Difference between revisions of "Leo Strauss"

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The neoconservative [[Irving Kristol]] has acknowledged Strauss's influence. [[Ronald Bailey]] writes in an article for ''Reason'' magazine:  
 
The neoconservative [[Irving Kristol]] has acknowledged Strauss's influence. [[Ronald Bailey]] writes in an article for ''Reason'' magazine:  
  
:Kristol has acknowledged his intellectual debt to Strauss in a recent autobiographical essay. "What made him [Strauss] so controversial within the academic community was his disbelief in the Enlightenment dogma that `the truth will make men free.'" Kristol adds that "Strauss was an intellectual aristocrat who thought that the truth could make some [emphasis Kristol's] minds free, but he was convinced that there was an inherent conflict between philosophic truth and political order, and that the popularization and vulgarization of these truths might import unease, turmoil and the release of popular passions hitherto held in check by tradition and religion with utterly unpredictable, but mostly negative, consequences."
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:Kristol has acknowledged his intellectual debt to Strauss in a recent autobiographical essay. "What made him [Strauss] so controversial within the academic community was his disbelief in the Enlightenment dogma that `the truth will make men free.'" Kristol adds that "Strauss was an intellectual aristocrat who thought that the truth could make ''some'' [emphasis Kristol's] minds free, but he was convinced that there was an inherent conflict between philosophic truth and political order, and that the popularization and vulgarization of these truths might import unease, turmoil and the release of popular passions hitherto held in check by tradition and religion with utterly unpredictable, but mostly negative, consequences."
  
 
:Kristol agrees with this view. "There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people," he says in an interview. "There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn't work."<ref>Ronald Bailey, "[http://www.reason.com/news/show/30329.html Origin of the Specious: Why do neoconservatives doubt Darwin?]", Reason magazine, July 1997, accessed 3 April 2009</ref>  
 
:Kristol agrees with this view. "There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people," he says in an interview. "There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn't work."<ref>Ronald Bailey, "[http://www.reason.com/news/show/30329.html Origin of the Specious: Why do neoconservatives doubt Darwin?]", Reason magazine, July 1997, accessed 3 April 2009</ref>  

Revision as of 10:52, 3 April 2009

Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was a German-born Jewish American political philosopher who has been called the father of neoconservatism.

The neoconservative Irving Kristol has acknowledged Strauss's influence. Ronald Bailey writes in an article for Reason magazine:

Kristol has acknowledged his intellectual debt to Strauss in a recent autobiographical essay. "What made him [Strauss] so controversial within the academic community was his disbelief in the Enlightenment dogma that `the truth will make men free.'" Kristol adds that "Strauss was an intellectual aristocrat who thought that the truth could make some [emphasis Kristol's] minds free, but he was convinced that there was an inherent conflict between philosophic truth and political order, and that the popularization and vulgarization of these truths might import unease, turmoil and the release of popular passions hitherto held in check by tradition and religion with utterly unpredictable, but mostly negative, consequences."
Kristol agrees with this view. "There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people," he says in an interview. "There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn't work."[1]

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  1. Ronald Bailey, "Origin of the Specious: Why do neoconservatives doubt Darwin?", Reason magazine, July 1997, accessed 3 April 2009