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Liberalism Ancient and Modern
Revered and reviled, Leo Strauss has left a rich legacy of work that continues to spark discussion and controversy. This volume of essays ranges over critical themes that define Strauss's thought: the tension between reason and revelation in the Western tradition, the philsophical roots of liberal democracy, and especially the conflicting yet complementary relationship between ancient and modern liberalism. For those seeking to become acquainted with this provocative thinker, one need look no further.
283 pages, Paperback
First published January 21, 1968
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About the author
Leo Strauss
153 books365 followersLeo Strauss was a 20th century German-American scholar of political philosophy. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Strauss later emigrated from Germany to the United States. He spent much of his career as a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, where he taught several generations of students and published fifteen books.
Trained in the neo-Kantian tradition with Ernst Cassirer and immersed in the work of the phenomenologists Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, Strauss authored books on Baruch Spinoza and Thomas Hobbes, and articles on Maimonides and Al-Farabi. In the late 1930s, his research focused on the texts of Plato and Aristotle, retracing their interpretation through medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophy, and encouraging the application of those ideas to contemporary political theory.
Trained in the neo-Kantian tradition with Ernst Cassirer and immersed in the work of the phenomenologists Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, Strauss authored books on Baruch Spinoza and Thomas Hobbes, and articles on Maimonides and Al-Farabi. In the late 1930s, his research focused on the texts of Plato and Aristotle, retracing their interpretation through medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophy, and encouraging the application of those ideas to contemporary political theory.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 6, 2020
Leo Strauss and his disciples are often viewed as being secret enemies of the liberal society by virtue of their assiduous study of the gap between the surface and hidden meaning of texts. Yet this book shows that if Strauss is viewed as an enemy of the liberal society, that he views himself as being a secret friend by being an apparent enemy, and by seeking to warn the friends of the liberal society of the crisis that exists in it, by virtue of looking at the crisis of ancient liberal society which fell to the same sorts of pressures that face contemporary Western society with regards to the threat from tyranny outside and the threat of corruption and demagoguery within. This book not only examines liberal society itself but also the place of the Jew within liberal society, pointing out somewhat painfully that to rid the world of the anti-semitism that contributed to the Holocaust would require an illiberal society that would likely--like the Communist world--appeal to anti-semitism for its own reasons. The result is a thoughtful book if a somewhat difficult book because the author himself is not an open-hearted writer, but rather someone whose hidden as well as surface meanings must be taken into account.
This book is a bit more than 250 pages and it is divided into ten chapters. The book begins with a foreword by Allan Bloom as well as a preface. The author then tackles the question of what is liberal education, separating it from an education that is merely practical and interested in vocational education (1). The author then writes an essay on the connection but not unity between liberal education and responsibility, in part by looking at different senses of the word responsibility (2). The author discusses the liberalism of classical political philosophy, in part by examining the way that this is viewed by others (3). There is a brief discussion on the Minos as an introduction to Plato's discussion of the laws (4), and then some very lengthy notes on Lucretius and what he has to say about philosophy, religion, and politics (5). There is a discussion of how to begin to study the Guide of the Perplexed that helps to point out the importance of the various layers of meaning in the text and its organization (6). A discussion of Marsilius of Padua leads to a discussion of the variation possible within Christian philosophers (7) and then an epilogue that discusses some of his own thinking about political philosophy (8). The book then ends with two chapters that discuss Spinoza's critique of religion and provide a critique of a critique of that critique (9) as well as a perspective on the good society (10), after which there are acknowledgements and an index of names.
It is easy to see why people would mistrust someone like Leo Strauss. This book demonstrates his willingness to speak truths that others are not willing to admit to themselves regarding the limits of liberal arts in educating the mass population, and in pointing out the way that religion (and irreligion) can be threats to the well-being of a government. Yet if Strauss speaks truths that others are unwilling to admit openly, so as to appear as an enemy of liberal institutions, he also does not speak all of his truths openly, because he desires to instruct his readers (like his students, in all likelihood) to understand how it is to read the layers and infer meaning that cannot be said. In order to do that, the author goes on what appears to be tangents, such as a discussion of the Guide Of The Perplexed as a way of pointing out that a work which has an open meaning for the ordinary reader and a hidden meaning for the elite reader, but is nonetheless a coherent book because it has an honest meaning for all of its readers despite its multiple layers. And the same is true of Strauss' own work, including this book.
This book is a bit more than 250 pages and it is divided into ten chapters. The book begins with a foreword by Allan Bloom as well as a preface. The author then tackles the question of what is liberal education, separating it from an education that is merely practical and interested in vocational education (1). The author then writes an essay on the connection but not unity between liberal education and responsibility, in part by looking at different senses of the word responsibility (2). The author discusses the liberalism of classical political philosophy, in part by examining the way that this is viewed by others (3). There is a brief discussion on the Minos as an introduction to Plato's discussion of the laws (4), and then some very lengthy notes on Lucretius and what he has to say about philosophy, religion, and politics (5). There is a discussion of how to begin to study the Guide of the Perplexed that helps to point out the importance of the various layers of meaning in the text and its organization (6). A discussion of Marsilius of Padua leads to a discussion of the variation possible within Christian philosophers (7) and then an epilogue that discusses some of his own thinking about political philosophy (8). The book then ends with two chapters that discuss Spinoza's critique of religion and provide a critique of a critique of that critique (9) as well as a perspective on the good society (10), after which there are acknowledgements and an index of names.
It is easy to see why people would mistrust someone like Leo Strauss. This book demonstrates his willingness to speak truths that others are not willing to admit to themselves regarding the limits of liberal arts in educating the mass population, and in pointing out the way that religion (and irreligion) can be threats to the well-being of a government. Yet if Strauss speaks truths that others are unwilling to admit openly, so as to appear as an enemy of liberal institutions, he also does not speak all of his truths openly, because he desires to instruct his readers (like his students, in all likelihood) to understand how it is to read the layers and infer meaning that cannot be said. In order to do that, the author goes on what appears to be tangents, such as a discussion of the Guide Of The Perplexed as a way of pointing out that a work which has an open meaning for the ordinary reader and a hidden meaning for the elite reader, but is nonetheless a coherent book because it has an honest meaning for all of its readers despite its multiple layers. And the same is true of Strauss' own work, including this book.
collections-partially-read
September 17, 2018The 1968 publication of Leo Strauss's Liberalism Ancient and Modern was the first printing of this work. I purchased it from the University of Chicago Bookstore on December 6, 1968. Published about five years before Strauss's death, this book contains some of his most enlightening essays. It has been reprinted a number of times. I read most (but not all) of these essays in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At the time of this review, I am currently rereading some of them.
February 17, 2022
I recommend this book to anyone concerned by the present crisis of liberal-democracy or interested in becoming aware of the essential virtues and vices of our embattled regime. It is also a good introduction to the thought of Leo Strauss.
November 26, 2021
Good stuff, but I just couldn’t get into it because a lot of the later essays were on things I hadn’t read and so I decided to call it quite after having tried to start reading the rest but failing.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews