "Strauss before Straussianism: Reason, Revelation, and Nature," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Despite the impact of Leo Strauss on American political science and political theory, where, exactly, Strauss was “coming from,” in both senses of that phrase, has been… More

Freud on Moses and Monotheism

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

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

Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue

– Heinrich Meier, Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue, University of Chicago Press, 2006.
From the publisher: Carl Schmitt was the most famous and controversial defender of political theology in the twentieth century. But in his best-known work, The Concept of the Political,… More

Die Religionskritik des Hobbes

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

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

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

Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political

– "Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political," Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. 67, No. 6 (August-September 1932).  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3.  Reprinted in Heinrich Meier, Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue, University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: [1] The treatise by Schmitt serves the question of the “order of the human things” (95), that is, the question of the state. In view of the fact that in the present age… More

Quelques Remarques sur la Science Politique de Hobbes

– "Quelques Remarques sur la Science Politique de Hobbes a propos du livre recent de M. Lubienski," trans. Alexandre Kojève, Recherches Philosphiques, Vol. 2 (April 1933).  Original Typescript: "Einige Anmerkungen uber die Politische Wissenschaft des Hobbes."  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3.

Philosophy and Law

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

The Political Philosophy of Hobbes

– The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis, trans. Elsa M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1952. Originally published as The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis, Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1936.
Excerpt: Hobbes’s political philosophy is the first peculiarly modern attempt to give a coherent and exhaustive answer to the question of man’s right life, which is at the same… More

On the Intention of Rousseau

– "On the Intention of Rousseau," Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 4 (December 1947).
Excerpt: The antiquarian controversy about the intention of Rousseau conceals a political controversy about the nature of democracy. Modern democracy might seem to stand or fell by the… More

On the Spirit of Hobbes’s Political Philosophy

– "On the Spirit of Hobbes's Political Philosophy," Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Vol. 4, No. 14 (October 1950).  Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 3A).
Excerpt: Hobbes rejects the idealistic tradition on the basis of a fundamental agreement with it.  he means to do adequately what the Socratic tradition did in a wholly inadequate… 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

Natural Right and History

– Natural Right and History, University of Chicago Press, 1953.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1965.
Excerpt: It would seem, then, that the rejection of natural right is bound to lead to disastrous consequences. And it is obvious that consequences which are regarded as disastrous by many… More

Locke’s Doctrine of Natural Law

– "Locke's Doctrine of Natural Law," American Political Science Review, Vol. 52, No. 2 (June 1958).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Let us not be shocked by this shocking self-contra- diction but rather limit ourselves to noting that according to Locke’s most frequent assertion it is only knowledge of the… More

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

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

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

Review of C. B. Macpherson: The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism

– Review of The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism, by C. B. Macpherson, Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 1 (June 1964).  Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: This serious and lucidly written book starts from the contemporary crisis in political theory which is diagnosed by the author as a crisis of the theory of liberal democracy. … More

Review of Samuel I. Mintz: The Hunting of Leviathan

– Review of The Hunting of Leviathan: Seventeenth-Century Reactions to the Materialism and Moral Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, by Samuel I. Mintz, Modern Philology, Vol. 62, No. 3 (February 1965).
Excerpt: Hobbes was attacked in the first place on account of his materialism, materialism being regarded by all of his critics as the “main root of atheism” (p. 67).… 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

Natural Law

– "Natural Law," International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 2 (1968).   Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: Natural law, which was for many centuries the basis of the predominant Western political thought, is rejected in our time by almost all students of society who are not Roman… More

Liberalism Ancient and Modern

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

Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas

– Quentin Skinner, "Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas," History and Theory, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1969).
Excerpt: My aim is to consider what I take to be the basic question which necessarily arises whenever an historian of ideas’ confronts a work which he hopes to understand. Such an… 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

Strauss’ Natural Right and History

– Richard Kennington, "Strauss' Natural Right and History," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Sep. 1981).
Excerpt: At the time Strauss published Natural Right and History (1953)  the state of the question of natural right was a mixture of oblivion and fitful restoration. Natural right had… More

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy

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

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

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

Strauss before Straussianism: Reason, Revelation, and Nature

– John G. Gunnell, "Strauss before Straussianism: Reason, Revelation, and Nature," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Despite the impact of Leo Strauss on American political science and political theory, where, exactly, Strauss was “coming from,” in both senses of that phrase, has been… More

Freud on Moses and Monotheism

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

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

Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue

– Heinrich Meier, Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue, University of Chicago Press, 2006.
From the publisher: Carl Schmitt was the most famous and controversial defender of political theology in the twentieth century. But in his best-known work, The Concept of the Political,… More

Die Religionskritik des Hobbes

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

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

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

Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political

– "Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political," Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. 67, No. 6 (August-September 1932).  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3.  Reprinted in Heinrich Meier, Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue, University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: [1] The treatise by Schmitt serves the question of the “order of the human things” (95), that is, the question of the state. In view of the fact that in the present age… More

Quelques Remarques sur la Science Politique de Hobbes

– "Quelques Remarques sur la Science Politique de Hobbes a propos du livre recent de M. Lubienski," trans. Alexandre Kojève, Recherches Philosphiques, Vol. 2 (April 1933).  Original Typescript: "Einige Anmerkungen uber die Politische Wissenschaft des Hobbes."  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3.

Philosophy and Law

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

The Political Philosophy of Hobbes

– The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis, trans. Elsa M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1952. Originally published as The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis, Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1936.
Excerpt: Hobbes’s political philosophy is the first peculiarly modern attempt to give a coherent and exhaustive answer to the question of man’s right life, which is at the same… More

On the Intention of Rousseau

– "On the Intention of Rousseau," Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 4 (December 1947).
Excerpt: The antiquarian controversy about the intention of Rousseau conceals a political controversy about the nature of democracy. Modern democracy might seem to stand or fell by the… More

On the Spirit of Hobbes’s Political Philosophy

– "On the Spirit of Hobbes's Political Philosophy," Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Vol. 4, No. 14 (October 1950).  Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 3A).
Excerpt: Hobbes rejects the idealistic tradition on the basis of a fundamental agreement with it.  he means to do adequately what the Socratic tradition did in a wholly inadequate… 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

Natural Right and History

– Natural Right and History, University of Chicago Press, 1953.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1965.
Excerpt: It would seem, then, that the rejection of natural right is bound to lead to disastrous consequences. And it is obvious that consequences which are regarded as disastrous by many… More

Locke’s Doctrine of Natural Law

– "Locke's Doctrine of Natural Law," American Political Science Review, Vol. 52, No. 2 (June 1958).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Let us not be shocked by this shocking self-contra- diction but rather limit ourselves to noting that according to Locke’s most frequent assertion it is only knowledge of the… More

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

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

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

Review of C. B. Macpherson: The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism

– Review of The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism, by C. B. Macpherson, Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 1 (June 1964).  Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: This serious and lucidly written book starts from the contemporary crisis in political theory which is diagnosed by the author as a crisis of the theory of liberal democracy. … More

Review of Samuel I. Mintz: The Hunting of Leviathan

– Review of The Hunting of Leviathan: Seventeenth-Century Reactions to the Materialism and Moral Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, by Samuel I. Mintz, Modern Philology, Vol. 62, No. 3 (February 1965).
Excerpt: Hobbes was attacked in the first place on account of his materialism, materialism being regarded by all of his critics as the “main root of atheism” (p. 67).… 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

Natural Law

– "Natural Law," International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 2 (1968).   Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: Natural law, which was for many centuries the basis of the predominant Western political thought, is rejected in our time by almost all students of society who are not Roman… More

Liberalism Ancient and Modern

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

Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas

– Quentin Skinner, "Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas," History and Theory, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1969).
Excerpt: My aim is to consider what I take to be the basic question which necessarily arises whenever an historian of ideas’ confronts a work which he hopes to understand. Such an… 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

Strauss’ Natural Right and History

– Richard Kennington, "Strauss' Natural Right and History," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Sep. 1981).
Excerpt: At the time Strauss published Natural Right and History (1953)  the state of the question of natural right was a mixture of oblivion and fitful restoration. Natural right had… More

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy

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

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

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

Strauss before Straussianism: Reason, Revelation, and Nature

– John G. Gunnell, "Strauss before Straussianism: Reason, Revelation, and Nature," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Despite the impact of Leo Strauss on American political science and political theory, where, exactly, Strauss was “coming from,” in both senses of that phrase, has been… More

Freud on Moses and Monotheism

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

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

Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue

– Heinrich Meier, Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue, University of Chicago Press, 2006.
From the publisher: Carl Schmitt was the most famous and controversial defender of political theology in the twentieth century. But in his best-known work, The Concept of the Political,… More

Die Religionskritik des Hobbes

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

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

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

Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political

– "Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political," Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. 67, No. 6 (August-September 1932).  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3.  Reprinted in Heinrich Meier, Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue, University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: [1] The treatise by Schmitt serves the question of the “order of the human things” (95), that is, the question of the state. In view of the fact that in the present age… More

Quelques Remarques sur la Science Politique de Hobbes

– "Quelques Remarques sur la Science Politique de Hobbes a propos du livre recent de M. Lubienski," trans. Alexandre Kojève, Recherches Philosphiques, Vol. 2 (April 1933).  Original Typescript: "Einige Anmerkungen uber die Politische Wissenschaft des Hobbes."  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3.

Philosophy and Law

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

The Political Philosophy of Hobbes

– The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis, trans. Elsa M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1952. Originally published as The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis, Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1936.
Excerpt: Hobbes’s political philosophy is the first peculiarly modern attempt to give a coherent and exhaustive answer to the question of man’s right life, which is at the same… More

On the Intention of Rousseau

– "On the Intention of Rousseau," Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 4 (December 1947).
Excerpt: The antiquarian controversy about the intention of Rousseau conceals a political controversy about the nature of democracy. Modern democracy might seem to stand or fell by the… More

On the Spirit of Hobbes’s Political Philosophy

– "On the Spirit of Hobbes's Political Philosophy," Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Vol. 4, No. 14 (October 1950).  Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 3A).
Excerpt: Hobbes rejects the idealistic tradition on the basis of a fundamental agreement with it.  he means to do adequately what the Socratic tradition did in a wholly inadequate… 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

Natural Right and History

– Natural Right and History, University of Chicago Press, 1953.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1965.
Excerpt: It would seem, then, that the rejection of natural right is bound to lead to disastrous consequences. And it is obvious that consequences which are regarded as disastrous by many… More

Locke’s Doctrine of Natural Law

– "Locke's Doctrine of Natural Law," American Political Science Review, Vol. 52, No. 2 (June 1958).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Let us not be shocked by this shocking self-contra- diction but rather limit ourselves to noting that according to Locke’s most frequent assertion it is only knowledge of the… More

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

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

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

Review of C. B. Macpherson: The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism

– Review of The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism, by C. B. Macpherson, Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 1 (June 1964).  Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: This serious and lucidly written book starts from the contemporary crisis in political theory which is diagnosed by the author as a crisis of the theory of liberal democracy. … More

Review of Samuel I. Mintz: The Hunting of Leviathan

– Review of The Hunting of Leviathan: Seventeenth-Century Reactions to the Materialism and Moral Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, by Samuel I. Mintz, Modern Philology, Vol. 62, No. 3 (February 1965).
Excerpt: Hobbes was attacked in the first place on account of his materialism, materialism being regarded by all of his critics as the “main root of atheism” (p. 67).… 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

Natural Law

– "Natural Law," International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 2 (1968).   Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: Natural law, which was for many centuries the basis of the predominant Western political thought, is rejected in our time by almost all students of society who are not Roman… More

Liberalism Ancient and Modern

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

Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas

– Quentin Skinner, "Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas," History and Theory, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1969).
Excerpt: My aim is to consider what I take to be the basic question which necessarily arises whenever an historian of ideas’ confronts a work which he hopes to understand. Such an… 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

Strauss’ Natural Right and History

– Richard Kennington, "Strauss' Natural Right and History," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Sep. 1981).
Excerpt: At the time Strauss published Natural Right and History (1953)  the state of the question of natural right was a mixture of oblivion and fitful restoration. Natural right had… More

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy

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

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

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

Strauss before Straussianism: Reason, Revelation, and Nature

– John G. Gunnell, "Strauss before Straussianism: Reason, Revelation, and Nature," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Despite the impact of Leo Strauss on American political science and political theory, where, exactly, Strauss was “coming from,” in both senses of that phrase, has been… More

Freud on Moses and Monotheism

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

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

Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue

– Heinrich Meier, Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue, University of Chicago Press, 2006.
From the publisher: Carl Schmitt was the most famous and controversial defender of political theology in the twentieth century. But in his best-known work, The Concept of the Political,… More

Die Religionskritik des Hobbes

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

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

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

Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political

– "Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political," Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. 67, No. 6 (August-September 1932).  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3.  Reprinted in Heinrich Meier, Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue, University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: [1] The treatise by Schmitt serves the question of the “order of the human things” (95), that is, the question of the state. In view of the fact that in the present age… More

Quelques Remarques sur la Science Politique de Hobbes

– "Quelques Remarques sur la Science Politique de Hobbes a propos du livre recent de M. Lubienski," trans. Alexandre Kojève, Recherches Philosphiques, Vol. 2 (April 1933).  Original Typescript: "Einige Anmerkungen uber die Politische Wissenschaft des Hobbes."  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 3.

Philosophy and Law

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

The Political Philosophy of Hobbes

– The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis, trans. Elsa M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1952. Originally published as The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis, Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1936.
Excerpt: Hobbes’s political philosophy is the first peculiarly modern attempt to give a coherent and exhaustive answer to the question of man’s right life, which is at the same… More

On the Intention of Rousseau

– "On the Intention of Rousseau," Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 4 (December 1947).
Excerpt: The antiquarian controversy about the intention of Rousseau conceals a political controversy about the nature of democracy. Modern democracy might seem to stand or fell by the… More

On the Spirit of Hobbes’s Political Philosophy

– "On the Spirit of Hobbes's Political Philosophy," Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Vol. 4, No. 14 (October 1950).  Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 3A).
Excerpt: Hobbes rejects the idealistic tradition on the basis of a fundamental agreement with it.  he means to do adequately what the Socratic tradition did in a wholly inadequate… 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

Natural Right and History

– Natural Right and History, University of Chicago Press, 1953.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1965.
Excerpt: It would seem, then, that the rejection of natural right is bound to lead to disastrous consequences. And it is obvious that consequences which are regarded as disastrous by many… More

Locke’s Doctrine of Natural Law

– "Locke's Doctrine of Natural Law," American Political Science Review, Vol. 52, No. 2 (June 1958).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Let us not be shocked by this shocking self-contra- diction but rather limit ourselves to noting that according to Locke’s most frequent assertion it is only knowledge of the… More

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

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

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

Review of C. B. Macpherson: The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism

– Review of The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism, by C. B. Macpherson, Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 1 (June 1964).  Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: This serious and lucidly written book starts from the contemporary crisis in political theory which is diagnosed by the author as a crisis of the theory of liberal democracy. … More

Review of Samuel I. Mintz: The Hunting of Leviathan

– Review of The Hunting of Leviathan: Seventeenth-Century Reactions to the Materialism and Moral Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, by Samuel I. Mintz, Modern Philology, Vol. 62, No. 3 (February 1965).
Excerpt: Hobbes was attacked in the first place on account of his materialism, materialism being regarded by all of his critics as the “main root of atheism” (p. 67).… 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

Natural Law

– "Natural Law," International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 2 (1968).   Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.
Excerpt: Natural law, which was for many centuries the basis of the predominant Western political thought, is rejected in our time by almost all students of society who are not Roman… More

Liberalism Ancient and Modern

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

Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas

– Quentin Skinner, "Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas," History and Theory, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1969).
Excerpt: My aim is to consider what I take to be the basic question which necessarily arises whenever an historian of ideas’ confronts a work which he hopes to understand. Such an… 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

Strauss’ Natural Right and History

– Richard Kennington, "Strauss' Natural Right and History," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Sep. 1981).
Excerpt: At the time Strauss published Natural Right and History (1953)  the state of the question of natural right was a mixture of oblivion and fitful restoration. Natural right had… More

Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy

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

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

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

Strauss before Straussianism: Reason, Revelation, and Nature

– John G. Gunnell, "Strauss before Straussianism: Reason, Revelation, and Nature," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Despite the impact of Leo Strauss on American political science and political theory, where, exactly, Strauss was “coming from,” in both senses of that phrase, has been… More

Freud on Moses and Monotheism

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

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

Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue

– Heinrich Meier, Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue, University of Chicago Press, 2006.
From the publisher: Carl Schmitt was the most famous and controversial defender of political theology in the twentieth century. But in his best-known work, The Concept of the Political,… More

Die Religionskritik des Hobbes

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

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