Bøker av Leo Strauss

Any presentation of political philosophy in the 20th century is radically incomplete without Leo Strauss. The appearance of this collection is particularly important given the relentless but shifting interest in his influence and thought in recent years. An emphasis on what Strauss has directly published, the editors Lenzner and Minkov assert, must retain primacy when establishing his full range of importance. "Though Strauss scholars, to say nothing of others, have reason to be grateful for the publication in recent years of many of Strauss's unpublished lectures and essays as well as his correspondence with some of his leading contemporaries, the publication of these materials has tended to overshadow the serious study of those works upon which he sought to establish his reputation and legacy." The most complete record of Strauss includes his full books together with his other published writings, and the intention of this volume is to present in one collection everything Strauss chose to publish in English that has not already appeared as a full length book. The material is arranged chronologically so as to provide the most direct connection to the author himself and avoid undue categorization by the editors. "Among the highlights of these works published between 1937 and 1972 are striking formulations not to be found in his books on the relationship between philosophy and society, which is perhaps the most prominent theme in Strauss's corpus taken as a whole; rare "personal" statements that shed light on his self-understanding as a philosopher; his first writing devoted solely to a classical thinker ('The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon'); his first piece devoted to Plato, 'On a New Interpretation of Plato's Political Philosophy', his most searching engagement of Jean-Jacques Rousseau; his first treatment of the thought of Niccolò Machiavelli and a wonderful, later treatment of Machiavelli's relation to ancient writers; and a critical review of a book on Xenophon's Hellenica which expands Xenophon's own work." This new compilation of Strauss's scattered work is invaluable for those interested in the political philosopher, to be sure. But it is also an important contribution to the field in general as well as the history of philosophy.

The first major piece of unpublished work by Leo Strauss to appear in more than thirty years, Leo Strauss On Plato's "Symposium" offers the public the unprecedented experience of encountering this renowned scholar as his students did. Given as a course in autumn 1959 under the title "Plato's Political Philosophy," at the University of Chicago, these transcripts previously had circulated in samizdat fashion, passed down from one generation of students to the next. They show Strauss at his best, in his subtle and sometimes indirect style of analysis, which has attracted almost as much commentary as has the content of his thought. Strauss presents a coherent and complete interpretation of the Symposium, proceeding by a meticulous reading from beginning to end. Operating on the once common hypothesis that commentary is an excellent method of expounding the truth, Strauss sheds light not only on the meaning of the dialogue and its place in the Platonic corpus, but also on a host of important topics, including the nature of eros and its place in the overall economy of human life; the perennial quarrel between poetry and philosophy, and the relation of both to piety, politics, and morality; the character of Socrates and the questions of his trial; and many other matters. As provocative as they were a half century ago, these important lectures will be welcomed by students of classics, philosophy, politics, psychology, and political philosophy.

"A Seminar on Plato's Protagoras offers the transcript of Leo Strauss's seminar on Plato's Protagoras edited and introduced by the renowned scholar Robert Bartlett. In this dialogue, Socrates engaged with the sophist Protagoras. In the lectures, Strauss discusses Protagoras and the sophists in relation to the dialogue Gorgias in which Socrates engages with the meaning of rhetoric, all in light of Socrates' pursuit of the question "How ought one to live?" While Strauss regarded himself as a Platonist and published some work on Plato, including his last book, he published little on the dialogues. In these lectures Strauss treats many of the great Platonic and Straussian themes: the difference between the Socratic political science or art and the Sophistic political science or art of Protagoras; the character and teachability of virtue, its relation to knowledge, and the relations among the virtues, courage, justice, moderation, and wisdom; the good and the pleasant; frankness and concealment; the role of myth; and the relation between freedom of thought and freedom of speech"--

A series of lectures from 1965 in which Strauss laid out his views on political philosophy in the form of an introductory course.

Strauss's lectures that led up to his most important work, Natural Right and History.

Presents a collection of author's writings on Maimonides, comprising sixteen essays, three of which appear in English for the first time. This title provides translations of materials that are originally quoted in Hebrew, Arabic, Latin, German, and French; written an informative introduction highlighting the contributions found in each essay.

Introduces revisions throughout and expands authors' restatement of his position in light of Kojeve's commentary to bring it into conformity with the text as it was originally published in France.

Published posthumously, this book offers insight into Plato's text "Laws".

In this text Leo Strauss articulates the conflict between reason and revelation as he explores Spinoza's scientific, comparative, and textual treatment of the Bible.

Argues that the basis for Hobbes' natural and political science is his interest in 'self-knowledge of man as he really is.' This title allows us to have a picture of author's interpretation of Hobbes, the thinker pivotal to the fundamental theme of his life's work: the conflicting demands of philosophy and revelation.

Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86) was the leading Jewish thinker of the German Enlightenment and the founder of modern Jewish philosophy. In addition to Strauss' introductions, the author has translated various editorial annotations Strauss makes on key passages in Mendelssohn's texts.

In this classic analysis, Leo Strauss pinpoints what is original and innovative in the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. He argues that Hobbes's ideas arose not from tradition or science but from his own deep knowledge and experience of human nature. Tracing the development of Hobbes's moral doctrine from his early writings to his major work "The Leviathan, " Strauss explains contradictions in the body of Hobbes's work and discovers startling connections between Hobbes and the thought of Plato, Thucydides, Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, and Hegel.

This volume of lectures was first given as a course in 1959 under the title "Plato's Political Philosophy". These lectures, previously unpublished, have been passed down from one generation of students to the next and show Strauss at his insightful best.

This work examines the problem of natural right and argues that there is a firm foundation in reality for the distinction between right and wrong in ethics and politics.

In one of his last books, Leo Strauss examines the confrontation between Socrates and Aristophanes in Aristophanes' comedies. Looking at 11 plays, Strauss shows that this confrontation is essentially one between poetry and philosophy.

Leo Strauss argued that the most visible fact about Machiavelli's doctrine is also the most useful one: Machiavelli seems to be a teacher of wickedness. In his critical appreciation of "The Prince" and the "Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy", Strauss explains his thoughts.

This volume provides an unequaled introduction to the thought of chief contributors to the Western tradition of political philosophy from classical Greek antiquity to the twentieth century. Written by specialists on the various philosophers, this third edition has been expanded significantly to include both new and revised essays.