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
Review of Leonardo Olschki: Machiavelli the Scientist
– Review of Machiavelli the Scientist, by Leonardo Olschki, Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 1 (March 1946). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: According to Olschki, however, Machiavelli was primarily interested in elaborating” a new science of man which anticipated in spirit and mental procedure Galileo’s… More
On Tyranny
– On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000. Originally Published as On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Political Science Classics, 1948.Excerpt: While Xenophon seems to have believed that beneficent tyranny or the rule of a tyrant who listens to the counsels of the wise is, as a matter of principle, preferable to the rule… More
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
Walker’s Machiavelli
– "Walker's Machiavelli," review of Discourses of Niccolò Machiavelli, ed. L. J. Walker, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 6, No. 3 (March 1953).Excerpt: Walker is not the first to contend that Machiavelli’s achievement consists chiefly or exclusively in the discovery of a new method. In fact, it would appear that the view… More
Machiavelli’s Intention: The Prince
– "Machiavelli's Intention: The Prince," American Political Science Review, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1957). Reprinted in Thoughts on Machiavelli (Ch. 2).Excerpt: Let us follow this movement somewhat more closely. At first sight The Prince belongs to the traditional genre of Mirrors of Princes, which are primarily addressed to legitimate… More
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
What Is Political Philosophy?
– "What Is Political Philosophy?" What Is Political Philosophy, The Free Press, 1959. Revised version of the Judah L. Magnes Lectures given at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in December 1954-January 1955. Hebrew translation published in Iyyun in April 1955.Excerpt: When we describe the political philosophy of Plato and of Aristotle as classical political philosophy, we imply that it is the classic form of political philosophy. The classic was… More
Restatement on Xenophon’s Hiero
– "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero," What Is Political Philosophy? The Free Press, 1959. Reprinted in On Tyranny.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… More
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
Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss
– Willmoore Kendall, "Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss," Philosophical Review, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Apr. 1966).Excerpt: One of the marvels of Professor Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli is not so much that it dispels the confusion as to what Machiavelli was up to, and whether he was or was not… 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
Machiavelli and Classical Literature
– "Machiavelli and Classical Literature," Review of National Literatures, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1970).Excerpt: I shall speak somewhat less briefly on La Vita de Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, For this graceful little work reveals Machiavelli s moral taste in a more direct or simple and… More
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
Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973
– Allan Bloom, "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973," Political Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Nov. 1974).Excerpt: On October 18, 1973, Leo Strauss died in Annapolis, Maryland. He was one of the very small number of men whose thought has had seminal influence in political theory in our time.… More
The Three Waves of Modernity
– "The Three Waves of Modernity," Political Philosophy: Six Essays, ed. Hilail Gildin, Pegasus-Bobbs-Merrill, 1975.Excerpt: The crisis of modernity reveals itself in the fact, or consists in the fact, that modern western man no longer knows what he wants–that he no longer believes that he can know… More
Strauss’s Machiavelli
– Harvey C. Mansfield, "Strauss's Machiavelli," Political Theory, Nov. 1975, pp. 372-384.Excerpt: Thoughts on Machiavelli is an exoteric book, that is, a book containing much that is appreciably esoteric to any ordinary reader stated m a manner either so elusive or so… 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
Blasphemy and Leo Strauss’s Machiavelli
– Dante Germino, "Blasphemy and Leo Strauss's Machiavelli," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).Excerpt: In 1966, I published a review article hailing Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli as an instant classic. I also expressed some reservations or “second thoughts”… More
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
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.Strauss on the Prince
– Harvey C. Mansfield, "Strauss on the Prince," The Review of Politics / Volume 75 / Special Issue 04 / Fall 2013 pp 641-665Here is a study by Harvey Mansfield of what Leo Strauss in his marvelous book, Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958), tells us about Machiavelli’s The Prince, and how he tells it. The… 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
Review of Leonardo Olschki: Machiavelli the Scientist
– Review of Machiavelli the Scientist, by Leonardo Olschki, Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 1 (March 1946). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: According to Olschki, however, Machiavelli was primarily interested in elaborating” a new science of man which anticipated in spirit and mental procedure Galileo’s… More
On Tyranny
– On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000. Originally Published as On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Political Science Classics, 1948.Excerpt: While Xenophon seems to have believed that beneficent tyranny or the rule of a tyrant who listens to the counsels of the wise is, as a matter of principle, preferable to the rule… More
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
Walker’s Machiavelli
– "Walker's Machiavelli," review of Discourses of Niccolò Machiavelli, ed. L. J. Walker, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 6, No. 3 (March 1953).Excerpt: Walker is not the first to contend that Machiavelli’s achievement consists chiefly or exclusively in the discovery of a new method. In fact, it would appear that the view… More
Machiavelli’s Intention: The Prince
– "Machiavelli's Intention: The Prince," American Political Science Review, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1957). Reprinted in Thoughts on Machiavelli (Ch. 2).Excerpt: Let us follow this movement somewhat more closely. At first sight The Prince belongs to the traditional genre of Mirrors of Princes, which are primarily addressed to legitimate… More
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
What Is Political Philosophy?
– "What Is Political Philosophy?" What Is Political Philosophy, The Free Press, 1959. Revised version of the Judah L. Magnes Lectures given at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in December 1954-January 1955. Hebrew translation published in Iyyun in April 1955.Excerpt: When we describe the political philosophy of Plato and of Aristotle as classical political philosophy, we imply that it is the classic form of political philosophy. The classic was… More
Restatement on Xenophon’s Hiero
– "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero," What Is Political Philosophy? The Free Press, 1959. Reprinted in On Tyranny.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… More
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
Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss
– Willmoore Kendall, "Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss," Philosophical Review, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Apr. 1966).Excerpt: One of the marvels of Professor Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli is not so much that it dispels the confusion as to what Machiavelli was up to, and whether he was or was not… 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
Machiavelli and Classical Literature
– "Machiavelli and Classical Literature," Review of National Literatures, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1970).Excerpt: I shall speak somewhat less briefly on La Vita de Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, For this graceful little work reveals Machiavelli s moral taste in a more direct or simple and… More
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
Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973
– Allan Bloom, "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973," Political Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Nov. 1974).Excerpt: On October 18, 1973, Leo Strauss died in Annapolis, Maryland. He was one of the very small number of men whose thought has had seminal influence in political theory in our time.… More
The Three Waves of Modernity
– "The Three Waves of Modernity," Political Philosophy: Six Essays, ed. Hilail Gildin, Pegasus-Bobbs-Merrill, 1975.Excerpt: The crisis of modernity reveals itself in the fact, or consists in the fact, that modern western man no longer knows what he wants–that he no longer believes that he can know… More
Strauss’s Machiavelli
– Harvey C. Mansfield, "Strauss's Machiavelli," Political Theory, Nov. 1975, pp. 372-384.Excerpt: Thoughts on Machiavelli is an exoteric book, that is, a book containing much that is appreciably esoteric to any ordinary reader stated m a manner either so elusive or so… 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
Blasphemy and Leo Strauss’s Machiavelli
– Dante Germino, "Blasphemy and Leo Strauss's Machiavelli," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).Excerpt: In 1966, I published a review article hailing Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli as an instant classic. I also expressed some reservations or “second thoughts”… More
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
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.Strauss on the Prince
– Harvey C. Mansfield, "Strauss on the Prince," The Review of Politics / Volume 75 / Special Issue 04 / Fall 2013 pp 641-665Here is a study by Harvey Mansfield of what Leo Strauss in his marvelous book, Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958), tells us about Machiavelli’s The Prince, and how he tells it. The… 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
Review of Leonardo Olschki: Machiavelli the Scientist
– Review of Machiavelli the Scientist, by Leonardo Olschki, Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 1 (March 1946). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: According to Olschki, however, Machiavelli was primarily interested in elaborating” a new science of man which anticipated in spirit and mental procedure Galileo’s… More
On Tyranny
– On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000. Originally Published as On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Political Science Classics, 1948.Excerpt: While Xenophon seems to have believed that beneficent tyranny or the rule of a tyrant who listens to the counsels of the wise is, as a matter of principle, preferable to the rule… More
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
Walker’s Machiavelli
– "Walker's Machiavelli," review of Discourses of Niccolò Machiavelli, ed. L. J. Walker, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 6, No. 3 (March 1953).Excerpt: Walker is not the first to contend that Machiavelli’s achievement consists chiefly or exclusively in the discovery of a new method. In fact, it would appear that the view… More
Machiavelli’s Intention: The Prince
– "Machiavelli's Intention: The Prince," American Political Science Review, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1957). Reprinted in Thoughts on Machiavelli (Ch. 2).Excerpt: Let us follow this movement somewhat more closely. At first sight The Prince belongs to the traditional genre of Mirrors of Princes, which are primarily addressed to legitimate… More
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
What Is Political Philosophy?
– "What Is Political Philosophy?" What Is Political Philosophy, The Free Press, 1959. Revised version of the Judah L. Magnes Lectures given at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in December 1954-January 1955. Hebrew translation published in Iyyun in April 1955.Excerpt: When we describe the political philosophy of Plato and of Aristotle as classical political philosophy, we imply that it is the classic form of political philosophy. The classic was… More
Restatement on Xenophon’s Hiero
– "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero," What Is Political Philosophy? The Free Press, 1959. Reprinted in On Tyranny.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… More
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
Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss
– Willmoore Kendall, "Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss," Philosophical Review, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Apr. 1966).Excerpt: One of the marvels of Professor Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli is not so much that it dispels the confusion as to what Machiavelli was up to, and whether he was or was not… 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
Machiavelli and Classical Literature
– "Machiavelli and Classical Literature," Review of National Literatures, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1970).Excerpt: I shall speak somewhat less briefly on La Vita de Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, For this graceful little work reveals Machiavelli s moral taste in a more direct or simple and… More
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
Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973
– Allan Bloom, "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973," Political Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Nov. 1974).Excerpt: On October 18, 1973, Leo Strauss died in Annapolis, Maryland. He was one of the very small number of men whose thought has had seminal influence in political theory in our time.… More
The Three Waves of Modernity
– "The Three Waves of Modernity," Political Philosophy: Six Essays, ed. Hilail Gildin, Pegasus-Bobbs-Merrill, 1975.Excerpt: The crisis of modernity reveals itself in the fact, or consists in the fact, that modern western man no longer knows what he wants–that he no longer believes that he can know… More
Strauss’s Machiavelli
– Harvey C. Mansfield, "Strauss's Machiavelli," Political Theory, Nov. 1975, pp. 372-384.Excerpt: Thoughts on Machiavelli is an exoteric book, that is, a book containing much that is appreciably esoteric to any ordinary reader stated m a manner either so elusive or so… 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
Blasphemy and Leo Strauss’s Machiavelli
– Dante Germino, "Blasphemy and Leo Strauss's Machiavelli," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).Excerpt: In 1966, I published a review article hailing Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli as an instant classic. I also expressed some reservations or “second thoughts”… More
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
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.Strauss on the Prince
– Harvey C. Mansfield, "Strauss on the Prince," The Review of Politics / Volume 75 / Special Issue 04 / Fall 2013 pp 641-665Here is a study by Harvey Mansfield of what Leo Strauss in his marvelous book, Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958), tells us about Machiavelli’s The Prince, and how he tells it. The… 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
Review of Leonardo Olschki: Machiavelli the Scientist
– Review of Machiavelli the Scientist, by Leonardo Olschki, Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 1 (March 1946). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: According to Olschki, however, Machiavelli was primarily interested in elaborating” a new science of man which anticipated in spirit and mental procedure Galileo’s… More
On Tyranny
– On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000. Originally Published as On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Political Science Classics, 1948.Excerpt: While Xenophon seems to have believed that beneficent tyranny or the rule of a tyrant who listens to the counsels of the wise is, as a matter of principle, preferable to the rule… More
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
Walker’s Machiavelli
– "Walker's Machiavelli," review of Discourses of Niccolò Machiavelli, ed. L. J. Walker, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 6, No. 3 (March 1953).Excerpt: Walker is not the first to contend that Machiavelli’s achievement consists chiefly or exclusively in the discovery of a new method. In fact, it would appear that the view… More
Machiavelli’s Intention: The Prince
– "Machiavelli's Intention: The Prince," American Political Science Review, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1957). Reprinted in Thoughts on Machiavelli (Ch. 2).Excerpt: Let us follow this movement somewhat more closely. At first sight The Prince belongs to the traditional genre of Mirrors of Princes, which are primarily addressed to legitimate… More
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
What Is Political Philosophy?
– "What Is Political Philosophy?" What Is Political Philosophy, The Free Press, 1959. Revised version of the Judah L. Magnes Lectures given at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in December 1954-January 1955. Hebrew translation published in Iyyun in April 1955.Excerpt: When we describe the political philosophy of Plato and of Aristotle as classical political philosophy, we imply that it is the classic form of political philosophy. The classic was… More
Restatement on Xenophon’s Hiero
– "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero," What Is Political Philosophy? The Free Press, 1959. Reprinted in On Tyranny.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… More
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
Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss
– Willmoore Kendall, "Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss," Philosophical Review, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Apr. 1966).Excerpt: One of the marvels of Professor Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli is not so much that it dispels the confusion as to what Machiavelli was up to, and whether he was or was not… 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
Machiavelli and Classical Literature
– "Machiavelli and Classical Literature," Review of National Literatures, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1970).Excerpt: I shall speak somewhat less briefly on La Vita de Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, For this graceful little work reveals Machiavelli s moral taste in a more direct or simple and… More
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
Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973
– Allan Bloom, "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973," Political Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Nov. 1974).Excerpt: On October 18, 1973, Leo Strauss died in Annapolis, Maryland. He was one of the very small number of men whose thought has had seminal influence in political theory in our time.… More
The Three Waves of Modernity
– "The Three Waves of Modernity," Political Philosophy: Six Essays, ed. Hilail Gildin, Pegasus-Bobbs-Merrill, 1975.Excerpt: The crisis of modernity reveals itself in the fact, or consists in the fact, that modern western man no longer knows what he wants–that he no longer believes that he can know… More
Strauss’s Machiavelli
– Harvey C. Mansfield, "Strauss's Machiavelli," Political Theory, Nov. 1975, pp. 372-384.Excerpt: Thoughts on Machiavelli is an exoteric book, that is, a book containing much that is appreciably esoteric to any ordinary reader stated m a manner either so elusive or so… 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
Blasphemy and Leo Strauss’s Machiavelli
– Dante Germino, "Blasphemy and Leo Strauss's Machiavelli," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).Excerpt: In 1966, I published a review article hailing Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli as an instant classic. I also expressed some reservations or “second thoughts”… More
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
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.Strauss on the Prince
– Harvey C. Mansfield, "Strauss on the Prince," The Review of Politics / Volume 75 / Special Issue 04 / Fall 2013 pp 641-665Here is a study by Harvey Mansfield of what Leo Strauss in his marvelous book, Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958), tells us about Machiavelli’s The Prince, and how he tells it. The… 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
Review of Leonardo Olschki: Machiavelli the Scientist
– Review of Machiavelli the Scientist, by Leonardo Olschki, Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 1 (March 1946). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: According to Olschki, however, Machiavelli was primarily interested in elaborating” a new science of man which anticipated in spirit and mental procedure Galileo’s… More
On Tyranny
– On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Including the Strauss-Kojeve Correspondence, Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1961, reprinted 1991, 2000. Originally Published as On Tyranny: An Interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero, Political Science Classics, 1948.Excerpt: While Xenophon seems to have believed that beneficent tyranny or the rule of a tyrant who listens to the counsels of the wise is, as a matter of principle, preferable to the rule… More
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
Walker’s Machiavelli
– "Walker's Machiavelli," review of Discourses of Niccolò Machiavelli, ed. L. J. Walker, Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 6, No. 3 (March 1953).Excerpt: Walker is not the first to contend that Machiavelli’s achievement consists chiefly or exclusively in the discovery of a new method. In fact, it would appear that the view… More
Machiavelli’s Intention: The Prince
– "Machiavelli's Intention: The Prince," American Political Science Review, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1957). Reprinted in Thoughts on Machiavelli (Ch. 2).Excerpt: Let us follow this movement somewhat more closely. At first sight The Prince belongs to the traditional genre of Mirrors of Princes, which are primarily addressed to legitimate… More
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
What Is Political Philosophy?
– "What Is Political Philosophy?" What Is Political Philosophy, The Free Press, 1959. Revised version of the Judah L. Magnes Lectures given at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in December 1954-January 1955. Hebrew translation published in Iyyun in April 1955.Excerpt: When we describe the political philosophy of Plato and of Aristotle as classical political philosophy, we imply that it is the classic form of political philosophy. The classic was… More
Restatement on Xenophon’s Hiero
– "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero," What Is Political Philosophy? The Free Press, 1959. Reprinted in On Tyranny.Excerpt: A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It… More
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
Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss
– Willmoore Kendall, "Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss," Philosophical Review, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Apr. 1966).Excerpt: One of the marvels of Professor Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli is not so much that it dispels the confusion as to what Machiavelli was up to, and whether he was or was not… 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
Machiavelli and Classical Literature
– "Machiavelli and Classical Literature," Review of National Literatures, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1970).Excerpt: I shall speak somewhat less briefly on La Vita de Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, For this graceful little work reveals Machiavelli s moral taste in a more direct or simple and… More
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
Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973
– Allan Bloom, "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973," Political Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Nov. 1974).Excerpt: On October 18, 1973, Leo Strauss died in Annapolis, Maryland. He was one of the very small number of men whose thought has had seminal influence in political theory in our time.… More
The Three Waves of Modernity
– "The Three Waves of Modernity," Political Philosophy: Six Essays, ed. Hilail Gildin, Pegasus-Bobbs-Merrill, 1975.Excerpt: The crisis of modernity reveals itself in the fact, or consists in the fact, that modern western man no longer knows what he wants–that he no longer believes that he can know… More
Strauss’s Machiavelli
– Harvey C. Mansfield, "Strauss's Machiavelli," Political Theory, Nov. 1975, pp. 372-384.Excerpt: Thoughts on Machiavelli is an exoteric book, that is, a book containing much that is appreciably esoteric to any ordinary reader stated m a manner either so elusive or so… 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
Blasphemy and Leo Strauss’s Machiavelli
– Dante Germino, "Blasphemy and Leo Strauss's Machiavelli," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).Excerpt: In 1966, I published a review article hailing Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli as an instant classic. I also expressed some reservations or “second thoughts”… More
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
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.Strauss on the Prince
– Harvey C. Mansfield, "Strauss on the Prince," The Review of Politics / Volume 75 / Special Issue 04 / Fall 2013 pp 641-665Here is a study by Harvey Mansfield of what Leo Strauss in his marvelous book, Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958), tells us about Machiavelli’s The Prince, and how he tells it. The… More