Tag: Plato

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Books

Maimonides’s Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources

– "Maimonides's Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources," Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala), Vol. 28 (1934).  Reprinted in Philosophy and Law.
Excerpt: One can with a certain right call Maimonides’s position “medieval religious Enlightenment.”  With a certain right: namely if one accepts the view that not only… More

Philosophy and Law

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

The Political Philosophy of Hobbes

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

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

– "On Abravanel's Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching," Isaac Abravanel: Six Lectures, ed. J. B. Trend and H. Leowe, Cambridge University Press, 1937.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.
Abravanel may be called the last of the Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. He belongs to the Middle Ages, as far as the framework and the main content of his doctrine are concerned. It… More

Review of R. H. S. Crossman: Plato Today

– Review of Plato Today, by R. H. S. Crossman, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 2 (May 1941).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: The intention of this book is described by the author in the following terms: “I am a democrat and a Socialist who sees Fascism rejected and democracy defended on quite… More

The Law of Reason in the Kuzari

– "The Law of Reason in the Kuzari," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 13 (1943).  Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Every student of the history of philosophy assumes, tacitly or expressly, rightly or wrongly, that he knows what philosophy is or what a philosopher is. In attempting to transform… More

On Classical Political Philosophy

– "On Classical Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 12, No. 1 (February 1945).  Reprinted (revised) in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: TODAY the status of political philosophy is more precarious, and its meaning is more blurred, than at any time since political philosophy emerged many centuries ago, somewhere in… More

Farabi’s Plato

– "Farabi's Plato," Louis Ginzberg Jubilee Volume, American Academy for Jewish Research, 1945.  Reprinted, revised and abbreviated, in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Farabi followed Plato not merely as regards the manner in which he presented the philosophic teaching in his most important books.  He held the view that Plato’s philosophy… More

On a New Interpretation of Plato’s Political Philosophy

– "On a New Interpretation of Plato's Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 3 (September 1946).
Excerpt: Professor Wild’s recent book on Plato is not simply a historical work. His presentation of Plato’s doctrine of man is animated by the zeal of a reformer and is meant… More

Review of Ernst Cassirer: The Myth of the State

– Review of The Myth of the State, by Ernst Cassirer, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: However one may have to judge this view of myth, Cassirer is certainly right in negatively characterizing philosophy proper by its “struggle against myth.” In Greek… More

Review of Alfred Verdross-Rossberg: Grundlinien der antiken Rechts- und Staats-philosophie

– Review of Grundlinien der antiken Rechts- und Staats-philosophie, by Alfred Verdross-Rossberg, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: It goes almost without saying that the picture drawn by Verdross of Greek political thought comes nearer the truth than the national- socialist version, which played such a great… 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

Review of David Grene: Man in His Pride

– Review of Man in His Pride: A Study in the Political Philosophy of Thucydides and Plato, by David Grene, Social Research, Vol. 18, No. 3 (September 1951).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: He is more concerned with bringing to light and to life the hidden drama of the souls of Thucydides and Plato, or the human reality of fifth-century Athens as reflected in… 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

Persecution and the Art of Writing

– Persecution and the Art of Writing, The Free Press, 1952.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: Plato substituted for it a more conservative way of action, namely, the gradual replacement of the accepted opinions by the truth or an approximation to the truth. The replacement… More

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

How Farabi Read Plato’s Laws

– "How Farabi Read Plato's Laws," Mélanges Louis Massignon, Institut Francais de Damas, 1957, Vol. 3.  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: At first it seems as if Farabi meant to say that all insights which he ascribed to Plato were peculiar to Plato. What he actually says however is that Plato did not find the… More

Audio of Courses Taught by Leo Strauss

– Audio of courses taught by Leo Strauss, 1958 - 1973, provided by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago.
Courses include: Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Vico, Grotius, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche,  Relativism

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

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

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

What Is Political Philosophy?

– What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies, The Free Press, 1959.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: The meaning off political philosophy and its meaningful character are as evident today as they have been since the time when political philosophy first made its appearance in… More

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

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

The City and Man

– The City and Man, Rand McNally, 1964.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Excerpt: It is not self-forgetting and pain-loving antiquarianism nor self-forgetting and intoxicating romanticism which induces us to turn with passionate interest, with unqualified… More

Socrates and Aristophanes

– Socrates and Aristophanes, Basic Books, 1966.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Excerpt: Since Socrates did not write books or speeches, we depend entirely on other men’s reports for our knowledge of the circumstances in which, or of the reasons for which,… 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

On the Minos

– Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: The Minos has come down to us as a Platonic work immediately preceding the Laws. The Laws begins where the Minos ends: the Minos ends with a praise of the laws of the Cretan king… 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

On the Euthydemus

– "On the Euthydemus," Interpretation, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer 1970).
Excerpt: From the Crito we are led to the Euthydemus by the consideration that the Euthydemus contains the only other conversation between Socrates and Kriton. The two dialogues stand… More

Xenophon’s Socratic Discourse

– Xenophon's Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the Oeconomicus, Cornell University Press, 1970.  Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.
Excerpt: The Great Tradition of political philosophy was originated by Socrates. Socrates is said to have disregarded the whole of nature altogether in order to devote himself entirely to… More

Xenophon’s Socrates

– Xenophon's Socrates, Cornell University Press, 1972.  Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.
Excerpt: The title Apomnemoneumata may be rendered provisionally by “Recollections.” Apomnemoneuein (or derivatives) occurs only once within the Memorabilia (I.2.31); there it… 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

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 Argument and the Action of Plato’s Laws

– The Argument and the Action of Plato's Laws, University of Chicago Press, 1975.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Excerpt: In the traditional order of the Platonic dialogues the Laws is preceded by the Minos, the only Platonic dialogue in which Socrates raises the question What is law?  It appears… More

On Plato’s Apology of Socrates and Crito

– "On Plato's Apology of Socrates and Crito," Essays in Honor of Jacob Klein, St. John's College, 1976.
Excerpt: The Apology of Socrates is the only Platonic work with Socrates in the title.  Yet Socrates is visibly the chief character in all Platonic dialogues: all Platonic dialogues are… More

Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode

– "Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).
But what is the basis of these and similar difficulties which I encountered in reading your book 9. You are fundamentally concerned with “Wirkungsgeschichte,” with something… More

Letter to Helmut Kuhn

– Letter to Helmut Kuhn, Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).
Excerpt: Forgive me for writing to you in English but my hand-writing is hard to read and the lady who is taking down my dictation does not have an easy command of German.  You have… More

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

– "An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John's," Interpretation, Vol. 7, No. 3 (September 1978).
Excerpt: Nothing affected us as profoundly in the years in which our minds took their lasting directions as the thought of Heidegger.  This is not the place for speaking of that thought… More

Review of the City and Man

– Seth Benardete, "Leo Strauss' The City and Man," Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1978.
Excerpt: Leo Strauss’ The City and Man seems at first to be a straightforward continuation of all his previous work: the articulation of the theological-political problem. Even the… More

Philosophy and History

– Nathan Tarcov, "Philosophy and History: Tradition and Interpretation in the Work of Leo Strauss, Polity, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Autumn, 1983).
Excerpt: The necessity of critical or philosophical activity is increased by the literary character shared to different degrees and purposes by most of the writings Strauss… More

Strauss on Xenophon’s Socrates

– Christopher Bruell, "Strauss on Xenophon's Socrates," The Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1983.
Excerpt: The following study of Professor Leo Strauss’s writings on Xenophon’s presentation of Socrates will be devoted chiefly to a discussion of his interpretation of the… 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

Exoteric Teaching

– "Exoteric Teaching," Interpretation, Vol. 14, No. 1 (January 1986).  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: The distinction between exoteric (or public) and esoteric (or secret) teaching is not at present considered to be of any significance for the understanding of the thought of the… More

Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History

– "Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Excerpt: This lecture forms part of a series: The Western Tradition–Its Great Ideas and Issues, The Western tradition is threatened today as it never was heretofore. For it is now… More

The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures

– "The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Published, complete and unedited, as "The Origins of Political Science and the Problem of Socrates: Six Public Lectures," Interpretation, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter 1996).
Excerpt: For according to Plato as well as to Aristotle, to the extent to which the human problem cannot be solved by political means it can be solved only by philosophy, by and through the… More

On the Euthyphron

– "On the Euthyphron," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Complete, unedited version published as "An Untitled Lecture on Plato's Euthyphron," Interpretation, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Fall 1996).
Excerpt: The subject matter of the Euthyphron is piety. For more than one reason the Euthyphron does not tell us what Plato thought about piety. It certainly does not transmit to us… More

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

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

On a Certain Critique of “Straussianism”

– Nathan Tarcov, "On a Certain Critique of 'Straussianism,'" The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: This article examines a certain critique of what I will take the liberty of calling “Straussianism,” a critique which raises questions I believe are worth discussing,… More

On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin

– Thomas L. Pangle, "On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: The philosophic correspondence between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, stretching over thirty years, sheds some helpful light on each of the thinkers’ philosophic… More

A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas

– James V. Schall, "A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Leo Strauss often spoke of Jerusalem and Athens.2 He never spoke of Rome in the same context, never of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Western civilization, in his view, was… More

Strauss’s Laws

– Mark Blitz, "Strauss's Laws," Political Science Reviewer, Spring 1991.
Excerpt: After quietly sketching these profound questions, Strauss turns to “the beginning of the Laws,” where the Athenian asks Kleinias the Cretan whether a god or a human is… More

The Strauss – Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964

– "The Strauss - Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964," Faith and Political Philosophy, translated and edited by Perry Emberley and Barry Cooper, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.
Excerpt: People like Cairns (perhaps without knowing it) arrived from the Platonic-Aristotelian concept of science–indeed, not at their position, which is not worth… More

The Problem of Socrates

– "The Problem of Socrates," Interpretation, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 1995).  Talk given on April 17, 1970, at St. John's College, Annapolis.
Excerpt: [I was told that the local paper has announced that I lecture tonight on “The problems of Socrates.” This was an engaging printing error; for there is more than one… More

Leo Strauss and Nietzsche

– Laurence Lampert, Leo Strauss and Nietzsche, University of Chicago Press, 1996.
From the publisher: The influential political philosopher Leo Strauss has been credited by conservatives with the recovery of the great tradition of political philosophy stretching back to… More

Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Philosophy

– Stanley Rosen, "Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Philosophy, The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Mar. 2000).
Excerpt: To put this in another way, Strauss articulated a public teaching that was not necessarily in conflict with his private views on philosophy, but which served as an ambiguous… 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

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

Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem by Heinrich Meier

– Heinrich Meier, Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
From the publisher: This book, by one of the most prominent interpreters of the Leo Strauss’s thought, is the first to examine the theme that Leo Strauss considered to be key to his… More

What Can We Learn from Political Theory?

– "What Can We Learn from Political Theory?" Review of Politics, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Fall 2007).  Talk given in July 1942 at the New School for Social Research.
Excerpt: The title of this lecture is not entirely of my own choosing. I do not like very much the term political theory; I would prefer to speak of political philosophy. Since this… 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

Heidegger, Strauss, & the Premises of Philosophy by Richard Velkley

– Richard Velkley, Heidegger, Strauss, and the Premises of Philosophy: On Original Forgetting, University of Chicago Press, 2011.
From the publisher: In this groundbreaking work, Richard L. Velkley examines the complex philosophical relationship between Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss. Velkley argues that both… 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.

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

Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life ed. Rafael Major

– Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life, ed. Rafael Major, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s What Is Political Philosophy? addresses almost every major theme in his life’s work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic… More

The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss by Laurence Lampert

– Laurence Lampert, The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss takes on the crucial task of separating what is truly important in the work of Leo Strauss from the ephemeral politics associated… More

Essays

Maimonides’s Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources

– "Maimonides's Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources," Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala), Vol. 28 (1934).  Reprinted in Philosophy and Law.
Excerpt: One can with a certain right call Maimonides’s position “medieval religious Enlightenment.”  With a certain right: namely if one accepts the view that not only… More

Philosophy and Law

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

The Political Philosophy of Hobbes

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

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

– "On Abravanel's Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching," Isaac Abravanel: Six Lectures, ed. J. B. Trend and H. Leowe, Cambridge University Press, 1937.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.
Abravanel may be called the last of the Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. He belongs to the Middle Ages, as far as the framework and the main content of his doctrine are concerned. It… More

Review of R. H. S. Crossman: Plato Today

– Review of Plato Today, by R. H. S. Crossman, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 2 (May 1941).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: The intention of this book is described by the author in the following terms: “I am a democrat and a Socialist who sees Fascism rejected and democracy defended on quite… More

The Law of Reason in the Kuzari

– "The Law of Reason in the Kuzari," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 13 (1943).  Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Every student of the history of philosophy assumes, tacitly or expressly, rightly or wrongly, that he knows what philosophy is or what a philosopher is. In attempting to transform… More

On Classical Political Philosophy

– "On Classical Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 12, No. 1 (February 1945).  Reprinted (revised) in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: TODAY the status of political philosophy is more precarious, and its meaning is more blurred, than at any time since political philosophy emerged many centuries ago, somewhere in… More

Farabi’s Plato

– "Farabi's Plato," Louis Ginzberg Jubilee Volume, American Academy for Jewish Research, 1945.  Reprinted, revised and abbreviated, in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Farabi followed Plato not merely as regards the manner in which he presented the philosophic teaching in his most important books.  He held the view that Plato’s philosophy… More

On a New Interpretation of Plato’s Political Philosophy

– "On a New Interpretation of Plato's Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 3 (September 1946).
Excerpt: Professor Wild’s recent book on Plato is not simply a historical work. His presentation of Plato’s doctrine of man is animated by the zeal of a reformer and is meant… More

Review of Ernst Cassirer: The Myth of the State

– Review of The Myth of the State, by Ernst Cassirer, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: However one may have to judge this view of myth, Cassirer is certainly right in negatively characterizing philosophy proper by its “struggle against myth.” In Greek… More

Review of Alfred Verdross-Rossberg: Grundlinien der antiken Rechts- und Staats-philosophie

– Review of Grundlinien der antiken Rechts- und Staats-philosophie, by Alfred Verdross-Rossberg, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: It goes almost without saying that the picture drawn by Verdross of Greek political thought comes nearer the truth than the national- socialist version, which played such a great… 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

Review of David Grene: Man in His Pride

– Review of Man in His Pride: A Study in the Political Philosophy of Thucydides and Plato, by David Grene, Social Research, Vol. 18, No. 3 (September 1951).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: He is more concerned with bringing to light and to life the hidden drama of the souls of Thucydides and Plato, or the human reality of fifth-century Athens as reflected in… 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

Persecution and the Art of Writing

– Persecution and the Art of Writing, The Free Press, 1952.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: Plato substituted for it a more conservative way of action, namely, the gradual replacement of the accepted opinions by the truth or an approximation to the truth. The replacement… More

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

How Farabi Read Plato’s Laws

– "How Farabi Read Plato's Laws," Mélanges Louis Massignon, Institut Francais de Damas, 1957, Vol. 3.  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: At first it seems as if Farabi meant to say that all insights which he ascribed to Plato were peculiar to Plato. What he actually says however is that Plato did not find the… More

Audio of Courses Taught by Leo Strauss

– Audio of courses taught by Leo Strauss, 1958 - 1973, provided by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago.
Courses include: Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Vico, Grotius, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche,  Relativism

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

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

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

What Is Political Philosophy?

– What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies, The Free Press, 1959.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: The meaning off political philosophy and its meaningful character are as evident today as they have been since the time when political philosophy first made its appearance in… More

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

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

The City and Man

– The City and Man, Rand McNally, 1964.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Excerpt: It is not self-forgetting and pain-loving antiquarianism nor self-forgetting and intoxicating romanticism which induces us to turn with passionate interest, with unqualified… More

Socrates and Aristophanes

– Socrates and Aristophanes, Basic Books, 1966.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Excerpt: Since Socrates did not write books or speeches, we depend entirely on other men’s reports for our knowledge of the circumstances in which, or of the reasons for which,… 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

On the Minos

– Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: The Minos has come down to us as a Platonic work immediately preceding the Laws. The Laws begins where the Minos ends: the Minos ends with a praise of the laws of the Cretan king… 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

On the Euthydemus

– "On the Euthydemus," Interpretation, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer 1970).
Excerpt: From the Crito we are led to the Euthydemus by the consideration that the Euthydemus contains the only other conversation between Socrates and Kriton. The two dialogues stand… More

Xenophon’s Socratic Discourse

– Xenophon's Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the Oeconomicus, Cornell University Press, 1970.  Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.
Excerpt: The Great Tradition of political philosophy was originated by Socrates. Socrates is said to have disregarded the whole of nature altogether in order to devote himself entirely to… More

Xenophon’s Socrates

– Xenophon's Socrates, Cornell University Press, 1972.  Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.
Excerpt: The title Apomnemoneumata may be rendered provisionally by “Recollections.” Apomnemoneuein (or derivatives) occurs only once within the Memorabilia (I.2.31); there it… 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

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 Argument and the Action of Plato’s Laws

– The Argument and the Action of Plato's Laws, University of Chicago Press, 1975.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Excerpt: In the traditional order of the Platonic dialogues the Laws is preceded by the Minos, the only Platonic dialogue in which Socrates raises the question What is law?  It appears… More

On Plato’s Apology of Socrates and Crito

– "On Plato's Apology of Socrates and Crito," Essays in Honor of Jacob Klein, St. John's College, 1976.
Excerpt: The Apology of Socrates is the only Platonic work with Socrates in the title.  Yet Socrates is visibly the chief character in all Platonic dialogues: all Platonic dialogues are… More

Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode

– "Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).
But what is the basis of these and similar difficulties which I encountered in reading your book 9. You are fundamentally concerned with “Wirkungsgeschichte,” with something… More

Letter to Helmut Kuhn

– Letter to Helmut Kuhn, Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).
Excerpt: Forgive me for writing to you in English but my hand-writing is hard to read and the lady who is taking down my dictation does not have an easy command of German.  You have… More

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

– "An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John's," Interpretation, Vol. 7, No. 3 (September 1978).
Excerpt: Nothing affected us as profoundly in the years in which our minds took their lasting directions as the thought of Heidegger.  This is not the place for speaking of that thought… More

Review of the City and Man

– Seth Benardete, "Leo Strauss' The City and Man," Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1978.
Excerpt: Leo Strauss’ The City and Man seems at first to be a straightforward continuation of all his previous work: the articulation of the theological-political problem. Even the… More

Philosophy and History

– Nathan Tarcov, "Philosophy and History: Tradition and Interpretation in the Work of Leo Strauss, Polity, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Autumn, 1983).
Excerpt: The necessity of critical or philosophical activity is increased by the literary character shared to different degrees and purposes by most of the writings Strauss… More

Strauss on Xenophon’s Socrates

– Christopher Bruell, "Strauss on Xenophon's Socrates," The Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1983.
Excerpt: The following study of Professor Leo Strauss’s writings on Xenophon’s presentation of Socrates will be devoted chiefly to a discussion of his interpretation of the… 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

Exoteric Teaching

– "Exoteric Teaching," Interpretation, Vol. 14, No. 1 (January 1986).  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: The distinction between exoteric (or public) and esoteric (or secret) teaching is not at present considered to be of any significance for the understanding of the thought of the… More

Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History

– "Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Excerpt: This lecture forms part of a series: The Western Tradition–Its Great Ideas and Issues, The Western tradition is threatened today as it never was heretofore. For it is now… More

The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures

– "The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Published, complete and unedited, as "The Origins of Political Science and the Problem of Socrates: Six Public Lectures," Interpretation, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter 1996).
Excerpt: For according to Plato as well as to Aristotle, to the extent to which the human problem cannot be solved by political means it can be solved only by philosophy, by and through the… More

On the Euthyphron

– "On the Euthyphron," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Complete, unedited version published as "An Untitled Lecture on Plato's Euthyphron," Interpretation, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Fall 1996).
Excerpt: The subject matter of the Euthyphron is piety. For more than one reason the Euthyphron does not tell us what Plato thought about piety. It certainly does not transmit to us… More

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

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

On a Certain Critique of “Straussianism”

– Nathan Tarcov, "On a Certain Critique of 'Straussianism,'" The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: This article examines a certain critique of what I will take the liberty of calling “Straussianism,” a critique which raises questions I believe are worth discussing,… More

On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin

– Thomas L. Pangle, "On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: The philosophic correspondence between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, stretching over thirty years, sheds some helpful light on each of the thinkers’ philosophic… More

A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas

– James V. Schall, "A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Leo Strauss often spoke of Jerusalem and Athens.2 He never spoke of Rome in the same context, never of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Western civilization, in his view, was… More

Strauss’s Laws

– Mark Blitz, "Strauss's Laws," Political Science Reviewer, Spring 1991.
Excerpt: After quietly sketching these profound questions, Strauss turns to “the beginning of the Laws,” where the Athenian asks Kleinias the Cretan whether a god or a human is… More

The Strauss – Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964

– "The Strauss - Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964," Faith and Political Philosophy, translated and edited by Perry Emberley and Barry Cooper, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.
Excerpt: People like Cairns (perhaps without knowing it) arrived from the Platonic-Aristotelian concept of science–indeed, not at their position, which is not worth… More

The Problem of Socrates

– "The Problem of Socrates," Interpretation, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 1995).  Talk given on April 17, 1970, at St. John's College, Annapolis.
Excerpt: [I was told that the local paper has announced that I lecture tonight on “The problems of Socrates.” This was an engaging printing error; for there is more than one… More

Leo Strauss and Nietzsche

– Laurence Lampert, Leo Strauss and Nietzsche, University of Chicago Press, 1996.
From the publisher: The influential political philosopher Leo Strauss has been credited by conservatives with the recovery of the great tradition of political philosophy stretching back to… More

Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Philosophy

– Stanley Rosen, "Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Philosophy, The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Mar. 2000).
Excerpt: To put this in another way, Strauss articulated a public teaching that was not necessarily in conflict with his private views on philosophy, but which served as an ambiguous… 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

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

Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem by Heinrich Meier

– Heinrich Meier, Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
From the publisher: This book, by one of the most prominent interpreters of the Leo Strauss’s thought, is the first to examine the theme that Leo Strauss considered to be key to his… More

What Can We Learn from Political Theory?

– "What Can We Learn from Political Theory?" Review of Politics, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Fall 2007).  Talk given in July 1942 at the New School for Social Research.
Excerpt: The title of this lecture is not entirely of my own choosing. I do not like very much the term political theory; I would prefer to speak of political philosophy. Since this… 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

Heidegger, Strauss, & the Premises of Philosophy by Richard Velkley

– Richard Velkley, Heidegger, Strauss, and the Premises of Philosophy: On Original Forgetting, University of Chicago Press, 2011.
From the publisher: In this groundbreaking work, Richard L. Velkley examines the complex philosophical relationship between Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss. Velkley argues that both… 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.

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

Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life ed. Rafael Major

– Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life, ed. Rafael Major, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s What Is Political Philosophy? addresses almost every major theme in his life’s work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic… More

The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss by Laurence Lampert

– Laurence Lampert, The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss takes on the crucial task of separating what is truly important in the work of Leo Strauss from the ephemeral politics associated… More

Commentary

Maimonides’s Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources

– "Maimonides's Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources," Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala), Vol. 28 (1934).  Reprinted in Philosophy and Law.
Excerpt: One can with a certain right call Maimonides’s position “medieval religious Enlightenment.”  With a certain right: namely if one accepts the view that not only… More

Philosophy and Law

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

The Political Philosophy of Hobbes

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

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

– "On Abravanel's Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching," Isaac Abravanel: Six Lectures, ed. J. B. Trend and H. Leowe, Cambridge University Press, 1937.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.
Abravanel may be called the last of the Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. He belongs to the Middle Ages, as far as the framework and the main content of his doctrine are concerned. It… More

Review of R. H. S. Crossman: Plato Today

– Review of Plato Today, by R. H. S. Crossman, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 2 (May 1941).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: The intention of this book is described by the author in the following terms: “I am a democrat and a Socialist who sees Fascism rejected and democracy defended on quite… More

The Law of Reason in the Kuzari

– "The Law of Reason in the Kuzari," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 13 (1943).  Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Every student of the history of philosophy assumes, tacitly or expressly, rightly or wrongly, that he knows what philosophy is or what a philosopher is. In attempting to transform… More

On Classical Political Philosophy

– "On Classical Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 12, No. 1 (February 1945).  Reprinted (revised) in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: TODAY the status of political philosophy is more precarious, and its meaning is more blurred, than at any time since political philosophy emerged many centuries ago, somewhere in… More

Farabi’s Plato

– "Farabi's Plato," Louis Ginzberg Jubilee Volume, American Academy for Jewish Research, 1945.  Reprinted, revised and abbreviated, in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Farabi followed Plato not merely as regards the manner in which he presented the philosophic teaching in his most important books.  He held the view that Plato’s philosophy… More

On a New Interpretation of Plato’s Political Philosophy

– "On a New Interpretation of Plato's Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 3 (September 1946).
Excerpt: Professor Wild’s recent book on Plato is not simply a historical work. His presentation of Plato’s doctrine of man is animated by the zeal of a reformer and is meant… More

Review of Ernst Cassirer: The Myth of the State

– Review of The Myth of the State, by Ernst Cassirer, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: However one may have to judge this view of myth, Cassirer is certainly right in negatively characterizing philosophy proper by its “struggle against myth.” In Greek… More

Review of Alfred Verdross-Rossberg: Grundlinien der antiken Rechts- und Staats-philosophie

– Review of Grundlinien der antiken Rechts- und Staats-philosophie, by Alfred Verdross-Rossberg, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: It goes almost without saying that the picture drawn by Verdross of Greek political thought comes nearer the truth than the national- socialist version, which played such a great… 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

Review of David Grene: Man in His Pride

– Review of Man in His Pride: A Study in the Political Philosophy of Thucydides and Plato, by David Grene, Social Research, Vol. 18, No. 3 (September 1951).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: He is more concerned with bringing to light and to life the hidden drama of the souls of Thucydides and Plato, or the human reality of fifth-century Athens as reflected in… 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

Persecution and the Art of Writing

– Persecution and the Art of Writing, The Free Press, 1952.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: Plato substituted for it a more conservative way of action, namely, the gradual replacement of the accepted opinions by the truth or an approximation to the truth. The replacement… More

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

How Farabi Read Plato’s Laws

– "How Farabi Read Plato's Laws," Mélanges Louis Massignon, Institut Francais de Damas, 1957, Vol. 3.  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: At first it seems as if Farabi meant to say that all insights which he ascribed to Plato were peculiar to Plato. What he actually says however is that Plato did not find the… More

Audio of Courses Taught by Leo Strauss

– Audio of courses taught by Leo Strauss, 1958 - 1973, provided by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago.
Courses include: Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Vico, Grotius, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche,  Relativism

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

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

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

What Is Political Philosophy?

– What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies, The Free Press, 1959.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: The meaning off political philosophy and its meaningful character are as evident today as they have been since the time when political philosophy first made its appearance in… More

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

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

The City and Man

– The City and Man, Rand McNally, 1964.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Excerpt: It is not self-forgetting and pain-loving antiquarianism nor self-forgetting and intoxicating romanticism which induces us to turn with passionate interest, with unqualified… More

Socrates and Aristophanes

– Socrates and Aristophanes, Basic Books, 1966.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Excerpt: Since Socrates did not write books or speeches, we depend entirely on other men’s reports for our knowledge of the circumstances in which, or of the reasons for which,… 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

On the Minos

– Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: The Minos has come down to us as a Platonic work immediately preceding the Laws. The Laws begins where the Minos ends: the Minos ends with a praise of the laws of the Cretan king… 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

On the Euthydemus

– "On the Euthydemus," Interpretation, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer 1970).
Excerpt: From the Crito we are led to the Euthydemus by the consideration that the Euthydemus contains the only other conversation between Socrates and Kriton. The two dialogues stand… More

Xenophon’s Socratic Discourse

– Xenophon's Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the Oeconomicus, Cornell University Press, 1970.  Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.
Excerpt: The Great Tradition of political philosophy was originated by Socrates. Socrates is said to have disregarded the whole of nature altogether in order to devote himself entirely to… More

Xenophon’s Socrates

– Xenophon's Socrates, Cornell University Press, 1972.  Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.
Excerpt: The title Apomnemoneumata may be rendered provisionally by “Recollections.” Apomnemoneuein (or derivatives) occurs only once within the Memorabilia (I.2.31); there it… 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

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 Argument and the Action of Plato’s Laws

– The Argument and the Action of Plato's Laws, University of Chicago Press, 1975.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Excerpt: In the traditional order of the Platonic dialogues the Laws is preceded by the Minos, the only Platonic dialogue in which Socrates raises the question What is law?  It appears… More

On Plato’s Apology of Socrates and Crito

– "On Plato's Apology of Socrates and Crito," Essays in Honor of Jacob Klein, St. John's College, 1976.
Excerpt: The Apology of Socrates is the only Platonic work with Socrates in the title.  Yet Socrates is visibly the chief character in all Platonic dialogues: all Platonic dialogues are… More

Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode

– "Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).
But what is the basis of these and similar difficulties which I encountered in reading your book 9. You are fundamentally concerned with “Wirkungsgeschichte,” with something… More

Letter to Helmut Kuhn

– Letter to Helmut Kuhn, Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).
Excerpt: Forgive me for writing to you in English but my hand-writing is hard to read and the lady who is taking down my dictation does not have an easy command of German.  You have… More

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

– "An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John's," Interpretation, Vol. 7, No. 3 (September 1978).
Excerpt: Nothing affected us as profoundly in the years in which our minds took their lasting directions as the thought of Heidegger.  This is not the place for speaking of that thought… More

Review of the City and Man

– Seth Benardete, "Leo Strauss' The City and Man," Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1978.
Excerpt: Leo Strauss’ The City and Man seems at first to be a straightforward continuation of all his previous work: the articulation of the theological-political problem. Even the… More

Philosophy and History

– Nathan Tarcov, "Philosophy and History: Tradition and Interpretation in the Work of Leo Strauss, Polity, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Autumn, 1983).
Excerpt: The necessity of critical or philosophical activity is increased by the literary character shared to different degrees and purposes by most of the writings Strauss… More

Strauss on Xenophon’s Socrates

– Christopher Bruell, "Strauss on Xenophon's Socrates," The Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1983.
Excerpt: The following study of Professor Leo Strauss’s writings on Xenophon’s presentation of Socrates will be devoted chiefly to a discussion of his interpretation of the… 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

Exoteric Teaching

– "Exoteric Teaching," Interpretation, Vol. 14, No. 1 (January 1986).  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: The distinction between exoteric (or public) and esoteric (or secret) teaching is not at present considered to be of any significance for the understanding of the thought of the… More

Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History

– "Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Excerpt: This lecture forms part of a series: The Western Tradition–Its Great Ideas and Issues, The Western tradition is threatened today as it never was heretofore. For it is now… More

The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures

– "The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Published, complete and unedited, as "The Origins of Political Science and the Problem of Socrates: Six Public Lectures," Interpretation, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter 1996).
Excerpt: For according to Plato as well as to Aristotle, to the extent to which the human problem cannot be solved by political means it can be solved only by philosophy, by and through the… More

On the Euthyphron

– "On the Euthyphron," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Complete, unedited version published as "An Untitled Lecture on Plato's Euthyphron," Interpretation, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Fall 1996).
Excerpt: The subject matter of the Euthyphron is piety. For more than one reason the Euthyphron does not tell us what Plato thought about piety. It certainly does not transmit to us… More

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

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

On a Certain Critique of “Straussianism”

– Nathan Tarcov, "On a Certain Critique of 'Straussianism,'" The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: This article examines a certain critique of what I will take the liberty of calling “Straussianism,” a critique which raises questions I believe are worth discussing,… More

On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin

– Thomas L. Pangle, "On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: The philosophic correspondence between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, stretching over thirty years, sheds some helpful light on each of the thinkers’ philosophic… More

A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas

– James V. Schall, "A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Leo Strauss often spoke of Jerusalem and Athens.2 He never spoke of Rome in the same context, never of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Western civilization, in his view, was… More

Strauss’s Laws

– Mark Blitz, "Strauss's Laws," Political Science Reviewer, Spring 1991.
Excerpt: After quietly sketching these profound questions, Strauss turns to “the beginning of the Laws,” where the Athenian asks Kleinias the Cretan whether a god or a human is… More

The Strauss – Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964

– "The Strauss - Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964," Faith and Political Philosophy, translated and edited by Perry Emberley and Barry Cooper, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.
Excerpt: People like Cairns (perhaps without knowing it) arrived from the Platonic-Aristotelian concept of science–indeed, not at their position, which is not worth… More

The Problem of Socrates

– "The Problem of Socrates," Interpretation, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 1995).  Talk given on April 17, 1970, at St. John's College, Annapolis.
Excerpt: [I was told that the local paper has announced that I lecture tonight on “The problems of Socrates.” This was an engaging printing error; for there is more than one… More

Leo Strauss and Nietzsche

– Laurence Lampert, Leo Strauss and Nietzsche, University of Chicago Press, 1996.
From the publisher: The influential political philosopher Leo Strauss has been credited by conservatives with the recovery of the great tradition of political philosophy stretching back to… More

Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Philosophy

– Stanley Rosen, "Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Philosophy, The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Mar. 2000).
Excerpt: To put this in another way, Strauss articulated a public teaching that was not necessarily in conflict with his private views on philosophy, but which served as an ambiguous… 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

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

Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem by Heinrich Meier

– Heinrich Meier, Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
From the publisher: This book, by one of the most prominent interpreters of the Leo Strauss’s thought, is the first to examine the theme that Leo Strauss considered to be key to his… More

What Can We Learn from Political Theory?

– "What Can We Learn from Political Theory?" Review of Politics, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Fall 2007).  Talk given in July 1942 at the New School for Social Research.
Excerpt: The title of this lecture is not entirely of my own choosing. I do not like very much the term political theory; I would prefer to speak of political philosophy. Since this… 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

Heidegger, Strauss, & the Premises of Philosophy by Richard Velkley

– Richard Velkley, Heidegger, Strauss, and the Premises of Philosophy: On Original Forgetting, University of Chicago Press, 2011.
From the publisher: In this groundbreaking work, Richard L. Velkley examines the complex philosophical relationship between Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss. Velkley argues that both… 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.

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

Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life ed. Rafael Major

– Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life, ed. Rafael Major, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s What Is Political Philosophy? addresses almost every major theme in his life’s work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic… More

The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss by Laurence Lampert

– Laurence Lampert, The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss takes on the crucial task of separating what is truly important in the work of Leo Strauss from the ephemeral politics associated… More

Multimedia

Maimonides’s Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources

– "Maimonides's Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources," Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala), Vol. 28 (1934).  Reprinted in Philosophy and Law.
Excerpt: One can with a certain right call Maimonides’s position “medieval religious Enlightenment.”  With a certain right: namely if one accepts the view that not only… More

Philosophy and Law

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

The Political Philosophy of Hobbes

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

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

– "On Abravanel's Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching," Isaac Abravanel: Six Lectures, ed. J. B. Trend and H. Leowe, Cambridge University Press, 1937.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.
Abravanel may be called the last of the Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. He belongs to the Middle Ages, as far as the framework and the main content of his doctrine are concerned. It… More

Review of R. H. S. Crossman: Plato Today

– Review of Plato Today, by R. H. S. Crossman, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 2 (May 1941).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: The intention of this book is described by the author in the following terms: “I am a democrat and a Socialist who sees Fascism rejected and democracy defended on quite… More

The Law of Reason in the Kuzari

– "The Law of Reason in the Kuzari," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 13 (1943).  Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Every student of the history of philosophy assumes, tacitly or expressly, rightly or wrongly, that he knows what philosophy is or what a philosopher is. In attempting to transform… More

On Classical Political Philosophy

– "On Classical Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 12, No. 1 (February 1945).  Reprinted (revised) in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: TODAY the status of political philosophy is more precarious, and its meaning is more blurred, than at any time since political philosophy emerged many centuries ago, somewhere in… More

Farabi’s Plato

– "Farabi's Plato," Louis Ginzberg Jubilee Volume, American Academy for Jewish Research, 1945.  Reprinted, revised and abbreviated, in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Farabi followed Plato not merely as regards the manner in which he presented the philosophic teaching in his most important books.  He held the view that Plato’s philosophy… More

On a New Interpretation of Plato’s Political Philosophy

– "On a New Interpretation of Plato's Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 3 (September 1946).
Excerpt: Professor Wild’s recent book on Plato is not simply a historical work. His presentation of Plato’s doctrine of man is animated by the zeal of a reformer and is meant… More

Review of Ernst Cassirer: The Myth of the State

– Review of The Myth of the State, by Ernst Cassirer, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: However one may have to judge this view of myth, Cassirer is certainly right in negatively characterizing philosophy proper by its “struggle against myth.” In Greek… More

Review of Alfred Verdross-Rossberg: Grundlinien der antiken Rechts- und Staats-philosophie

– Review of Grundlinien der antiken Rechts- und Staats-philosophie, by Alfred Verdross-Rossberg, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: It goes almost without saying that the picture drawn by Verdross of Greek political thought comes nearer the truth than the national- socialist version, which played such a great… 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

Review of David Grene: Man in His Pride

– Review of Man in His Pride: A Study in the Political Philosophy of Thucydides and Plato, by David Grene, Social Research, Vol. 18, No. 3 (September 1951).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: He is more concerned with bringing to light and to life the hidden drama of the souls of Thucydides and Plato, or the human reality of fifth-century Athens as reflected in… 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

Persecution and the Art of Writing

– Persecution and the Art of Writing, The Free Press, 1952.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: Plato substituted for it a more conservative way of action, namely, the gradual replacement of the accepted opinions by the truth or an approximation to the truth. The replacement… More

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

How Farabi Read Plato’s Laws

– "How Farabi Read Plato's Laws," Mélanges Louis Massignon, Institut Francais de Damas, 1957, Vol. 3.  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: At first it seems as if Farabi meant to say that all insights which he ascribed to Plato were peculiar to Plato. What he actually says however is that Plato did not find the… More

Audio of Courses Taught by Leo Strauss

– Audio of courses taught by Leo Strauss, 1958 - 1973, provided by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago.
Courses include: Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Vico, Grotius, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche,  Relativism

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

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

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

What Is Political Philosophy?

– What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies, The Free Press, 1959.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: The meaning off political philosophy and its meaningful character are as evident today as they have been since the time when political philosophy first made its appearance in… More

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

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

The City and Man

– The City and Man, Rand McNally, 1964.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Excerpt: It is not self-forgetting and pain-loving antiquarianism nor self-forgetting and intoxicating romanticism which induces us to turn with passionate interest, with unqualified… More

Socrates and Aristophanes

– Socrates and Aristophanes, Basic Books, 1966.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Excerpt: Since Socrates did not write books or speeches, we depend entirely on other men’s reports for our knowledge of the circumstances in which, or of the reasons for which,… 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

On the Minos

– Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: The Minos has come down to us as a Platonic work immediately preceding the Laws. The Laws begins where the Minos ends: the Minos ends with a praise of the laws of the Cretan king… 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

On the Euthydemus

– "On the Euthydemus," Interpretation, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer 1970).
Excerpt: From the Crito we are led to the Euthydemus by the consideration that the Euthydemus contains the only other conversation between Socrates and Kriton. The two dialogues stand… More

Xenophon’s Socratic Discourse

– Xenophon's Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the Oeconomicus, Cornell University Press, 1970.  Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.
Excerpt: The Great Tradition of political philosophy was originated by Socrates. Socrates is said to have disregarded the whole of nature altogether in order to devote himself entirely to… More

Xenophon’s Socrates

– Xenophon's Socrates, Cornell University Press, 1972.  Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.
Excerpt: The title Apomnemoneumata may be rendered provisionally by “Recollections.” Apomnemoneuein (or derivatives) occurs only once within the Memorabilia (I.2.31); there it… 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

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 Argument and the Action of Plato’s Laws

– The Argument and the Action of Plato's Laws, University of Chicago Press, 1975.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Excerpt: In the traditional order of the Platonic dialogues the Laws is preceded by the Minos, the only Platonic dialogue in which Socrates raises the question What is law?  It appears… More

On Plato’s Apology of Socrates and Crito

– "On Plato's Apology of Socrates and Crito," Essays in Honor of Jacob Klein, St. John's College, 1976.
Excerpt: The Apology of Socrates is the only Platonic work with Socrates in the title.  Yet Socrates is visibly the chief character in all Platonic dialogues: all Platonic dialogues are… More

Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode

– "Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).
But what is the basis of these and similar difficulties which I encountered in reading your book 9. You are fundamentally concerned with “Wirkungsgeschichte,” with something… More

Letter to Helmut Kuhn

– Letter to Helmut Kuhn, Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).
Excerpt: Forgive me for writing to you in English but my hand-writing is hard to read and the lady who is taking down my dictation does not have an easy command of German.  You have… More

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

– "An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John's," Interpretation, Vol. 7, No. 3 (September 1978).
Excerpt: Nothing affected us as profoundly in the years in which our minds took their lasting directions as the thought of Heidegger.  This is not the place for speaking of that thought… More

Review of the City and Man

– Seth Benardete, "Leo Strauss' The City and Man," Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1978.
Excerpt: Leo Strauss’ The City and Man seems at first to be a straightforward continuation of all his previous work: the articulation of the theological-political problem. Even the… More

Philosophy and History

– Nathan Tarcov, "Philosophy and History: Tradition and Interpretation in the Work of Leo Strauss, Polity, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Autumn, 1983).
Excerpt: The necessity of critical or philosophical activity is increased by the literary character shared to different degrees and purposes by most of the writings Strauss… More

Strauss on Xenophon’s Socrates

– Christopher Bruell, "Strauss on Xenophon's Socrates," The Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1983.
Excerpt: The following study of Professor Leo Strauss’s writings on Xenophon’s presentation of Socrates will be devoted chiefly to a discussion of his interpretation of the… 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

Exoteric Teaching

– "Exoteric Teaching," Interpretation, Vol. 14, No. 1 (January 1986).  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: The distinction between exoteric (or public) and esoteric (or secret) teaching is not at present considered to be of any significance for the understanding of the thought of the… More

Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History

– "Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Excerpt: This lecture forms part of a series: The Western Tradition–Its Great Ideas and Issues, The Western tradition is threatened today as it never was heretofore. For it is now… More

The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures

– "The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Published, complete and unedited, as "The Origins of Political Science and the Problem of Socrates: Six Public Lectures," Interpretation, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter 1996).
Excerpt: For according to Plato as well as to Aristotle, to the extent to which the human problem cannot be solved by political means it can be solved only by philosophy, by and through the… More

On the Euthyphron

– "On the Euthyphron," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Complete, unedited version published as "An Untitled Lecture on Plato's Euthyphron," Interpretation, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Fall 1996).
Excerpt: The subject matter of the Euthyphron is piety. For more than one reason the Euthyphron does not tell us what Plato thought about piety. It certainly does not transmit to us… More

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

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

On a Certain Critique of “Straussianism”

– Nathan Tarcov, "On a Certain Critique of 'Straussianism,'" The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: This article examines a certain critique of what I will take the liberty of calling “Straussianism,” a critique which raises questions I believe are worth discussing,… More

On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin

– Thomas L. Pangle, "On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: The philosophic correspondence between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, stretching over thirty years, sheds some helpful light on each of the thinkers’ philosophic… More

A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas

– James V. Schall, "A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Leo Strauss often spoke of Jerusalem and Athens.2 He never spoke of Rome in the same context, never of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Western civilization, in his view, was… More

Strauss’s Laws

– Mark Blitz, "Strauss's Laws," Political Science Reviewer, Spring 1991.
Excerpt: After quietly sketching these profound questions, Strauss turns to “the beginning of the Laws,” where the Athenian asks Kleinias the Cretan whether a god or a human is… More

The Strauss – Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964

– "The Strauss - Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964," Faith and Political Philosophy, translated and edited by Perry Emberley and Barry Cooper, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.
Excerpt: People like Cairns (perhaps without knowing it) arrived from the Platonic-Aristotelian concept of science–indeed, not at their position, which is not worth… More

The Problem of Socrates

– "The Problem of Socrates," Interpretation, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 1995).  Talk given on April 17, 1970, at St. John's College, Annapolis.
Excerpt: [I was told that the local paper has announced that I lecture tonight on “The problems of Socrates.” This was an engaging printing error; for there is more than one… More

Leo Strauss and Nietzsche

– Laurence Lampert, Leo Strauss and Nietzsche, University of Chicago Press, 1996.
From the publisher: The influential political philosopher Leo Strauss has been credited by conservatives with the recovery of the great tradition of political philosophy stretching back to… More

Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Philosophy

– Stanley Rosen, "Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Philosophy, The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Mar. 2000).
Excerpt: To put this in another way, Strauss articulated a public teaching that was not necessarily in conflict with his private views on philosophy, but which served as an ambiguous… 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

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

Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem by Heinrich Meier

– Heinrich Meier, Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
From the publisher: This book, by one of the most prominent interpreters of the Leo Strauss’s thought, is the first to examine the theme that Leo Strauss considered to be key to his… More

What Can We Learn from Political Theory?

– "What Can We Learn from Political Theory?" Review of Politics, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Fall 2007).  Talk given in July 1942 at the New School for Social Research.
Excerpt: The title of this lecture is not entirely of my own choosing. I do not like very much the term political theory; I would prefer to speak of political philosophy. Since this… 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

Heidegger, Strauss, & the Premises of Philosophy by Richard Velkley

– Richard Velkley, Heidegger, Strauss, and the Premises of Philosophy: On Original Forgetting, University of Chicago Press, 2011.
From the publisher: In this groundbreaking work, Richard L. Velkley examines the complex philosophical relationship between Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss. Velkley argues that both… 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.

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

Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life ed. Rafael Major

– Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life, ed. Rafael Major, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s What Is Political Philosophy? addresses almost every major theme in his life’s work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic… More

The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss by Laurence Lampert

– Laurence Lampert, The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss takes on the crucial task of separating what is truly important in the work of Leo Strauss from the ephemeral politics associated… More

Teaching

Maimonides’s Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources

– "Maimonides's Doctrine of Prophecy and Its Sources," Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala), Vol. 28 (1934).  Reprinted in Philosophy and Law.
Excerpt: One can with a certain right call Maimonides’s position “medieval religious Enlightenment.”  With a certain right: namely if one accepts the view that not only… More

Philosophy and Law

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

The Political Philosophy of Hobbes

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

On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching

– "On Abravanel's Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching," Isaac Abravanel: Six Lectures, ed. J. B. Trend and H. Leowe, Cambridge University Press, 1937.  Reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften: Band 2.
Abravanel may be called the last of the Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. He belongs to the Middle Ages, as far as the framework and the main content of his doctrine are concerned. It… More

Review of R. H. S. Crossman: Plato Today

– Review of Plato Today, by R. H. S. Crossman, Social Research, Vol. 8, No. 2 (May 1941).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: The intention of this book is described by the author in the following terms: “I am a democrat and a Socialist who sees Fascism rejected and democracy defended on quite… More

The Law of Reason in the Kuzari

– "The Law of Reason in the Kuzari," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 13 (1943).  Reprinted in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Every student of the history of philosophy assumes, tacitly or expressly, rightly or wrongly, that he knows what philosophy is or what a philosopher is. In attempting to transform… More

On Classical Political Philosophy

– "On Classical Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 12, No. 1 (February 1945).  Reprinted (revised) in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: TODAY the status of political philosophy is more precarious, and its meaning is more blurred, than at any time since political philosophy emerged many centuries ago, somewhere in… More

Farabi’s Plato

– "Farabi's Plato," Louis Ginzberg Jubilee Volume, American Academy for Jewish Research, 1945.  Reprinted, revised and abbreviated, in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
Excerpt: Farabi followed Plato not merely as regards the manner in which he presented the philosophic teaching in his most important books.  He held the view that Plato’s philosophy… More

On a New Interpretation of Plato’s Political Philosophy

– "On a New Interpretation of Plato's Political Philosophy," Social Research, Vol. 13, No. 3 (September 1946).
Excerpt: Professor Wild’s recent book on Plato is not simply a historical work. His presentation of Plato’s doctrine of man is animated by the zeal of a reformer and is meant… More

Review of Ernst Cassirer: The Myth of the State

– Review of The Myth of the State, by Ernst Cassirer, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: However one may have to judge this view of myth, Cassirer is certainly right in negatively characterizing philosophy proper by its “struggle against myth.” In Greek… More

Review of Alfred Verdross-Rossberg: Grundlinien der antiken Rechts- und Staats-philosophie

– Review of Grundlinien der antiken Rechts- und Staats-philosophie, by Alfred Verdross-Rossberg, Social Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1947).  Reprinted in What is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: It goes almost without saying that the picture drawn by Verdross of Greek political thought comes nearer the truth than the national- socialist version, which played such a great… 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

Review of David Grene: Man in His Pride

– Review of Man in His Pride: A Study in the Political Philosophy of Thucydides and Plato, by David Grene, Social Research, Vol. 18, No. 3 (September 1951).  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: He is more concerned with bringing to light and to life the hidden drama of the souls of Thucydides and Plato, or the human reality of fifth-century Athens as reflected in… 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

Persecution and the Art of Writing

– Persecution and the Art of Writing, The Free Press, 1952.  Reprinted: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: Plato substituted for it a more conservative way of action, namely, the gradual replacement of the accepted opinions by the truth or an approximation to the truth. The replacement… More

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

How Farabi Read Plato’s Laws

– "How Farabi Read Plato's Laws," Mélanges Louis Massignon, Institut Francais de Damas, 1957, Vol. 3.  Reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy?
Excerpt: At first it seems as if Farabi meant to say that all insights which he ascribed to Plato were peculiar to Plato. What he actually says however is that Plato did not find the… More

Audio of Courses Taught by Leo Strauss

– Audio of courses taught by Leo Strauss, 1958 - 1973, provided by the Leo Strauss Center at the University of Chicago.
Courses include: Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Vico, Grotius, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche,  Relativism

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

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

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

What Is Political Philosophy?

– What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies, The Free Press, 1959.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Excerpt: The meaning off political philosophy and its meaningful character are as evident today as they have been since the time when political philosophy first made its appearance in… More

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

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

The City and Man

– The City and Man, Rand McNally, 1964.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Excerpt: It is not self-forgetting and pain-loving antiquarianism nor self-forgetting and intoxicating romanticism which induces us to turn with passionate interest, with unqualified… More

Socrates and Aristophanes

– Socrates and Aristophanes, Basic Books, 1966.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Excerpt: Since Socrates did not write books or speeches, we depend entirely on other men’s reports for our knowledge of the circumstances in which, or of the reasons for which,… 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

On the Minos

– Liberalism Ancient and Modern, Basic Books, 1968.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Excerpt: The Minos has come down to us as a Platonic work immediately preceding the Laws. The Laws begins where the Minos ends: the Minos ends with a praise of the laws of the Cretan king… 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

On the Euthydemus

– "On the Euthydemus," Interpretation, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer 1970).
Excerpt: From the Crito we are led to the Euthydemus by the consideration that the Euthydemus contains the only other conversation between Socrates and Kriton. The two dialogues stand… More

Xenophon’s Socratic Discourse

– Xenophon's Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the Oeconomicus, Cornell University Press, 1970.  Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.
Excerpt: The Great Tradition of political philosophy was originated by Socrates. Socrates is said to have disregarded the whole of nature altogether in order to devote himself entirely to… More

Xenophon’s Socrates

– Xenophon's Socrates, Cornell University Press, 1972.  Reprint: St. Augustine's Press, 1998.
Excerpt: The title Apomnemoneumata may be rendered provisionally by “Recollections.” Apomnemoneuein (or derivatives) occurs only once within the Memorabilia (I.2.31); there it… 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

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 Argument and the Action of Plato’s Laws

– The Argument and the Action of Plato's Laws, University of Chicago Press, 1975.  Reprint: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Excerpt: In the traditional order of the Platonic dialogues the Laws is preceded by the Minos, the only Platonic dialogue in which Socrates raises the question What is law?  It appears… More

On Plato’s Apology of Socrates and Crito

– "On Plato's Apology of Socrates and Crito," Essays in Honor of Jacob Klein, St. John's College, 1976.
Excerpt: The Apology of Socrates is the only Platonic work with Socrates in the title.  Yet Socrates is visibly the chief character in all Platonic dialogues: all Platonic dialogues are… More

Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode

– "Correspondence with Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Wahrheit und Methode," Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).
But what is the basis of these and similar difficulties which I encountered in reading your book 9. You are fundamentally concerned with “Wirkungsgeschichte,” with something… More

Letter to Helmut Kuhn

– Letter to Helmut Kuhn, Independent Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2 (1978).
Excerpt: Forgive me for writing to you in English but my hand-writing is hard to read and the lady who is taking down my dictation does not have an easy command of German.  You have… More

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

– "An Unspoken Prologue to a Public Lecture at St. John's," Interpretation, Vol. 7, No. 3 (September 1978).
Excerpt: Nothing affected us as profoundly in the years in which our minds took their lasting directions as the thought of Heidegger.  This is not the place for speaking of that thought… More

Review of the City and Man

– Seth Benardete, "Leo Strauss' The City and Man," Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1978.
Excerpt: Leo Strauss’ The City and Man seems at first to be a straightforward continuation of all his previous work: the articulation of the theological-political problem. Even the… More

Philosophy and History

– Nathan Tarcov, "Philosophy and History: Tradition and Interpretation in the Work of Leo Strauss, Polity, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Autumn, 1983).
Excerpt: The necessity of critical or philosophical activity is increased by the literary character shared to different degrees and purposes by most of the writings Strauss… More

Strauss on Xenophon’s Socrates

– Christopher Bruell, "Strauss on Xenophon's Socrates," The Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1983.
Excerpt: The following study of Professor Leo Strauss’s writings on Xenophon’s presentation of Socrates will be devoted chiefly to a discussion of his interpretation of the… 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

Exoteric Teaching

– "Exoteric Teaching," Interpretation, Vol. 14, No. 1 (January 1986).  Reprinted in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism.
Excerpt: The distinction between exoteric (or public) and esoteric (or secret) teaching is not at present considered to be of any significance for the understanding of the thought of the… More

Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History

– "Thucydides: The Meaning of Political History," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Excerpt: This lecture forms part of a series: The Western Tradition–Its Great Ideas and Issues, The Western tradition is threatened today as it never was heretofore. For it is now… More

The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures

– "The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Published, complete and unedited, as "The Origins of Political Science and the Problem of Socrates: Six Public Lectures," Interpretation, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter 1996).
Excerpt: For according to Plato as well as to Aristotle, to the extent to which the human problem cannot be solved by political means it can be solved only by philosophy, by and through the… More

On the Euthyphron

– "On the Euthyphron," The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, Thomas L. Pangle, ed., University of Chicago Press, 1989. Complete, unedited version published as "An Untitled Lecture on Plato's Euthyphron," Interpretation, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Fall 1996).
Excerpt: The subject matter of the Euthyphron is piety. For more than one reason the Euthyphron does not tell us what Plato thought about piety. It certainly does not transmit to us… More

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

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

On a Certain Critique of “Straussianism”

– Nathan Tarcov, "On a Certain Critique of 'Straussianism,'" The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: This article examines a certain critique of what I will take the liberty of calling “Straussianism,” a critique which raises questions I believe are worth discussing,… More

On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin

– Thomas L. Pangle, "On the Epistolary Dialogue between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: The philosophic correspondence between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, stretching over thirty years, sheds some helpful light on each of the thinkers’ philosophic… More

A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas

– James V. Schall, "A Latitude for Statesmanship? Strauss on St. Thomas," The Review of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 1991).
Excerpt: Leo Strauss often spoke of Jerusalem and Athens.2 He never spoke of Rome in the same context, never of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Western civilization, in his view, was… More

Strauss’s Laws

– Mark Blitz, "Strauss's Laws," Political Science Reviewer, Spring 1991.
Excerpt: After quietly sketching these profound questions, Strauss turns to “the beginning of the Laws,” where the Athenian asks Kleinias the Cretan whether a god or a human is… More

The Strauss – Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964

– "The Strauss - Voegelin Correspondence 1934-1964," Faith and Political Philosophy, translated and edited by Perry Emberley and Barry Cooper, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.
Excerpt: People like Cairns (perhaps without knowing it) arrived from the Platonic-Aristotelian concept of science–indeed, not at their position, which is not worth… More

The Problem of Socrates

– "The Problem of Socrates," Interpretation, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 1995).  Talk given on April 17, 1970, at St. John's College, Annapolis.
Excerpt: [I was told that the local paper has announced that I lecture tonight on “The problems of Socrates.” This was an engaging printing error; for there is more than one… More

Leo Strauss and Nietzsche

– Laurence Lampert, Leo Strauss and Nietzsche, University of Chicago Press, 1996.
From the publisher: The influential political philosopher Leo Strauss has been credited by conservatives with the recovery of the great tradition of political philosophy stretching back to… More

Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Philosophy

– Stanley Rosen, "Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Philosophy, The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Mar. 2000).
Excerpt: To put this in another way, Strauss articulated a public teaching that was not necessarily in conflict with his private views on philosophy, but which served as an ambiguous… 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

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

Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem by Heinrich Meier

– Heinrich Meier, Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
From the publisher: This book, by one of the most prominent interpreters of the Leo Strauss’s thought, is the first to examine the theme that Leo Strauss considered to be key to his… More

What Can We Learn from Political Theory?

– "What Can We Learn from Political Theory?" Review of Politics, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Fall 2007).  Talk given in July 1942 at the New School for Social Research.
Excerpt: The title of this lecture is not entirely of my own choosing. I do not like very much the term political theory; I would prefer to speak of political philosophy. Since this… 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

Heidegger, Strauss, & the Premises of Philosophy by Richard Velkley

– Richard Velkley, Heidegger, Strauss, and the Premises of Philosophy: On Original Forgetting, University of Chicago Press, 2011.
From the publisher: In this groundbreaking work, Richard L. Velkley examines the complex philosophical relationship between Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss. Velkley argues that both… 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.

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

Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life ed. Rafael Major

– Leo Strauss's Defense of the Philosophic Life, ed. Rafael Major, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: Leo Strauss’s What Is Political Philosophy? addresses almost every major theme in his life’s work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic… More

The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss by Laurence Lampert

– Laurence Lampert, The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
From the publisher: The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss takes on the crucial task of separating what is truly important in the work of Leo Strauss from the ephemeral politics associated… More