Leo Strauss

Leo Strauss vs. Edmund Burke

What ought to take primacy when carrying out research and interpreting seminal books: the text itself, or the context? A known critic of historicism and contextualism, Leo Strauss published his seminal essay, ‘What is Political Philosophy?’ in...

Harry Jaffa, Walter Berns, & American Conservatism

Historical context, for members of the Straussian school, is "historicism," a form of moral relativism that believes that there are no fixed truths, only ideas appropriate for their historical moment... Patriotism Is Not Enough: Harry Jaffa, Walter Berns, and the Arguments That Redefined...

On Straussian Teachings

The nexus between the Straussians and neoconservatives has been overstated for partisan ends, but it is still nonetheless there. Sociologically and culturally, the two movements are largely indistinguishable... The Truth About Leo Strauss by Catherine and Michael Zuckert (University of Chicago Press, 2006).

Leo Strauss and the American Right

Leo Strauss and the American Right has little to do with Leo Strauss and everything to do with liberal fear of attempts to reintroduce standards of religious morality to public conduct... Leo Strauss and the American Right by Shadia B. Drury (St....

Selfish Libertarians and Socialist Conservatives

Even if one disagrees with the authors of Selfish Libertarians and Social Conservatives, they have provided a scholarly model for how the media and academia should act: in calmness, in restraint, but also with open vigor and manliness... Selfish Libertarians and Socialist Conservatives?:...

John Locke: The Harmony of Liberty & Virtue

Government remains limited in civil society because God gave man the ability, through work and reason, to subdue the earth and thereby improve his life by the use of pri­vate property... Understanding Locke John Locke is...

How Should Conservatives Respond to President Trump’s Nationalism?

Whether or not President Trump is successful with a principled nationalistic agenda or with a more pragmatic one, more traditionally-oriented conservative intellectuals must do some serious thinking, either acceding to nationalism or pragmatism or finding a new story...

Leo Strauss: Escaping the Stifling Clutches of Historicism

Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was a native of Germany. "I was," he reported near the end of his life, "brought up in a conservative, even orthodox Jewish home some­where in a rural district of Germany." Strauss received his doctorate...

The Burkean Tradition of Strauss and Voegelin

Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin were scholars in the field of political philosophy, yet they did not have an explicit political teaching. They studied the great political philosophers of the past in order to...

Leo Strauss: Angel or Demon?

Leo Strauss: Man of Peace by Robert Howse, (Cambridge University Press, 200 pages) The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name. —Exodus 15:3 There is...

Liberal Education: Experience in Things Beautiful

Liberal education, which consists in the constant intercourse with the greatest minds, is a training in the highest form of modesty, not to say of humility. It is at the same time a training in boldness: It demands...

What is the Role of Leo Strauss in Conservative Thought?

One difference between postmodern conservatives and other contributors to First Thoughts has to do with being influenced by Leo Strauss. Each pomoncon can speak for himself (or herself). But I would say that we all regard that influence...

Leo Strauss: The Right’s False Prophet

Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America, Paul Gottfried, Cambridge University Press (2011) When writing about the work of an academic historian or philosopher—as opposed...

Eric Voegelin, Leo Strauss, and American Conservatism

Eric Voegelin For more than fifty years, American conservatives have treated Eric Voegelin and Leo Strauss as fellow travellers. But for various reasons, that relationship and its contemporary legacy has been fraught with problems. What,...