Books
The Problem of Knowledge in the Philosophical Doctrine of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi
– The Problem of Knowledge in the Philosophical Doctrine of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Hamburg, 1921. Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften, Band 2, Philosophie und Gesetz -- Frühe Schriften, Heinrich Meier, ed., Metzler Verlag, 1997. Abstract reprinted in: Leo Strauss: The Early Writings (1921-1932), Michael Zank, ed., State University of New York Press, 2002.Excerpt: Jacobi distinguishes two types of general attitudes of mind, the essential predicates of which are juxtaposed as “courageously believing” [mutig-glaubend] and… More
Spinoza’s Critique of Religion
– Spinoza's Critique of Religion, trans. E. M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1997. Originally published as Die Religionskritik Spinozas als Grundlage seiner Bibelwissenschaft Untersuchungen zu Spinozas Theologisch-Politischem Traktat, Akademie-Verlag, 1930.Excerpt from the preface to the English translation: Considerations like those sketched in the preceding paragraphs made one wonder whether an unqualified return to Jewish orthodoxy was not… More
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
The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon
– "The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon," Social Research, Vol. 6, No. 4 (November 1939).Excerpt: Xenophon’s treatise Constitution of the Lacedemonians appears to be devoted to praise of the Spartan constitution, or, which amounts to the same thing, of the Spartan mode of… More
On 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
Political Philosophy and History
– "Political Philosophy and History," Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 10, No. 1 (January 1949). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: Political philosophy is not a historical discipline. The philosophic questions of the nature of political things and of the best, or just, political order are fundamentally… 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
The Origin of the Idea of Natural Right
– "The Origin of the Idea of Natural Right," Social Research, Vol. 19, No. 1 (March 1952). Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 3).Excerpt: To understand the problem of natural right, one must start not from a “scientific” understanding of political things but from a “natural” understanding of… 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
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
Introduction to History of Political Philosophy
– "Introduction," 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: Today “political philosophy” has become almost synonymous with “ideology,” not to say “myth.” It surely is understood in contradistinction to… More
Plato
– "Plato," 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: The Nocturnal Council is to be for the city what the mind is for the human individual. To perform its function its members must possess above everything else the most adequate… 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
A Note on Lucretius
– "A Note on Lucretius," Natur und Geshichte: Karl Lowith zum 70, Geburtsag. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1967. Reprinted in "Notes on Lucretius," Liberalism Ancient and Modern.Excerpt: Lucretius’ work is a poetic exposition of Epicurean philosophy. The reader who opens the book for the first time and peruses its opening does not know through firsthand… 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
Notes on Lucretius
– "Notes on Lucretius," Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.Excerpt: Lucretius’ work is a poetic exposition of Epicurean philosophy. The reader who opens the book for the first time and peruses its opening does not know through firsthand… More
Note on the Plan of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil
– "Note on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil," Interpretation, Vol. 3, No. 2-3 (Winter 1973). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.Excerpt: Beyond Good and Evil always seemed to me to be the most beautiful of Nietzsche’s books. This impression could be thought to be contradicted by his judgement, for he was… More
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’ 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
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.Essays
The Problem of Knowledge in the Philosophical Doctrine of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi
– The Problem of Knowledge in the Philosophical Doctrine of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Hamburg, 1921. Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften, Band 2, Philosophie und Gesetz -- Frühe Schriften, Heinrich Meier, ed., Metzler Verlag, 1997. Abstract reprinted in: Leo Strauss: The Early Writings (1921-1932), Michael Zank, ed., State University of New York Press, 2002.Excerpt: Jacobi distinguishes two types of general attitudes of mind, the essential predicates of which are juxtaposed as “courageously believing” [mutig-glaubend] and… More
Spinoza’s Critique of Religion
– Spinoza's Critique of Religion, trans. E. M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1997. Originally published as Die Religionskritik Spinozas als Grundlage seiner Bibelwissenschaft Untersuchungen zu Spinozas Theologisch-Politischem Traktat, Akademie-Verlag, 1930.Excerpt from the preface to the English translation: Considerations like those sketched in the preceding paragraphs made one wonder whether an unqualified return to Jewish orthodoxy was not… More
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
The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon
– "The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon," Social Research, Vol. 6, No. 4 (November 1939).Excerpt: Xenophon’s treatise Constitution of the Lacedemonians appears to be devoted to praise of the Spartan constitution, or, which amounts to the same thing, of the Spartan mode of… More
On 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
Political Philosophy and History
– "Political Philosophy and History," Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 10, No. 1 (January 1949). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: Political philosophy is not a historical discipline. The philosophic questions of the nature of political things and of the best, or just, political order are fundamentally… 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
The Origin of the Idea of Natural Right
– "The Origin of the Idea of Natural Right," Social Research, Vol. 19, No. 1 (March 1952). Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 3).Excerpt: To understand the problem of natural right, one must start not from a “scientific” understanding of political things but from a “natural” understanding of… 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
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
Introduction to History of Political Philosophy
– "Introduction," 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: Today “political philosophy” has become almost synonymous with “ideology,” not to say “myth.” It surely is understood in contradistinction to… More
Plato
– "Plato," 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: The Nocturnal Council is to be for the city what the mind is for the human individual. To perform its function its members must possess above everything else the most adequate… 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
A Note on Lucretius
– "A Note on Lucretius," Natur und Geshichte: Karl Lowith zum 70, Geburtsag. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1967. Reprinted in "Notes on Lucretius," Liberalism Ancient and Modern.Excerpt: Lucretius’ work is a poetic exposition of Epicurean philosophy. The reader who opens the book for the first time and peruses its opening does not know through firsthand… 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
Notes on Lucretius
– "Notes on Lucretius," Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.Excerpt: Lucretius’ work is a poetic exposition of Epicurean philosophy. The reader who opens the book for the first time and peruses its opening does not know through firsthand… More
Note on the Plan of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil
– "Note on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil," Interpretation, Vol. 3, No. 2-3 (Winter 1973). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.Excerpt: Beyond Good and Evil always seemed to me to be the most beautiful of Nietzsche’s books. This impression could be thought to be contradicted by his judgement, for he was… More
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’ 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
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.Commentary
The Problem of Knowledge in the Philosophical Doctrine of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi
– The Problem of Knowledge in the Philosophical Doctrine of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Hamburg, 1921. Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften, Band 2, Philosophie und Gesetz -- Frühe Schriften, Heinrich Meier, ed., Metzler Verlag, 1997. Abstract reprinted in: Leo Strauss: The Early Writings (1921-1932), Michael Zank, ed., State University of New York Press, 2002.Excerpt: Jacobi distinguishes two types of general attitudes of mind, the essential predicates of which are juxtaposed as “courageously believing” [mutig-glaubend] and… More
Spinoza’s Critique of Religion
– Spinoza's Critique of Religion, trans. E. M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1997. Originally published as Die Religionskritik Spinozas als Grundlage seiner Bibelwissenschaft Untersuchungen zu Spinozas Theologisch-Politischem Traktat, Akademie-Verlag, 1930.Excerpt from the preface to the English translation: Considerations like those sketched in the preceding paragraphs made one wonder whether an unqualified return to Jewish orthodoxy was not… More
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
The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon
– "The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon," Social Research, Vol. 6, No. 4 (November 1939).Excerpt: Xenophon’s treatise Constitution of the Lacedemonians appears to be devoted to praise of the Spartan constitution, or, which amounts to the same thing, of the Spartan mode of… More
On 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
Political Philosophy and History
– "Political Philosophy and History," Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 10, No. 1 (January 1949). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: Political philosophy is not a historical discipline. The philosophic questions of the nature of political things and of the best, or just, political order are fundamentally… 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
The Origin of the Idea of Natural Right
– "The Origin of the Idea of Natural Right," Social Research, Vol. 19, No. 1 (March 1952). Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 3).Excerpt: To understand the problem of natural right, one must start not from a “scientific” understanding of political things but from a “natural” understanding of… 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
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
Introduction to History of Political Philosophy
– "Introduction," 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: Today “political philosophy” has become almost synonymous with “ideology,” not to say “myth.” It surely is understood in contradistinction to… More
Plato
– "Plato," 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: The Nocturnal Council is to be for the city what the mind is for the human individual. To perform its function its members must possess above everything else the most adequate… 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
A Note on Lucretius
– "A Note on Lucretius," Natur und Geshichte: Karl Lowith zum 70, Geburtsag. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1967. Reprinted in "Notes on Lucretius," Liberalism Ancient and Modern.Excerpt: Lucretius’ work is a poetic exposition of Epicurean philosophy. The reader who opens the book for the first time and peruses its opening does not know through firsthand… 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
Notes on Lucretius
– "Notes on Lucretius," Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.Excerpt: Lucretius’ work is a poetic exposition of Epicurean philosophy. The reader who opens the book for the first time and peruses its opening does not know through firsthand… More
Note on the Plan of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil
– "Note on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil," Interpretation, Vol. 3, No. 2-3 (Winter 1973). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.Excerpt: Beyond Good and Evil always seemed to me to be the most beautiful of Nietzsche’s books. This impression could be thought to be contradicted by his judgement, for he was… More
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’ 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
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.Multimedia
The Problem of Knowledge in the Philosophical Doctrine of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi
– The Problem of Knowledge in the Philosophical Doctrine of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Hamburg, 1921. Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften, Band 2, Philosophie und Gesetz -- Frühe Schriften, Heinrich Meier, ed., Metzler Verlag, 1997. Abstract reprinted in: Leo Strauss: The Early Writings (1921-1932), Michael Zank, ed., State University of New York Press, 2002.Excerpt: Jacobi distinguishes two types of general attitudes of mind, the essential predicates of which are juxtaposed as “courageously believing” [mutig-glaubend] and… More
Spinoza’s Critique of Religion
– Spinoza's Critique of Religion, trans. E. M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1997. Originally published as Die Religionskritik Spinozas als Grundlage seiner Bibelwissenschaft Untersuchungen zu Spinozas Theologisch-Politischem Traktat, Akademie-Verlag, 1930.Excerpt from the preface to the English translation: Considerations like those sketched in the preceding paragraphs made one wonder whether an unqualified return to Jewish orthodoxy was not… More
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
The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon
– "The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon," Social Research, Vol. 6, No. 4 (November 1939).Excerpt: Xenophon’s treatise Constitution of the Lacedemonians appears to be devoted to praise of the Spartan constitution, or, which amounts to the same thing, of the Spartan mode of… More
On 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
Political Philosophy and History
– "Political Philosophy and History," Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 10, No. 1 (January 1949). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: Political philosophy is not a historical discipline. The philosophic questions of the nature of political things and of the best, or just, political order are fundamentally… 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
The Origin of the Idea of Natural Right
– "The Origin of the Idea of Natural Right," Social Research, Vol. 19, No. 1 (March 1952). Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 3).Excerpt: To understand the problem of natural right, one must start not from a “scientific” understanding of political things but from a “natural” understanding of… 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
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
Introduction to History of Political Philosophy
– "Introduction," 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: Today “political philosophy” has become almost synonymous with “ideology,” not to say “myth.” It surely is understood in contradistinction to… More
Plato
– "Plato," 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: The Nocturnal Council is to be for the city what the mind is for the human individual. To perform its function its members must possess above everything else the most adequate… 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
A Note on Lucretius
– "A Note on Lucretius," Natur und Geshichte: Karl Lowith zum 70, Geburtsag. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1967. Reprinted in "Notes on Lucretius," Liberalism Ancient and Modern.Excerpt: Lucretius’ work is a poetic exposition of Epicurean philosophy. The reader who opens the book for the first time and peruses its opening does not know through firsthand… 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
Notes on Lucretius
– "Notes on Lucretius," Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.Excerpt: Lucretius’ work is a poetic exposition of Epicurean philosophy. The reader who opens the book for the first time and peruses its opening does not know through firsthand… More
Note on the Plan of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil
– "Note on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil," Interpretation, Vol. 3, No. 2-3 (Winter 1973). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.Excerpt: Beyond Good and Evil always seemed to me to be the most beautiful of Nietzsche’s books. This impression could be thought to be contradicted by his judgement, for he was… More
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’ 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
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.Teaching
The Problem of Knowledge in the Philosophical Doctrine of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi
– The Problem of Knowledge in the Philosophical Doctrine of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Hamburg, 1921. Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften, Band 2, Philosophie und Gesetz -- Frühe Schriften, Heinrich Meier, ed., Metzler Verlag, 1997. Abstract reprinted in: Leo Strauss: The Early Writings (1921-1932), Michael Zank, ed., State University of New York Press, 2002.Excerpt: Jacobi distinguishes two types of general attitudes of mind, the essential predicates of which are juxtaposed as “courageously believing” [mutig-glaubend] and… More
Spinoza’s Critique of Religion
– Spinoza's Critique of Religion, trans. E. M. Sinclair, University of Chicago Press, 1997. Originally published as Die Religionskritik Spinozas als Grundlage seiner Bibelwissenschaft Untersuchungen zu Spinozas Theologisch-Politischem Traktat, Akademie-Verlag, 1930.Excerpt from the preface to the English translation: Considerations like those sketched in the preceding paragraphs made one wonder whether an unqualified return to Jewish orthodoxy was not… More
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
The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon
– "The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon," Social Research, Vol. 6, No. 4 (November 1939).Excerpt: Xenophon’s treatise Constitution of the Lacedemonians appears to be devoted to praise of the Spartan constitution, or, which amounts to the same thing, of the Spartan mode of… More
On 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
Political Philosophy and History
– "Political Philosophy and History," Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 10, No. 1 (January 1949). Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?Excerpt: Political philosophy is not a historical discipline. The philosophic questions of the nature of political things and of the best, or just, political order are fundamentally… 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
The Origin of the Idea of Natural Right
– "The Origin of the Idea of Natural Right," Social Research, Vol. 19, No. 1 (March 1952). Reprinted in Natural Right and History (Ch. 3).Excerpt: To understand the problem of natural right, one must start not from a “scientific” understanding of political things but from a “natural” understanding of… 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
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
Introduction to History of Political Philosophy
– "Introduction," 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: Today “political philosophy” has become almost synonymous with “ideology,” not to say “myth.” It surely is understood in contradistinction to… More
Plato
– "Plato," 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: The Nocturnal Council is to be for the city what the mind is for the human individual. To perform its function its members must possess above everything else the most adequate… 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
A Note on Lucretius
– "A Note on Lucretius," Natur und Geshichte: Karl Lowith zum 70, Geburtsag. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1967. Reprinted in "Notes on Lucretius," Liberalism Ancient and Modern.Excerpt: Lucretius’ work is a poetic exposition of Epicurean philosophy. The reader who opens the book for the first time and peruses its opening does not know through firsthand… 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
Notes on Lucretius
– "Notes on Lucretius," Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968. Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.Excerpt: Lucretius’ work is a poetic exposition of Epicurean philosophy. The reader who opens the book for the first time and peruses its opening does not know through firsthand… More
Note on the Plan of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil
– "Note on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil," Interpretation, Vol. 3, No. 2-3 (Winter 1973). Reprinted in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy.Excerpt: Beyond Good and Evil always seemed to me to be the most beautiful of Nietzsche’s books. This impression could be thought to be contradicted by his judgement, for he was… More
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’ 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
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