Straussophobia

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Straussophobia

Author : Peter Minowitz
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 0739140191
Total Pages : 692 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis Straussophobia by : Peter Minowitz

Download or read book Straussophobia written by Peter Minowitz and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2009-08-15 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leo Strauss and his students have long been accused of mendacity, elitism, and militarism, but the Iraq War has prompted unprecedented levels of caustic and inaccurate denunciations. Inappropriate criticisms have issued from artists (Tim Robbins), politicians (Ron Paul), journalists (Joe Klein), and even highly lauded scholars such as Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Gordon Wood, Douglas Massey, Stephen Holmes, Anne Norton, Shadia Drury, Sheldon Wolin, John Pocock, John Yolton, Nicholas Xenos, and Brian Leiter. In Straussophobia, Peter Minowitz provides a methodical and detailed critique of the major offenders, especially of Drury, who maintains that Strauss established a 'covert tyranny' that would keep the Western world 'mired in perpetual war.' In replying to such charges_and to various authors who belittle Strauss's contributions as a scholar_Minowitz highlights the imaginative yet meticulous manner in which Strauss interpreted Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Farabi, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Carl Schmitt. Straussophobia also provides both a comprehensive assessment of Strauss's 1933 letter that commended 'fascist, authoritarian, and imperial' principles, and a compelling account of Strauss's influence, or lack of influence, on neoconservative promoters of the Iraq War (e.g., Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and Lewis Libby). The book likewise breaks new ground in employing diversity discourse to explain and combat the bigotry and buffoonery that pervade attacks against Strauss and Straussians_and in drawing on Strauss to illuminate the distortions that mar some widely-used arguments for affirmative action.

Straussophobia

Author : Peter Minowitz
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 350 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Straussophobia by : Peter Minowitz

Download or read book Straussophobia written by Peter Minowitz and published by . This book was released on 2009-08-15 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Straussophobia is a detailed, diversity-oriented defense of Leo Strauss and his followers against the false and often malicious charges that have been leveled by Shadia Drury and other critics, including Tim Robbins, Anne Norton, Earl Shorris, and Nicholas Xenos. Devoting particular attention to Strauss's interpretations of Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, Farabi, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Carl Schmitt, the book also assesses the responsibility of Straussians—-genuine and spurious—-for the Iraq War.

Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy

Author : Michael P. Zuckert
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022613587X
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (261 download)

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Book Synopsis Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy by : Michael P. Zuckert

Download or read book Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy written by Michael P. Zuckert and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-06-30 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This critical study of the influential political theorist dispels popular myths and reveals the inner logic of his varied and notoriously complex writings. Political theorist Leo Strauss was unexpectedly thrust into the media spotlight for his alleged influence on neoconservative politics. With The Truth about Leo Strauss, Michael and Catherine Zuckert challenged the many claims and speculations about this complex thinker. Now, with Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy, they offer a more comprehensive interpretation of Strauss’s thought, using the many manifestations of the “problem of political philosophy” as their touchstone. Strauss, they argue, sought to restore political philosophy to its original Socratic form. This is demonstrated through his critique of positivism and historicism, two intellectual currents that undermined his Socratic project. The authors also explore Strauss’s interpretation of both ancient and modern political philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, and Locke. Finally, they examine Strauss’s thought in the context of the twentieth century, when his chief interlocutors were Schmitt, Husserl, Heidegger, and Nietzsche. Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy is the most in-depth treatment of this often misunderstood thinker, examining his ideas across his long career. It reveals Strauss’s overall intellectual project: to decode how ancient and modern theory attempted to solve the problem of political philosophy. And it shows why Strauss considered the ancient solution both philosophically and politically superior.

Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America

Author : Paul E. Gottfried
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139505483
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (395 download)

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Book Synopsis Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America by : Paul E. Gottfried

Download or read book Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America written by Paul E. Gottfried and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-12-29 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers an original interpretation of the achievement of Leo Strauss, stressing how his ideas and followers reshaped the American conservative movement. The conservative movement that reached out to Strauss and his legacy was extremely fluid and lacked a self-confident leadership. Conservative activists and journalists felt a desperate need for academic acceptability, which they thought Strauss and his disciples would furnish. They also became deeply concerned with the problem of 'value relativism', which self-described conservatives thought Strauss had effectively addressed. But until recently, neither Strauss nor his disciples have considered themselves to be 'conservatives'. Contrary to another misconception, Straussians have never wished to convert Americans to ancient political ideals and practices, except in a very selective rhetorical fashion. Strauss and his disciples have been avid champions of American modernity, and 'timeless' values as interpreted by Strauss and his followers often look starkly contemporary.

The German Stranger

Author : William H. F. Altman
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 0739177699
Total Pages : 620 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis The German Stranger by : William H. F. Altman

Download or read book The German Stranger written by William H. F. Altman and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2012-06-07 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leo Strauss's connection with Martin Heidegger and Carl Schmitt suggests a troubling proximity to National Socialism but a serious critique of Strauss must begin with F. H. Jacobi. While writing his dissertation on this apparently Christian opponent of the Enlightenment, Strauss discovered the tactical principles that would characterize his lifework: writing between the lines, a faith-based critique of rationalism, the deliberate secularization of religious language for irreligious purposes, and an "all or nothing" antagonism to middling solutions. Especially the latter is distinctive of his Zionist writings in the 1920s where Strauss engaged in an ongoing polemic against Cultural Zionism, attacking it first from an orthodox, and then from an atheist's perspective. In his last Zionist article (1929), Strauss mentions "the Machiavellian Zionism of a Nordau that would not fear to use the traditional hope for a Messiah as dynamite." By the time of his "change of orientation," National Socialism was being led by a nihilistic "Messiah" while Strauss had already radicalized Schmitt's "political theology" and Heidegger's deconstruction of the ontological Tradition. Central to Strauss's advance beyond the smartest Nazis is his "Second Cave" in which he claimed modern thought is imprisoned: only by escaping Revelation can we recover "natural ignorance." By using pseudo-Platonic imagery to illustrate what anti-Semites called "Jewification," Strauss attempted to annihilate the common ground, celebrated by Hermann Cohen, between Judaism and Platonism. Unlike those who attacked Plato for devaluing nature at the expense of the transcendent Idea, the émigré Strauss effectively employed a new "Plato" who was no more a Platonist than Nietzsche or Heidegger had been. Central to Strauss's "Platonic political philosophy" is the mysterious protagonist of Plato's Laws whom Strauss accurately recognized as the kind of Socrates whose fear of death would have caused him to flee the hemlock. Any reader who recognizes the unbridgeable gap between the real Socrates and Plato’s Athenian Stranger will understand why “the German Stranger” is the principal theoretician of an atheistic re-enactment of religion, of which genus National Socialism is an ultra-modern species.

The Legacy of Leo Strauss

Author : Tony Burns
Publisher : Andrews UK Limited
ISBN 13 : 1845406613
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (454 download)

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Book Synopsis The Legacy of Leo Strauss by : Tony Burns

Download or read book The Legacy of Leo Strauss written by Tony Burns and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2016-12-22 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leo Strauss was a political philosopher who died in 1973 but came to came to prominent attention in the United States and also Britain around the beginning of the War in Iraq. Charges began emerging that architects of the war such as Paul Wolfowitz and large numbers of staff in the US State and Defense Departments had studied with, or been influenced by, the academic work of Strauss and his followers. A vague, but powerful, idea was generated in the popular press that a group known as the Straussians had been instrumental in the long-range strategic planning of American foreign policy, both to advance American interests and to encourage democratic revolutions outside the West. This volume of essays opens up the topic of Leo Strauss and the Straussians to those outside the relatively narrow circles who have been concerned with him and his followers up to now.

Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy

Author : Grant Havers
Publisher : Northern Illinois University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501757229
Total Pages : 259 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy by : Grant Havers

Download or read book Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy written by Grant Havers and published by Northern Illinois University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-15 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy critically interprets Strauss's political philosophy from a conservative perspective. Most mainstream readers of Strauss have either condemned him from the Left as an extreme right-wing opponent of liberal democracy or celebrated him from the Right as a traditional defender of Western civilization. Rejecting both portrayals, Grant Havers shifts the debate beyond the conventional parameters stating that Strauss was neither a man of the Far Right nor a conservative but. in fact a secular Cold War liberal. In Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy Havers contends that the most troubling implication of Straussianism is that it provides an ideological rationale for the aggressive spread of democratic values on a global basis while ignoring the preconditions that make these values possible. Concepts such as the rule of law, constitutional government, Christian morality, and the separation of church and state are not easily transplanted beyond the historic confines of Anglo-American civilization, as recent wars to spread democracy have demonstrated.

Leo Strauss Between Weimar and America

Author : Adi Armon
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030243893
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis Leo Strauss Between Weimar and America by : Adi Armon

Download or read book Leo Strauss Between Weimar and America written by Adi Armon and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-09-25 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first book-length examination of the impact Leo Strauss’ immigration to the United States had on this thinking. Adi Armon weaves together a close reading of unpublished seminars Strauss taught at the University of Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s with an interpretation of his later works, all of which were of course written against the backdrop of the Cold War. First, the book describes the intellectual environment that shaped the young Strauss’ worldview in the Weimar Republic, tracing those aspects of his thought that changed and others that remained consistent up until his immigration to America. Armon then goes on to explore the centrality of Karl Marx to Strauss’s intellectual biography. By analyzing an unpublished seminar Strauss taught with Joseph Cropsey at the University of Chicago in 1960, Armon shows how Strauss’ fragmentary, partial engagement with Marx in writing obscured the important role that Marxism actually played as an intellectual challenge to his later political thinking. Finally, the book explores the manifestations of Straussian doctrine in postwar America through reading Strauss’ The City and Man (1964) as a representative of his political teaching.

Leo Strauss and the Recovery of "Natural Philosophizing"

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Author : Alberto Ghibellini
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438498624
Total Pages : 330 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

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Book Synopsis Leo Strauss and the Recovery of "Natural Philosophizing" by : Alberto Ghibellini

Download or read book Leo Strauss and the Recovery of "Natural Philosophizing" written by Alberto Ghibellini and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2024-07-01 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among the political philosophers of the twentieth century, Leo Strauss is usually singled out for his attempt to revitalize the ancient approach to counter the relativism of both historicism and positivism. It is less commonly underscored, however, that the cornerstone of this attempt is the recovery of the question of "nature," which he regarded as inseparable from genuine philosophy since its inception in ancient Greece. Leo Strauss and the Recovery of "Natural Philosophizing" addresses such a theme, focusing on the theoretical presuppositions that Strauss found at the basis of the acquired inability to raise the question of nature. Prominent among these is the encounter between philosophy and revelation, which, due to their conceptual incompatibility, leads to a condition Strauss metaphorically described as a "second, 'unnatural' cave" characterized by insurmountable "prejudices" rather than "appearance and opinion." These, however, are the starting point of genuine philosophy in the Platonic "first, 'natural' cave," which has to be regained, by way of historical deconstruction of the presuppositions of the second cave, if the "natural philosophizing" embodied by Socratic dialectics is to be reactivated.

Leo Strauss and the Invasion of Iraq

Author : Aggie Hirst
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 113504368X
Total Pages : 246 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis Leo Strauss and the Invasion of Iraq by : Aggie Hirst

Download or read book Leo Strauss and the Invasion of Iraq written by Aggie Hirst and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-26 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The political philosophy of Leo Strauss has been the subject of significant scholarly and media attention in recent years, particularly in the context of the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Allegations that a group of Strauss-inspired Neo-conservatives intervened in the foreign policy establishment of the US in order to realise the policy of 'regime change' began to emerge soon after the invasion, and unanswered questions remain a decade later. This book addresses these claims, focusing specifically on a group of Straussians active in the spheres of intelligence production, think tanks, and the media during the period from the 9/11 attacks to the invasion in 2003. Such an examination is intended not simply to identify and expose their activities promoting the policy of 'regime change' in Iraq during this period, but also to challenge them and the Straussian logics underpinning them. Utilising the thought of Jacques Derrida, the book enacts a deconstructive challenge to Strauss’ political philosophy which unsettles the fundamental assumptions it relies upon. In doing so, it exposes the securitising imperative underpinning Straussian thought and the Straussian interventions. It thereby simultaneously addresses crucial issues in political theory and contemporary foreign policy studies, while asserting that these dimensions of international politics can and should be dealt with in conjunction with each other. This book would be of interest to students and scholars of Global Politics, Political Theory, Security Studies and US Foreign Policy, and those outside the academy interested in Neo-conservatism and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Leo Strauss

Author : Robert Howse
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1316062066
Total Pages : 201 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (16 download)

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Book Synopsis Leo Strauss by : Robert Howse

Download or read book Leo Strauss written by Robert Howse and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-09-08 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leo Strauss is known to many people as a thinker of the right, who inspired hawkish views on national security and perhaps advocated war without limits. Moving beyond gossip and innuendo about Strauss's followers and the Bush administration, this book provides the first comprehensive analysis of Strauss's writings on political violence, considering also what he taught in the classroom on this subject. In stark contrast to popular perception, Strauss emerges as a man of peace, favorably disposed to international law and skeptical of imperialism - a critic of radical ideologies who warns of the dangers to free thought and civil society when intellectuals ally themselves with movements that advocate violence. Robert Howse provides new readings of Strauss's confrontation with fascist/Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt, his debate with Alexandre Kojève about philosophy and tyranny, and his works on Machiavelli and Thucydides and examines Strauss's lectures on Kant's Perpetual Peace and Grotius's Rights of War and Peace.

Recovering Hegel from the Critique of Leo Strauss

Author : Sara MacDonald
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 0739183982
Total Pages : 165 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis Recovering Hegel from the Critique of Leo Strauss by : Sara MacDonald

Download or read book Recovering Hegel from the Critique of Leo Strauss written by Sara MacDonald and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-11-26 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recovering Hegel from the Critique of Leo Srauss offers a defense of modernity against the critique of the influential mid-twentieth century political philosopher, Leo Strauss. Strauss, whose influence on contemporary conservative political theory is well documented, discovered the ground of much of what he found wanting in contemporary political and social life to lie in the philosophy of the 19th century German philosopher, G. W. F. Hegel. Specifically, Strauss accused Hegel of being the greatest exponent of historicism and thus the relativism that afflicts modern thought. Ultimately, according to Strauss, this has led to the nihilism and general mediocrity that characterizes modern western culture. In this book, Sara MacDonald and Barry Craig examine Strauss’s reading of Hegel and argue that in fact it is a mis-reading. Contrary to Strauss’s interpretation, this book holds that Hegel was no relativist and in fact sought to show the compatibility of objective, eternal truth with modern human subjectivity. At the same time, it illustrates the way in which Hegel’s thought prepared the ground for enlightened modern liberal democracies and also remains relevant to current social and political conversations.

Leo Strauss and Islamic Political Thought

Author : Rasoul Namazi
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1009098705
Total Pages : 291 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Leo Strauss and Islamic Political Thought by : Rasoul Namazi

Download or read book Leo Strauss and Islamic Political Thought written by Rasoul Namazi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-07-07 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive discussion of Leo Strauss's writings on Islamic political thought, and his reflections on religion, philosophy, and politics in their relationship with wisdom, persecution, divine law, and unbelief in the writings of Muslim thinkers, including Alfarabi and Averroes and in the famous Arabic collection, the Arabian Nights.

Leo Strauss and Contemporary Thought

Author : Jeffrey A. Bernstein
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438483961
Total Pages : 431 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

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Book Synopsis Leo Strauss and Contemporary Thought by : Jeffrey A. Bernstein

Download or read book Leo Strauss and Contemporary Thought written by Jeffrey A. Bernstein and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leo Strauss's readings of historical figures in the philosophical tradition have been justly well explored; however, his relation to contemporary thinkers has not enjoyed the same coverage. In Leo Strauss and Contemporary Thought, an international group of scholars examines the possible conversations between Strauss and figures such as Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Charles Taylor, and Hans Blumenberg. The contributors examine topics including religious liberty, the political function of comedy, law, and the relation between the Ancients and the Moderns, and bring Strauss into many new and original discussions that will be of use to those interested in the thought of Strauss, the history of philosophy and political theory, and contemporary continental thought.

The Beijing Lectures: Strauss, Plato, Nietzsche

Author : Laurence Lampert
Publisher : Paul Dry Books
ISBN 13 : 1589881907
Total Pages : 205 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (898 download)

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Book Synopsis The Beijing Lectures: Strauss, Plato, Nietzsche by : Laurence Lampert

Download or read book The Beijing Lectures: Strauss, Plato, Nietzsche written by Laurence Lampert and published by Paul Dry Books. This book was released on 2024-07-02 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “In this brilliant analysis of the coming to be of Strauss, Plato, and Nietzsche as philosophers and poets, Laurence Lampert reaches new heights and plumbs new depths. An extraordinarily rich and insightful book, thoughtful and beautiful in its execution. A masterful performance by a thinker and author at the height of his power.”—Michael Allen Gillespie, author of Nietzsche’s Final Teaching Six essays from a well-known Nietzsche scholar on Strauss, Plato, Nietzsche, and the history of western philosophy In The Beijing Lectures: Strauss, Plato, Nietzsche, Laurence Lampert presents what he calls the new history of philosophy made possible by Friedrich Nietzsche. This “new” history takes seriously Nietzsche’s claim that “the greatest thoughts are the greatest events.” To put it even more assertively that “genuine philosophers are commanders and legislators.” Beginning with Leo Strauss and how his recovery of the philosophers’ art of writing can change our way of viewing the history of philosophy, Lampert then focuses on six Platonic dialogues—Protagoras, Charmides, Republic, Phaedo, Parmenides, and Symposium. These, he believes, mark a turning point in Western history and set the pattern for the whole Western philosophic tradition. In the third and final section, Lampert considers Nietzsche in order to show how he revolutionized our understanding of the world, and in particular why it is appropriate to view him as “the first comprehensive ecological philosopher.”

Leo Strauss

Author : Neil G. Robertson
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1509516344
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (95 download)

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Book Synopsis Leo Strauss by : Neil G. Robertson

Download or read book Leo Strauss written by Neil G. Robertson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-05-28 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leo Strauss’s lifelong intellectual mission was to recover ‘classical rationalism’, a pursuit that has made him a controversial figure to this day. While his critics see him as responsible for a troubling anti-democratic strain in modern politics, others argue that his thought is in fact the best defence of responsible democracy. Neil Robertson’s new introduction to Strauss aims to transcend these divides and present a non-partisan account of his thought. He shows how Strauss’ intellectual formation in Weimar Germany and flight from Nazism led him to develop a critique of modernity that tended to support a conservative politics, while embracing a radical sense of what philosophy is and can be. He examines the way in which Strauss built upon the thought of Nietzsche and Heidegger in order to show how their 'nihilism' led not to a standpoint beyond western rationality, but to a recovery of its roots. This skillful reconstruction of the coherence and unity of Strauss’ thought is the essential guide for anyone wishing to fully grasp the contribution of one of the most contentious and intriguing figures in 20th century intellectual history.

Democratic Vanguardism

Author : Michael Harland
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 0739179705
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis Democratic Vanguardism by : Michael Harland

Download or read book Democratic Vanguardism written by Michael Harland and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-10-24 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, transformed the way in which Americans and their leaders viewed the world. The tragic events of that day helped give rise to a foreign policy strategy commonly referred to as the “Bush Doctrine.” At the heart of this doctrine lie a series of claims about the need to encourage liberal democracy as the antidote to jihadist terrorism. President George W. Bush proclaimed in a variety of addresses that democracy now represented the “single surviving model” of political life to which all people aspired. In the course of making this argument, President Bush linked his policies to an overarching “teleology” of progress. This discourse suggested that the United States might use force to hasten the emergence of liberal norms and institutions in rogue states. With a sense of irony, some commentators soon referred to the Bush administration’s position as “Leninist” because of its determination to bring about the so-called “end of history” today. Yet, surprisingly, these critics had little more to add. This book assesses in greater depth the Bush administration’s claim to comprehend the purpose of historical progress. Developing a concept termed “democratic vanguardism,” this study investigates the idea of liberal modernity, the role of the United States as a force for democracy, and the implications of using military intervention in the service of idealistic ends. It examines disputes among political theorists, public intellectuals, and elected statesmen that help to enrich our understanding of the United States’ efforts under President Bush to bend history to its will.