thanks Craig, mulling it over...
> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 06 July 2007 19:14 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [MD] Quality decline > > > [Jos]> I can't see anything online from which you could have > derived such an [positive]> opinion [of Strauss]? > Leo Strauss 101 EDWARD FESER An enormous amount of nonsense > has been written about Leo Strauss over the last several > years. Liberal journalists who appear never to have read a > word of the long-dead philosophers work assure us that the > war in Iraq is a practical application of his ideas. Tim > Robbinss anti-war play Embedded portrays Strauss as a > sinister ideologue who promoted deception of the masses as a > means of fostering a militant nationalism. Nor has the > nonsense all come from the political left. Conservative > writer Daniel Flynn suggests, in his book Intellectual > Morons, that Straussian methods of textual analysis may have > led the Defense Department into a faulty reading of pre-war > intelligence vis-`-vis Saddams purported WMD stockpiles. > Yale professor Steven Smiths book is intended, in part, to > dispel such myths, and provides a sober and lucid overview of > Strausss thinking about matters of philosophy, politics, and > religion, albeit from Smiths interpretive point of view. > His emphasis is on Strausss defense of liberal democracy as > a solution to what he called the theologico-political > problem; in Smiths telling, Strausss defense rests on a > kind of philosophical skepticism. Smith is clearly > sympathetic to Strausss views as he understands them; he > succeeds in his attempt to show that those views bear little > resemblance to the caricatures now in circulation, and are > worthy of the serious consideration of liberals and > conservatives alike. Unfortunately, in his desire to distance > Strauss from Bush-administration policy in particular and > neoconservatism in general, he sometimes overstates his case. > More significantly, he fails to consider some potential > difficulties facing the Straussian worldview as he has > interpreted it. Still, his take on Strauss is instructive, > and if he doesnt answer all the important questions he at > least raises them. In this, Smith is very Straussian indeed. > Strauss understood philosophy as concerned with the permanent probl > ems traditional questions about the nature and grounds of > justice, the existence of God, and so forth that are > permanent because, it is alleged, no settled answers to > these questions are possible. In Strausss view, the thinker > who decisively chooses one set of answers over the others has > ceased to be a philosopher and become a sectarian. But if > philosophy is concerned with constant questioning and > discussing, rather than with providing solutions or upholding > hallowed dogmas, it poses a potential threat to traditional > societies. Hence the theologico-political problem, the > inevitable conflict between philosophy and divine revelation, > reason and faith, Athens and Jerusalem. On Smiths > interpretation of Strauss, liberal democracy provides the > best solution to this problem, or at least (as Churchill > would have put it) the worst except for all the others. Its > tendency to foster toleration and open-mindedness recommends > it to the philosopher as the sort of regime most conduc > ive to his way of life, and its allowance for private > religious discrimination in exchange for neutrality between > religions in the public sphere makes it possible for > traditional believers to practice their ancient ways as they > see fit without threatening the liberty of non-believers to > choose to do otherwise. And yet liberal democracies have > dogmas of their own, especially egalitarian ones. They also > tend to cater to the lowest tastes and impulses, so that > while they value science and technology for the consumer > goods they provide, democracies make high culture and higher > moral sensibilities difficult to maintain. This in turn > threatens the stability and longevity of the democratic > regime itself. For these reasons Strauss believed that a true > friend of democracy ought never to be its flatterer. The > philosopher ought, in his view, to uphold the older ideal of > democracy as a universal aristocracy, in the face of the > vulgar mass democracy that has displaced it. This requires de > fending and practicing liberal education as a means of > inculcating an understanding and respect for the permanent > problems, and thereby producing an elite fit to govern on the > basis of wisdom and merit rather than birth. It also requires > a certain degree of caution, since given the inherently > elitist character of liberal education the philosopher is > bound to find himself at odds to some extent even with a > democratic regime. Here is where critics of Strauss and his > followers often accuse them of advocating a resort to the > noble lie, and in particular of a false populism that > cynically caters in public to fundamentalist religious > believers whose faith Straussians privately reject, as a way > of upholding public order and traditional morality. But, as > Smith notes, this accusation is misconceived on two counts. > First of all, while Strauss was not himself an orthodox > believer, neither was he a convinced atheist. Since whether > or not to accept a purported divine revelation is itself > one of the permanent questions, orthodoxy must always > remain an option equally as defensible as unbelief. Second, > what Strauss was in favor of was neither lying nor the active > promotion of any particular doctrine, but rather mere tact, > silence, or at worst obfuscation where ones teaching > might seem to threaten the unsophisticated but decent > opinions of the people who make up the bulk of society. This > alleged predilection for the noble lie is something Strauss > is supposed to have inherited from Plato, and, in general, > Strauss regarded his political philosophy as Platonic in > character. Here another controversial aspect of Strausss > work comes into play, namely his idiosyncratic > interpretations of many of the great thinkers of the past. > Plato is often regarded as having proposed, at least as an > instructive ideal, a utopian society that can only be > described as totalitarian, but, as Smith tells us, Strauss > considered this merely an ironic warning against the dangers of utopi > an thinking. Strauss also showed little interest in Platos > famous Theory of Forms, the idea that there are timeless > and objective essences of things, existing in a realm apart > from either the human mind or the material world, and > knowledge of which is the goal of philosophical inquiry. This > view is typically regarded as the paradigm of a philosophy > committed to the existence of objective truth, and it has had > an enormous impact on the history of Western thought, and > indeed Western civilization in general. Yet Strauss was > dismissive of it, regarding it as a fantastic and utterly > incredible doctrine. Platos real concern, in Strausss > view, was similar to his own: not contemplation of the Forms > but rather the activity of contemplation itself, the asking > of the permanent questions rather than the answering of them. > Strausss glib dismissal of the Forms was oddly reminiscent > of the scientism or positivism whose stranglehold over modern > intellectual life he was wont to criticize. > Furthermore, Strausss insistence that the genuine > philosopher must be skeptical about the possibility of > finding solutions to philosophical problems risks providing > aid and comfort to the relativism he believed posed the > greatest threat to modern liberal democracies. To be sure, to > say that we cannot discover objective answers doesnt entail > that they dont exist, but this is a distinction that is > bound to be lost on the average non-philosopher, for whom the > view that no answers are possible sounds little different > from the view that every answer is as good as every other. > These are issues Smith would have done well to explore. Smith > is also unconvincing, and occasionally unfair, when > attempting to divorce Strausss thought from recent > neoconservative policy. He tells us that he does not regard > Strauss as a conservative (neo- or otherwise) but rather as a > friend of liberal democracy as if being conservative (neo- > or otherwise) excluded being in favor of liberal democracy, and > indeed, as if neoconservatives were not frequently accused > of being too eager to spread liberal democracy around the > globe! He informs us that Strauss was a staunch Zionist, > resisted internationalism of the sort enshrined in the U.N., > and was critical of liberalisms lack of self-confidence in > the face of Soviet Communism. Smith even finds echoes of this > failure of self-confidence in the self-doubt, if not > self-contempt evinced by many liberal intellectuals in > response to the rise of Islamism. Yet after all this, he > peremptorily asserts that Strausss writings imply a critique > of the war in Iraq. Smiths justification for this claim is > that Strauss would have been skeptical of the utopianism > inherent in pro-war rhetoric about bringing an end to evil; > for evil, Strauss would have insisted, cannot be entirely > eliminated in this life. But surely such political > boilerplate must be distinguished from actual policy. To my > knowledge, the Bush administration hasnt proposed an invasio > n of Hell. And its willingness to ally the United States with > the likes of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia surely proves that the > idealism, however heartfelt, has indeed been tempered by an > understanding of geopolitical reality. One would think a > student of Strauss, of all people, would know how to read > between the lines, and understand that stirring rhetoric is > part of the job description of the statesman. Mr. Fesers > most recent book is The Philosophy of Mind: A Short Introduction. > > This email was received from the INTERNET and scanned by the > Government Secure Intranet Anti-Virus service supplied by > Cable&Wireless in partnership with MessageLabs. (CCTM > Certificate Number 2006/04/0007.) In case of problems, please > call your organisations IT Helpdesk. > Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, > monitored and/or recorded for legal purposes. > > This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the > attention of the addressee(s). 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