Leo Strauss & The Art of Writing
Consider the relationship of politics and philosophy through a close reading Leo Strauss’s Persecution and the Art of Writing.
In this opening week, led by Program Dean Peter Berkowitz, we introduce the study of politics by exploring the work of Leo Strauss, one of the twentieth century’s most consequential teachers and scholars of political philosophy. Students will read Strauss’ famous essay, “What Is Political Philosophy?” and excerpts from the autobiographical preface to the English language translation of his first book, Spinoza’s Critique of Religion. We will examine key topics in his work including the quarrel between classical and modern political philosophy; the critique of social science positivism, historicism, moral relativism, and Heideggerian existentialism; the conflict between reason and revelation; and the defense of liberal democracy.
Image: Michel Corneille, Apasie au milieu des philosophes de la Grèce, 1670s
Peter Berkowitz on Liberal Education and Our Illiberal Universities
Faculty
Peter Berkowitz
Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He studies and writes about, among other things, constitutional government, conservatism and progressivism in America, liberal education, national security and law, and Middle East politics.
Peter Berkowitz
Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He studies and writes about, among other things, constitutional government, conservatism and progressivism in America, liberal education, national security and law, and Middle East politics.
He is the author of Constitutional Conservatism: Liberty, Self-Government, and Political Moderation (Hoover Institution Press, 2013); Israel and the Struggle over the International Laws of War (Hoover Institution Press, 2012); Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism (Princeton University Press, 1999); and Nietzsche: The Ethics of an Immoralist (Harvard University Press, 1995).
He is the editor of seven collections of essays on political ideas and institutions published by the Hoover Institution: Renewing the American Constitutional Tradition (2014); Future Challenges in National Security and Law (2010); The Future of American Intelligence (2005); Terrorism
He taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at George Mason University School of Law from 1999 to 2006, and political philosophy in the department of government at Harvard University from 1990 to 1999. He holds a J.D. and a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University, an M.A. in philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a B.A. in English literature from Swarthmore College.
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Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session
Introduction
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
- What does Jerusalem stand for (pp. 9–10), and how is it related to the problem of political philosophy?
- What is political philosophy, and how does it differ from political theory, political theology, and political science?
- What is positivism, and what are its limitations?
- What is historicism, and why is it “the serious antagonist of political philosophy” (p. 26)?
Classical Political Philosophy
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
- What are the distinguishing characteristics of classical political philosophy?
- What are the “two very common objections” (p. 36) to classical political philosophy, and how might classical political philosophy reply?
Modern Political Philosophy
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
- What are the distinguishing characteristics of modern political philosophy?
- What is the first wave of modernity?
- What is the second wave of modernity?
- What is the third wave of modernity?
The Theologico-Political Predicament
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
- What is the theologico-political predicament?
- What about Weimar made liberal democracy in Weimar weak? What about liberal democracy made liberal democracy in Weimar weak?
- How was Zionism a response to the weakness of liberal democracy in Weimar? What are the limits of the Zionist response?
- How was a return to Judaism a response to the weakness of liberal democracy in Weimar? What are limits of the return-to-Judaism response?
Heidegger and Nietzsche’s Challenge
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
- What is Heidegger’s challenge?
- What is Nietzsche’s challenge?
- What are the practical and theoretical implications of the challenges of Heidegger and Nietzsche?
- What are the implications of Nietzsche’s failure “to escape from the evidence of the Biblical understanding of man” (pp. 12–13, and 30–31)?
