Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy

Michael P Zuckert

ISBN 10: 022647948X / ISBN 13: 9780226479484

Edité par University Of Chicago Press Mär 2017, 2017

A propos de cet article

Neuware - Leo Strauss and his alleged political influence regarding the Iraq War have in recent years been the subject of significant media attention, including stories in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.Time magazine even called him 'one of the most influential men in American politics.' With The Truth about Leo Strauss, Michael and Catherine Zuckert challenged the many claims and speculations about this notoriously complex thinker. Now, with Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy, they turn their attention to a searching and more comprehensive interpretation of Strauss's thought as a whole, using the many manifestations of the 'problem of political philosophy' as their touchstone. For Strauss, political philosophy presented a 'problem' to which there have been a variety of solutions proposed over the course of Western history. Strauss's work, they show, revolved around recovering-and restoring-political philosophy to its original Socratic form. Since positivism and historicism represented two intellectual currents that undermined the possibility of a Socratic political philosophy, the first part of the book is devoted to Strauss's critique of these two positions. Then, the authors explore Strauss's interpretation of the history of philosophy and both ancient and modern canonical political philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, and Locke. Strauss's often-unconventional readings of these philosophers, they argue, pointed to solutions to the problem of political philosophy. Finally, the authors examine Strauss's thought in the context of the twentieth century, when his chief interlocutors were Schmitt, Husserl, Heidegger, and Nietzsche. The most penetrating and capacious treatment of the political philosophy of this complex and often misunderstood thinker, from his early years to his last works, Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy reveals Strauss's writings as an attempt to show that the distinctive characteristics of ancient and modern thought derive from different modes of solving the problem of political philosophy and reveal why he considered the ancient solution both philosophically and politically superior.

N° de réf. du vendeur 9780226479484

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy
• Éditeur: University Of Chicago Press Mär 2017
• Date de parution: 2017
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 022647948X
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780226479484
• Reliure: Taschenbuch
• État de l'article: Neu
• Dimensions: 228 L x 151 H x 25 P (en millimètres) 228 millimètres de largeur par 151 millimètres de hauteur par 25 millimètres de profondeur
• Poids: 583 grammes

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Leo Strauss and his alleged political influence regarding the Iraq War have in recent years been the subject of significant media attention, including stories in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.Time magazine even called him “one of the most influential men in American politics.” With The Truth about Leo Strauss, Michael and Catherine Zuckert challenged the many claims and speculations about this notoriously complex thinker. Now, with Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy, they turn their attention to a searching and more comprehensive interpretation of Strauss’s thought as a whole, using the many manifestations of the “problem of political philosophy” as their touchstone.

For Strauss, political philosophy presented a “problem” to which there have been a variety of solutions proposed over the course of Western history. Strauss’s work, they show, revolved around recovering—and restoring—political philosophy to its original Socratic form. Since positivism and historicism represented two intellectual currents that undermined the possibility of a Socratic political philosophy, the first part of the book is devoted to Strauss’s critique of these two positions. Then, the authors explore Strauss’s interpretation of the history of philosophy and both ancient and modern canonical political philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, and Locke. Strauss’s often-unconventional readings of these philosophers, they argue, pointed to solutions to the problem of political philosophy. Finally, the authors examine Strauss’s thought in the context of the twentieth century, when his chief interlocutors were Schmitt, Husserl, Heidegger, and Nietzsche.

The most penetrating and capacious treatment of the political philosophy of this complex and often misunderstood thinker, from his early years to his last works, Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy reveals Strauss’s writings as an attempt to show that the distinctive characteristics of ancient and modern thought derive from different modes of solving the problem of political philosophy and reveal why he considered the ancient solution both philosophically and politically superior.

À propos de l?auteur

Michael Zuckert is a Nancy Reeves Dreux Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame and the author of Natural Rights and the New Republicanism, The Natural Rights Republic, and Launching Liberalism.