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Leo Strauss In 1899?1973, American philosopher, b. Hesse, Germany. Strauss fled the Nazis and came to the United States, where he taught at the Univ. of Chicago
of this reading claim that Machiavelli is a "teacher of evil," in the famous words of Leo Strauss (1957, 9-10), on the grounds that he counsels leaders to avoid the
Socratic Studies, Terence Irwin's Plato's Moral Theory, and (for a very different approach) Leo Strauss's long essay "The Problem of Socrates" in The Rebirth of Classical
various prominent German/European ?migr?s such as Hans Morgenthau, Friedrich Von Hayek and Leo Strauss, all of whom have been highly influential in American conservative
mentions "the murderous Machiavel." Even modern commentators, the most influential being Leo Strauss, have labeled Machiavelli as a teacher of evil. Modern English
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In 18991973, American philosopher, b. Hesse, Germany. Strauss fled the Nazis and came to the United States, where he taught at the Univ. of Chicago (194968). Strauss is known for his controversial interpretations of political philosophers, including Xenophon and Plato. Strauss wrote an influential critique of modern political philosophy, i.e., philosophy since Machiavelli, arguing that it suffers from an inability to make value judgments about political regimes, even about obviously odious ones. As a model for how political philosophy should proceed, Strauss held up the work of the Ancients, i.e., Xenephon and Plato. He defended the ant historicist position that it is possible for a person to grasp the thought of philosophers of different eras on their own terms. Strauss then wrote a book Natural Right and History (1952), Thoughts on Machiavelli. This Strauss, like his namesake Levi, was a German-Jewish emigre who brought to his adopted country tools and techniques to tailor the frayed fabrics of American garb. The vestments with which Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was concerned, however, were intellectual rather than mall-type paraphernalia. Specifically, he may have been this century's most profound critic of the adornments of modernity. There is, he argued, a fatal flaw concealed in the rationalistic optimism of the Enlightenment project, and its ramifications have been made manifest by the twin scourges of National Socialism and Leninism. Diagnosis of the malady was his life's work - diagnosis and intimations concerning appropriate therapy. But although politics was Strauss's passion, his pursuit of the political was indirect and abstruse. He had no time for party pronouncements or the policy scuffles of the day. Rather, his method was to offer exceedingly close readings of classic philosophical and theological texts and to attempt to elicit from them the political prerequisites necessary for human beings to live well together.Strauss is best known -...
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