Tag: Liberalism

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Books

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

Review of C. E. Vaughan: Studies in the History of Political Philosophy

– Review of Studies in the History of Political Philosophy, by C. E. Vaughan, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 3 (September 1941).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Vaughan is guided by a philosophy of history, but he is not a philosophic historian. He is a dogmatic historian. He starts from a settled and even passionately asserted view… More

The Liberalism of Classical Political Philosophy

– "The Liberalism of Classical Political Philosophy," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 12, No. 3 (March 1959).  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.  Review essay on E. A. Havelock: The Liberal Temper in Greek Politics.
Excerpt: Some readers may blame us for having devoted so much time and space to the examination of an unusually poor book. We do not believe that their judgment of the book is fair. Books… More

“Relativism”

– "Relativism," Relativism and the Study of Man, ed. Helmut Schoeck and James W. Wiggins, Van Nostrand, 1961.  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: “Relativism” has many meanings. In order not to become confused by the “blind scholastic pedantry” that exhausts itself and its audience in the… More

An Epilogue

– "An Epilogue," Essays on the Scientific Study of Politics, ed. Herbert J. Storing, Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1962.  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.
Excerpt: There is, then, more than a mysterious pre-established harmony between the new political science and a certain version of liberal democracy. The alleged value-free analysis of… 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

Leo Strauss and the History of Political Philosophy

– Nathan Tarcov and Thomas L. Pangle, "Epilogue: Leo Strauss and the History of Political Philosophy," History of Political Philosophy, Third Edition, ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Excerpt: A student using this book might legitimately and naturally wonder about the approach to the teaching of political philosophy presented here. The originator of this approach was the… 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

Why We Remain Jews

– "Why We Remain Jews: Can Jewish Faith and History Still Speak to Us?" Leo Strauss: Political Philosopher and Jewish Thinker, ed. Kenneth L. Deutsch and Walter Nicgorski, Rowman and Littlefield, 1994.
Excerpt: I take more serious cases; first, the anti-Judaism of late classical antiquity, when we (and incidentally also the Christians) were accused by the pagan Romans of standing… More

German Nihilism

– "German Nihilism," Interpretation, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Spring 1999).  Corrections to "German Nihilism," Interpretation, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Fall 2000).  Talk given on February 26, 1941 at the New School for Social Research.
Excerpt: What is nihilism? And how far can nihilism be said to be a specifically German phenomenon? I am not able to answer these questions; I can merely try to elaborate them a little. For… More

Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy

– Thomas Pangle, Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s controversial writings have long exercised a profound subterranean cultural influence. Now their impact is emerging into broad daylight, where they… More

Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism

– Steven B. Smith, Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism, University of Chicago Press, 2007.
From the publisher: Interest in Leo Strauss is greater now than at any time since his death, mostly because of the purported link between his thought and the political movement known as… 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

The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy

– Catherine and Michael Zuckert, The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy, University of Chicago Press, 2008.
From the publisher: Is Leo Strauss truly an intellectual forebear of neoconservatism and a powerful force in shaping Bush administration foreign policy? The Truth about Leo Strauss puts… More

The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss

– The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss, ed. Steven B. Smith, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Table of Contents: 1. Introduction: Leo Strauss today by Steven B. Smith 2. Leo Strauss: the outlines of a life by Steven B. Smith 3. Leo Strauss and the theologico-political predicament… More

Leo Strauss as Teacher

– "Leo Strauss as Teacher," Conference hosted by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago, April 22-23, 2011.
Panel discussions with: Nathan Tarcov – University of Chicago Ralph Lerner – University of Chicago Victor Gourevitch – Wesleyan University Hilail Gildin – Queens… More

Straussianism

– Mark C. Henrie, "Straussianism," First Principles, 5 May 2011.
Excerpt: Straussianism is the term used to denote the research methods, common concepts, theoretical presuppositions, central questions, and pedagogic style characteristic of the large… More

Leo Strauss on Liberal Education

– Nathan Tarcov, "Leo Strauss on Liberal Education" University of Chicago, 2011.
Nathan Tarcov of the University of Chicago discusses Strauss’s 1959 lecture “What is Liberal Education?”

Crisis of the Strauss Divided

– Harry V. Jaffa, Crisis of the Strauss Divided: Essays on Leo Strauss and Straussianism, East and West, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2012.
From the publisher: “Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was the  greatest mind in political philosophy in the twentieth century, and possibly in other centuries as well. That, I am well aware, is… More

Essays

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

Review of C. E. Vaughan: Studies in the History of Political Philosophy

– Review of Studies in the History of Political Philosophy, by C. E. Vaughan, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 3 (September 1941).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Vaughan is guided by a philosophy of history, but he is not a philosophic historian. He is a dogmatic historian. He starts from a settled and even passionately asserted view… More

The Liberalism of Classical Political Philosophy

– "The Liberalism of Classical Political Philosophy," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 12, No. 3 (March 1959).  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.  Review essay on E. A. Havelock: The Liberal Temper in Greek Politics.
Excerpt: Some readers may blame us for having devoted so much time and space to the examination of an unusually poor book. We do not believe that their judgment of the book is fair. Books… More

“Relativism”

– "Relativism," Relativism and the Study of Man, ed. Helmut Schoeck and James W. Wiggins, Van Nostrand, 1961.  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: “Relativism” has many meanings. In order not to become confused by the “blind scholastic pedantry” that exhausts itself and its audience in the… More

An Epilogue

– "An Epilogue," Essays on the Scientific Study of Politics, ed. Herbert J. Storing, Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1962.  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.
Excerpt: There is, then, more than a mysterious pre-established harmony between the new political science and a certain version of liberal democracy. The alleged value-free analysis of… 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

Leo Strauss and the History of Political Philosophy

– Nathan Tarcov and Thomas L. Pangle, "Epilogue: Leo Strauss and the History of Political Philosophy," History of Political Philosophy, Third Edition, ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Excerpt: A student using this book might legitimately and naturally wonder about the approach to the teaching of political philosophy presented here. The originator of this approach was the… 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

Why We Remain Jews

– "Why We Remain Jews: Can Jewish Faith and History Still Speak to Us?" Leo Strauss: Political Philosopher and Jewish Thinker, ed. Kenneth L. Deutsch and Walter Nicgorski, Rowman and Littlefield, 1994.
Excerpt: I take more serious cases; first, the anti-Judaism of late classical antiquity, when we (and incidentally also the Christians) were accused by the pagan Romans of standing… More

German Nihilism

– "German Nihilism," Interpretation, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Spring 1999).  Corrections to "German Nihilism," Interpretation, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Fall 2000).  Talk given on February 26, 1941 at the New School for Social Research.
Excerpt: What is nihilism? And how far can nihilism be said to be a specifically German phenomenon? I am not able to answer these questions; I can merely try to elaborate them a little. For… More

Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy

– Thomas Pangle, Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s controversial writings have long exercised a profound subterranean cultural influence. Now their impact is emerging into broad daylight, where they… More

Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism

– Steven B. Smith, Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism, University of Chicago Press, 2007.
From the publisher: Interest in Leo Strauss is greater now than at any time since his death, mostly because of the purported link between his thought and the political movement known as… 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

The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy

– Catherine and Michael Zuckert, The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy, University of Chicago Press, 2008.
From the publisher: Is Leo Strauss truly an intellectual forebear of neoconservatism and a powerful force in shaping Bush administration foreign policy? The Truth about Leo Strauss puts… More

The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss

– The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss, ed. Steven B. Smith, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Table of Contents: 1. Introduction: Leo Strauss today by Steven B. Smith 2. Leo Strauss: the outlines of a life by Steven B. Smith 3. Leo Strauss and the theologico-political predicament… More

Leo Strauss as Teacher

– "Leo Strauss as Teacher," Conference hosted by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago, April 22-23, 2011.
Panel discussions with: Nathan Tarcov – University of Chicago Ralph Lerner – University of Chicago Victor Gourevitch – Wesleyan University Hilail Gildin – Queens… More

Straussianism

– Mark C. Henrie, "Straussianism," First Principles, 5 May 2011.
Excerpt: Straussianism is the term used to denote the research methods, common concepts, theoretical presuppositions, central questions, and pedagogic style characteristic of the large… More

Leo Strauss on Liberal Education

– Nathan Tarcov, "Leo Strauss on Liberal Education" University of Chicago, 2011.
Nathan Tarcov of the University of Chicago discusses Strauss’s 1959 lecture “What is Liberal Education?”

Crisis of the Strauss Divided

– Harry V. Jaffa, Crisis of the Strauss Divided: Essays on Leo Strauss and Straussianism, East and West, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2012.
From the publisher: “Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was the  greatest mind in political philosophy in the twentieth century, and possibly in other centuries as well. That, I am well aware, is… More

Commentary

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

Review of C. E. Vaughan: Studies in the History of Political Philosophy

– Review of Studies in the History of Political Philosophy, by C. E. Vaughan, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 3 (September 1941).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Vaughan is guided by a philosophy of history, but he is not a philosophic historian. He is a dogmatic historian. He starts from a settled and even passionately asserted view… More

The Liberalism of Classical Political Philosophy

– "The Liberalism of Classical Political Philosophy," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 12, No. 3 (March 1959).  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.  Review essay on E. A. Havelock: The Liberal Temper in Greek Politics.
Excerpt: Some readers may blame us for having devoted so much time and space to the examination of an unusually poor book. We do not believe that their judgment of the book is fair. Books… More

“Relativism”

– "Relativism," Relativism and the Study of Man, ed. Helmut Schoeck and James W. Wiggins, Van Nostrand, 1961.  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: “Relativism” has many meanings. In order not to become confused by the “blind scholastic pedantry” that exhausts itself and its audience in the… More

An Epilogue

– "An Epilogue," Essays on the Scientific Study of Politics, ed. Herbert J. Storing, Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1962.  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.
Excerpt: There is, then, more than a mysterious pre-established harmony between the new political science and a certain version of liberal democracy. The alleged value-free analysis of… 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

Leo Strauss and the History of Political Philosophy

– Nathan Tarcov and Thomas L. Pangle, "Epilogue: Leo Strauss and the History of Political Philosophy," History of Political Philosophy, Third Edition, ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Excerpt: A student using this book might legitimately and naturally wonder about the approach to the teaching of political philosophy presented here. The originator of this approach was the… 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

Why We Remain Jews

– "Why We Remain Jews: Can Jewish Faith and History Still Speak to Us?" Leo Strauss: Political Philosopher and Jewish Thinker, ed. Kenneth L. Deutsch and Walter Nicgorski, Rowman and Littlefield, 1994.
Excerpt: I take more serious cases; first, the anti-Judaism of late classical antiquity, when we (and incidentally also the Christians) were accused by the pagan Romans of standing… More

German Nihilism

– "German Nihilism," Interpretation, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Spring 1999).  Corrections to "German Nihilism," Interpretation, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Fall 2000).  Talk given on February 26, 1941 at the New School for Social Research.
Excerpt: What is nihilism? And how far can nihilism be said to be a specifically German phenomenon? I am not able to answer these questions; I can merely try to elaborate them a little. For… More

Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy

– Thomas Pangle, Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s controversial writings have long exercised a profound subterranean cultural influence. Now their impact is emerging into broad daylight, where they… More

Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism

– Steven B. Smith, Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism, University of Chicago Press, 2007.
From the publisher: Interest in Leo Strauss is greater now than at any time since his death, mostly because of the purported link between his thought and the political movement known as… 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

The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy

– Catherine and Michael Zuckert, The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy, University of Chicago Press, 2008.
From the publisher: Is Leo Strauss truly an intellectual forebear of neoconservatism and a powerful force in shaping Bush administration foreign policy? The Truth about Leo Strauss puts… More

The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss

– The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss, ed. Steven B. Smith, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Table of Contents: 1. Introduction: Leo Strauss today by Steven B. Smith 2. Leo Strauss: the outlines of a life by Steven B. Smith 3. Leo Strauss and the theologico-political predicament… More

Leo Strauss as Teacher

– "Leo Strauss as Teacher," Conference hosted by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago, April 22-23, 2011.
Panel discussions with: Nathan Tarcov – University of Chicago Ralph Lerner – University of Chicago Victor Gourevitch – Wesleyan University Hilail Gildin – Queens… More

Straussianism

– Mark C. Henrie, "Straussianism," First Principles, 5 May 2011.
Excerpt: Straussianism is the term used to denote the research methods, common concepts, theoretical presuppositions, central questions, and pedagogic style characteristic of the large… More

Leo Strauss on Liberal Education

– Nathan Tarcov, "Leo Strauss on Liberal Education" University of Chicago, 2011.
Nathan Tarcov of the University of Chicago discusses Strauss’s 1959 lecture “What is Liberal Education?”

Crisis of the Strauss Divided

– Harry V. Jaffa, Crisis of the Strauss Divided: Essays on Leo Strauss and Straussianism, East and West, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2012.
From the publisher: “Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was the  greatest mind in political philosophy in the twentieth century, and possibly in other centuries as well. That, I am well aware, is… More

Multimedia

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

Review of C. E. Vaughan: Studies in the History of Political Philosophy

– Review of Studies in the History of Political Philosophy, by C. E. Vaughan, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 3 (September 1941).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Vaughan is guided by a philosophy of history, but he is not a philosophic historian. He is a dogmatic historian. He starts from a settled and even passionately asserted view… More

The Liberalism of Classical Political Philosophy

– "The Liberalism of Classical Political Philosophy," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 12, No. 3 (March 1959).  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.  Review essay on E. A. Havelock: The Liberal Temper in Greek Politics.
Excerpt: Some readers may blame us for having devoted so much time and space to the examination of an unusually poor book. We do not believe that their judgment of the book is fair. Books… More

“Relativism”

– "Relativism," Relativism and the Study of Man, ed. Helmut Schoeck and James W. Wiggins, Van Nostrand, 1961.  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: “Relativism” has many meanings. In order not to become confused by the “blind scholastic pedantry” that exhausts itself and its audience in the… More

An Epilogue

– "An Epilogue," Essays on the Scientific Study of Politics, ed. Herbert J. Storing, Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1962.  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.
Excerpt: There is, then, more than a mysterious pre-established harmony between the new political science and a certain version of liberal democracy. The alleged value-free analysis of… 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

Leo Strauss and the History of Political Philosophy

– Nathan Tarcov and Thomas L. Pangle, "Epilogue: Leo Strauss and the History of Political Philosophy," History of Political Philosophy, Third Edition, ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Excerpt: A student using this book might legitimately and naturally wonder about the approach to the teaching of political philosophy presented here. The originator of this approach was the… 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

Why We Remain Jews

– "Why We Remain Jews: Can Jewish Faith and History Still Speak to Us?" Leo Strauss: Political Philosopher and Jewish Thinker, ed. Kenneth L. Deutsch and Walter Nicgorski, Rowman and Littlefield, 1994.
Excerpt: I take more serious cases; first, the anti-Judaism of late classical antiquity, when we (and incidentally also the Christians) were accused by the pagan Romans of standing… More

German Nihilism

– "German Nihilism," Interpretation, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Spring 1999).  Corrections to "German Nihilism," Interpretation, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Fall 2000).  Talk given on February 26, 1941 at the New School for Social Research.
Excerpt: What is nihilism? And how far can nihilism be said to be a specifically German phenomenon? I am not able to answer these questions; I can merely try to elaborate them a little. For… More

Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy

– Thomas Pangle, Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s controversial writings have long exercised a profound subterranean cultural influence. Now their impact is emerging into broad daylight, where they… More

Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism

– Steven B. Smith, Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism, University of Chicago Press, 2007.
From the publisher: Interest in Leo Strauss is greater now than at any time since his death, mostly because of the purported link between his thought and the political movement known as… 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

The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy

– Catherine and Michael Zuckert, The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy, University of Chicago Press, 2008.
From the publisher: Is Leo Strauss truly an intellectual forebear of neoconservatism and a powerful force in shaping Bush administration foreign policy? The Truth about Leo Strauss puts… More

The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss

– The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss, ed. Steven B. Smith, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Table of Contents: 1. Introduction: Leo Strauss today by Steven B. Smith 2. Leo Strauss: the outlines of a life by Steven B. Smith 3. Leo Strauss and the theologico-political predicament… More

Leo Strauss as Teacher

– "Leo Strauss as Teacher," Conference hosted by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago, April 22-23, 2011.
Panel discussions with: Nathan Tarcov – University of Chicago Ralph Lerner – University of Chicago Victor Gourevitch – Wesleyan University Hilail Gildin – Queens… More

Straussianism

– Mark C. Henrie, "Straussianism," First Principles, 5 May 2011.
Excerpt: Straussianism is the term used to denote the research methods, common concepts, theoretical presuppositions, central questions, and pedagogic style characteristic of the large… More

Leo Strauss on Liberal Education

– Nathan Tarcov, "Leo Strauss on Liberal Education" University of Chicago, 2011.
Nathan Tarcov of the University of Chicago discusses Strauss’s 1959 lecture “What is Liberal Education?”

Crisis of the Strauss Divided

– Harry V. Jaffa, Crisis of the Strauss Divided: Essays on Leo Strauss and Straussianism, East and West, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2012.
From the publisher: “Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was the  greatest mind in political philosophy in the twentieth century, and possibly in other centuries as well. That, I am well aware, is… More

Teaching

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

Review of C. E. Vaughan: Studies in the History of Political Philosophy

– Review of Studies in the History of Political Philosophy, by C. E. Vaughan, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 3 (September 1941).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: Vaughan is guided by a philosophy of history, but he is not a philosophic historian. He is a dogmatic historian. He starts from a settled and even passionately asserted view… More

The Liberalism of Classical Political Philosophy

– "The Liberalism of Classical Political Philosophy," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 12, No. 3 (March 1959).  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.  Review essay on E. A. Havelock: The Liberal Temper in Greek Politics.
Excerpt: Some readers may blame us for having devoted so much time and space to the examination of an unusually poor book. We do not believe that their judgment of the book is fair. Books… More

“Relativism”

– "Relativism," Relativism and the Study of Man, ed. Helmut Schoeck and James W. Wiggins, Van Nostrand, 1961.  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: “Relativism” has many meanings. In order not to become confused by the “blind scholastic pedantry” that exhausts itself and its audience in the… More

An Epilogue

– "An Epilogue," Essays on the Scientific Study of Politics, ed. Herbert J. Storing, Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1962.  Reprinted in Liberalism Ancient and Modern.
Excerpt: There is, then, more than a mysterious pre-established harmony between the new political science and a certain version of liberal democracy. The alleged value-free analysis of… 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

Leo Strauss and the History of Political Philosophy

– Nathan Tarcov and Thomas L. Pangle, "Epilogue: Leo Strauss and the History of Political Philosophy," History of Political Philosophy, Third Edition, ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Excerpt: A student using this book might legitimately and naturally wonder about the approach to the teaching of political philosophy presented here. The originator of this approach was the… 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

Why We Remain Jews

– "Why We Remain Jews: Can Jewish Faith and History Still Speak to Us?" Leo Strauss: Political Philosopher and Jewish Thinker, ed. Kenneth L. Deutsch and Walter Nicgorski, Rowman and Littlefield, 1994.
Excerpt: I take more serious cases; first, the anti-Judaism of late classical antiquity, when we (and incidentally also the Christians) were accused by the pagan Romans of standing… More

German Nihilism

– "German Nihilism," Interpretation, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Spring 1999).  Corrections to "German Nihilism," Interpretation, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Fall 2000).  Talk given on February 26, 1941 at the New School for Social Research.
Excerpt: What is nihilism? And how far can nihilism be said to be a specifically German phenomenon? I am not able to answer these questions; I can merely try to elaborate them a little. For… More

Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy

– Thomas Pangle, Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s controversial writings have long exercised a profound subterranean cultural influence. Now their impact is emerging into broad daylight, where they… More

Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism

– Steven B. Smith, Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism, University of Chicago Press, 2007.
From the publisher: Interest in Leo Strauss is greater now than at any time since his death, mostly because of the purported link between his thought and the political movement known as… 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

The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy

– Catherine and Michael Zuckert, The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy, University of Chicago Press, 2008.
From the publisher: Is Leo Strauss truly an intellectual forebear of neoconservatism and a powerful force in shaping Bush administration foreign policy? The Truth about Leo Strauss puts… More

The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss

– The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss, ed. Steven B. Smith, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Table of Contents: 1. Introduction: Leo Strauss today by Steven B. Smith 2. Leo Strauss: the outlines of a life by Steven B. Smith 3. Leo Strauss and the theologico-political predicament… More

Leo Strauss as Teacher

– "Leo Strauss as Teacher," Conference hosted by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago, April 22-23, 2011.
Panel discussions with: Nathan Tarcov – University of Chicago Ralph Lerner – University of Chicago Victor Gourevitch – Wesleyan University Hilail Gildin – Queens… More

Straussianism

– Mark C. Henrie, "Straussianism," First Principles, 5 May 2011.
Excerpt: Straussianism is the term used to denote the research methods, common concepts, theoretical presuppositions, central questions, and pedagogic style characteristic of the large… More

Leo Strauss on Liberal Education

– Nathan Tarcov, "Leo Strauss on Liberal Education" University of Chicago, 2011.
Nathan Tarcov of the University of Chicago discusses Strauss’s 1959 lecture “What is Liberal Education?”

Crisis of the Strauss Divided

– Harry V. Jaffa, Crisis of the Strauss Divided: Essays on Leo Strauss and Straussianism, East and West, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2012.
From the publisher: “Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was the  greatest mind in political philosophy in the twentieth century, and possibly in other centuries as well. That, I am well aware, is… More