Socrates and Aristophanes

In one of his last books, Socrates and Aristophanes, Leo
Strauss's examines the confrontation between Socrates and Aristophanes
in Aristophanes' comedies. Looking at eleven plays, Strauss shows that
this confrontation is essentially one between poetry and philosophy, and
that poetry emerges as an autonomous wisdom capable of rivaling
philosophy.

"Strauss gives us an impressive addition to his life's work—the
recovery of the Great Tradition in political philosophy. The problem the
book proposes centers formally upon Socrates. As is typical of Strauss,
he raises profound issues with great courage. . . . [He addresses] a
problem that has been inherent in Western life ever since [Socrates']
execution: the tension between reason and religion. . . . Thus, we come
to Aristophanes, the great comic poet, and his attack on Socrates in the
play The Clouds. . . [Strauss] translates it into the basic
problem of the relation between poetry and philosophy, and resolves this
by an analysis of the function of comedy in the life of the city." —
Stanley Parry, National Review