Studies in Platonic Political PhilosophyUniversity of Chicago Press, 2022 M06 22 - 268 pages One of the outstanding thinkers of our time offers in this book his final words to posterity. Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy was well underway at the time of Leo Strauss's death in 1973. Having chosen the title for the book, he selected the most important writings of his later years and arranged them to clarify the issues in political philosophy that occupied his attention throughout his life. As his choice of title indicates, the heart of Strauss's work is Platonism—a Platonism that is altogether unorthodox and highly controversial. These essays consider, among others, Heidegger, Husserl, Nietzsche, Marx, Moses Maimonides, Machiavelli, and of course Plato himself to test the Platonic understanding of the conflict between philosophy and political society. Strauss argues that an awesome spritual impoverishment has engulfed modernity because of our dimming awareness of that conflict. Thomas Pangle's Introduction places the work within the context of the entire Straussian corpus and focuses especially on Strauss's late Socratic writings as a key to his mature thought. For those already familiar with Strauss, Pangle's essay will provoke thought and debate; for beginning readers of Strauss, it provides a fine introduction. A complete bibliography of Strauss's writings if included. |
From inside the book
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Page 4
... man's " noetic situation " we have no sufficient grounds for supposing that the character of reality " in itself " is wholly or forever screened from our everyday experience , and we are hence not justified in doubting radically ( as ...
... man's " noetic situation " we have no sufficient grounds for supposing that the character of reality " in itself " is wholly or forever screened from our everyday experience , and we are hence not justified in doubting radically ( as ...
Page 6
... man's deepest natural needs , are always in fact no more than the mechanisms whereby some are exploited by others ... Man is such a being as cannot orient himself merely by the good , understood as what is useful for survival , health ...
... man's deepest natural needs , are always in fact no more than the mechanisms whereby some are exploited by others ... Man is such a being as cannot orient himself merely by the good , understood as what is useful for survival , health ...
Page 7
Leo Strauss. cannot be reduced to the good or useful — which displays man's peculiarly moral mode of being . It is no accident that in Greek the word for noble ( kalon ) designates at the same time " beautiful . " The noble and the ...
Leo Strauss. cannot be reduced to the good or useful — which displays man's peculiarly moral mode of being . It is no accident that in Greek the word for noble ( kalon ) designates at the same time " beautiful . " The noble and the ...
Page 11
... man's life can achieve only a truncated , reflected perfection . The restricted access men have to the divine is ... man and his capacity to construct artifacts ) that exist or grow by themselves . When viewed in the light of this ...
... man's life can achieve only a truncated , reflected perfection . The restricted access men have to the divine is ... man and his capacity to construct artifacts ) that exist or grow by themselves . When viewed in the light of this ...
Page 12
... man's natural , spontaneous , and uninvented desires , and obfuscates the calcula- tion which naturally serves and guides the latter . Yet through piercing , uncompromising thought and iron self - discipline some men can liberate ...
... man's natural , spontaneous , and uninvented desires , and obfuscates the calcula- tion which naturally serves and guides the latter . Yet through piercing , uncompromising thought and iron self - discipline some men can liberate ...
Contents
1 | |
Abbreviations | 27 |
1 Philosophy as Rigorous Science and Political Philosophy | 29 |
2 On Platos Apology of Socrates and Crito | 38 |
3 On the Euthymedus | 67 |
4 Preliminary Observations on the Gods in Thucydides Work | 89 |
5 Xenophons Anbasis | 105 |
6 On Natural Law | 137 |
9 Notes on Maimonides Book of Knowledge | 192 |
10 Note on Maimonides Letter on Astrology | 205 |
11 Note on Maimonides Treatise on the Art of Logic | 208 |
12 Niccolo Machiavelli | 210 |
13 Review of CB Macpherson The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism | 229 |
14 Review of J L Talmon The Nature of Jewish History | 232 |
15 Introductory Essay for Hermann Cohen Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism | 233 |
Leo Strauss 18991973 a Bibliography | 249 |
7 Jerusalem and Athens | 147 |
8 Note on the Plan of Nietzches Beyond Good and Evil | 174 |
Index | 259 |
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according accusers Alkibiades Anabasis ancient aphorism Apology of Socrates army Athenians Athens become beginning believe Bible biblical Book Brasidas brothers called chapter character Cheirisophos claim Cohen command concerned creation Crito Cyrus daimonion dialogue difference Dionysodoros Discourses divine doctrine eternal ethics Euthydemos evil fact fundamental God's gods Greeks Ha-Torah hence Hobbes holy human interpretation Jewish Judaism justice kind king kingly art Kleinias knowledge Kriton Ktesippos live Livy Lord Machiavelli Maimonides man's means mentioned Mishneh Torah modern moral nations natural law natural right Nietzsche Nietzsche's Nikias noble oracle particular Persians Plato Political Philosophy possess Prince prophets protreptic Proxenos punishment question refutation regarding Religion of Reason repentance Reprinted Republic sacrifices seems sense Seuthes silent society soldiers soul Spartans speak speech Strauss teaching things thinking thought Thucydides tion Tissaphernes true truth understand understood University virtue whole wisdom wise wish Xenophon Zeus