Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy
268 pages
|
© 1983
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.
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.
Contents
Foreword by Joseph Cropsey
Introduction by Thomas L. Pangle
Abbreviations
1. Philosophy as Rigorous Science and Political Philosophy
2. On Plato's Apology of Socrates and Crito
3. On the Euthydemus
4. Preliminary Observations on the Gods in Thucydides' Work
5. Xenophon's Anabasis
6. On Natural Law
7. Jerusalem and Athens: Some Preliminary Reflections
8. Note on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil
9. Notes on Maimonides' Book of Knowledge
10. Note on Maimonides' Letter on Astrology
11. Note on Maimonides' Treatise on the Art of Logic
12. Niccolo Machiavelli
13. Review of C. B. Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke
14. Review of J. L. Talmon, The Nature of Jewish History—Its Universal Significance
15. Introductory Essay for Hermann Cohen, Religion of Reason
out of the Sources of Judaism
Leo Strauss, 1899-1973, a Bibliography
Index
Introduction by Thomas L. Pangle
Abbreviations
1. Philosophy as Rigorous Science and Political Philosophy
2. On Plato's Apology of Socrates and Crito
3. On the Euthydemus
4. Preliminary Observations on the Gods in Thucydides' Work
5. Xenophon's Anabasis
6. On Natural Law
7. Jerusalem and Athens: Some Preliminary Reflections
8. Note on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil
9. Notes on Maimonides' Book of Knowledge
10. Note on Maimonides' Letter on Astrology
11. Note on Maimonides' Treatise on the Art of Logic
12. Niccolo Machiavelli
13. Review of C. B. Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke
14. Review of J. L. Talmon, The Nature of Jewish History—Its Universal Significance
15. Introductory Essay for Hermann Cohen, Religion of Reason
out of the Sources of Judaism
Leo Strauss, 1899-1973, a Bibliography
Index
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