Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life Leo Strauss’s Defense of the Philosophic Life Reading “What Is Political Philosophy?” edited by rafael major the university of chicago press chicago and london rafael major is the director of faculty development at the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History and teaches at Ursinus College. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2013 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2013. Printed in the United States of America 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5 isbn-13: 978-0-226-92420-5 (cloth) isbn-13: 978-0-226-92421-2 (paper) isbn-13: 978-0-226-92423-6 (e-book) isbn-10: 0-226-92420-3 (cloth) isbn-10: 0-226-92421-1 (paper) isbn-10: 0-226-92423-8 (e-book) Elements of the introduction and chapters 1, 3–4, and 6–8 in this volume appeared in Perspectives on Political Science 39, no. 2 (April–June 2010), published by Taylor and Francis Group. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Leo Strauss’s defense of the philosophic life : reading “What is political philosophy?” / edited by Rafael Major. pages ; cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-226-92420-5 (cloth : alkaline paper) isbn-10: 0-226-92420-3 (cloth : alkaline paper) isbn-13: 978-0-226-92421-2 (paperback : alkaline paper) isbn-10: 0-226-92421-1 (paperback : alkaline paper) [etc.] 1. Strauss, Leo. What is political philosophy? 2. Political science—Philosophy. I. Major, Rafael. jc251.s8l456 2013 320.01—dc23 2012020623 a This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). Contents introduction Thinking Through Strauss’s Legacy 1 Rafael Major chapter 1. Reading “What Is Political Philosophy?” 22 Nasser Behnegar chapter 2. “Political Philosophy and History” 43 Catherine Zuckert chapter 3. Leo Strauss’s “On Classical Political Philosophy” 65 Nathan Tarcov chapter 4. Philosophic Politics and Theology: Strauss’s “Restatement” 80 Christopher Nadon chapter 5. How Strauss Read Farabi’s Summary of Plato’s “Laws” 98 Daniel Tanguay chapter 6. Strauss on Maimonides’s Secretive Political Science 116 Joshua Parens chapter 7. Leo Strauss’s “On the Basis of Hobbes’s Political Philosophy” 137 Devin Stauffer chapter 8. Strauss on Locke and the Law of Nature 153 Michael Zuckert chapter 9. Fishing for Philosophers: Strauss’s “Restatement” on the Art of Writing 173 David Janssens chapter 10. “Kurt Riezler: 1882–1955” and the “Problem” of Political Philosophy 191 Susan Meld Shell List of Contributors 215 Index 219 introduction Thinking Through Strauss’s Legacy Rafael Major sine ira et studio — Tacitus, The History 1.1 The year 2009 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of What Is Political Philosophy? and Other Studies. The book is a collec- tion of previously published essays and selected book reviews composed in the 1940s and 1950s by an American political scientist, and its continued publication would defy explanation for most readers, if not for the reputa- tion and influence of its author: Leo Strauss. The teaching and thought of Strauss have been the subject of speculation and controversy since even before his death in 1973.1 But why would there be widespread controversy surrounding a scholar who focused mainly on interpretations of classi- cal and medieval political philosophy? The continuing interest in Strauss is sustained in part by the large number of active academics who were his contemporaries—if only as graduate students in the 1960s and early 1970s—but this does not explain why Strauss in particular is singled out from this period for so much praise and blame. His persistent notoriety among contemporary political scientists is puzzling. Before the enigmatic reputation of Leo Strauss can be addressed, however, readers must begin by attempting to understand his writings. The volume to follow is the first systematic textual study that seeks to understand a single work of Strauss on its own terms. What Is Political Philosophy? is perhaps the best introduction to the thought of Leo Strauss because it contains extended reflections on all the major themes of his life’s work. As the title indicates, the book as a whole is a bold attempt to describe a distinctive approach to the study of politics. For Strauss, the term “philosophy” in the expression “political philosophy” 2 rafael major indicates the “manner of treatment” of political phenomena (Strauss 1959, 10).2 The attempt to gain philosophical clarity about the “subject matter” of politics is not unique to our time, however, and this forces us to devote at least our initial attention to understanding the recorded history of political philosophy. Readers approaching Strauss for the first time will be struck by his repetitive concern for the literary character of philosophic texts. His focus on “the art of writing,” or an author’s “manner” or “mode of expression,” is sometimes so pronounced that it seems to be more im- portant than a particular author’s explicit teaching (e.g., 206, 265, 274, 285, 303). This attention to “how” an author expresses an argument, alongside the usual concern for “what” is being argued, can be peculiar. Consider- ations of this type are made every day by concerned citizens discussing the discrepancy between the speeches and actions of living politicians, for example, but it is unusual to speak this way about written texts. Strauss’s procedure is made even more unusual when it leads to novel conclusions about works whose meaning has been authoritatively established and an- thologized through centuries of respected scholarship. This is exactly how Strauss does proceed, however, and he frequently writes with confidence on the difference between an author’s teaching or his purpose versus the “roots” of his thought (290).3 In order to justify this approach, he addresses the historical and philosophical obstacles that have prevented others from appreciating the decisively literary character of older texts (chaps. 1–2). He goes to great lengths to reinterpret the ancient history of political thought (chaps. 3–4) and purports to demonstrate how that thought was deliberately adapted (chaps. 5–6) or abandoned (chaps. 7–8) in a series of self-conscious and epoch-making choices of later writers (e.g., 272, 288). All of this is complicated by the claim that political philosophers in very different epochs share a common and urgent concern with perennial hu- man longings and demands.4 This combination of unconventional consid- erations is what gives his analysis of the history of political philosophy its unique flavor and the label “Straussian.” The introductory character of What Is Political Philosophy? is not the entire story, however, as several passages appear to go beyond historical analysis. Just beneath the surface, so to speak, there is a kind of “Socratic method” that is outwardly preoccupied with sharpening issues and honing questions but that is simultaneously teaching. This didactic character of the book must also be addressed, because close attention to the collected commentaries draws readers to ponder Strauss’s personal view. His his- torical efforts to recover the thought of the past appear to be riddled with introduction 3 subtle assertion. These commentaries—and book reviews—draw readers to attempt the obvious: to read Strauss in the meticulous way he read oth- ers. After introducing several issues surrounding the philosophical treat- ment of political life, for example, he approaches the same issues from a different angle: From this point of view the adjective “political” in the expression “political philosophy” designates not so much a subject matter as a manner of treatment; from this point of view, I say, “political philosophy” means primarily not the philosophic treatment of politics, but the political, or popular, treatment of phi- losophy, or the political introduction to philosophy. (93–94) If we take him at his word, the introductory question “what is political philosophy?” is also an introduction to the life of philosophy. The initial attempt to recover the history of political philosophy is somehow trans- formed into the question of the possibility of philosophy tout court. While attempting to define “political philosophy” it becomes more and more ur- gent to assess what we mean—and what we hope to gain—by combining the two terms. From this “point of view,” the book What Is Political Philos- ophy? is nothing less than an articulation and defense of Strauss’s overall philosophic approach.5 Precisely because the book has this foundational or argumentative character, the attempt to understand it requires a careful reading of each of its chapters on its own terms. All of the scholars in this volume were chosen, not for any particular view of Strauss’s achievement and influence, but because of their expertise in the subject matter of their assigned section. Each contributor interprets Strauss’s contribution to a specific aspect of the history of political philosophy, but the combined at- tempt to deal with What Is Political Philosophy? as a whole will also offer an assessment of Leo Strauss as a thinker in his own right. Understanding his effort to recover the history of political philosophy requires that we consider whether he was a philosophic thinker himself. The foregoing would be a sufficient introduction to this volume, but approaching What Is Political Philosophy? on its own terms is complicated by the character of Strauss’s reputation. The persistent scholarly interest in his writings is shadowed and partly fueled by a swirl of controversy surrounding the man himself. New readers almost always approach his works with premade conclusions. This is as true for those who have been led to believe that Strauss has a great deal to teach them as for those who have been warned of his unorthodox scholarship and zealous following.