Straussophobia (eBook)

Defending Leo Strauss and Straussians against Shadia Drury and Other Accusers

Peter Minowitz (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2009
346 Seiten
Lexington Books (Verlag)
978-0-7391-4019-2 (ISBN)

Infos

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.

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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.

Autor

Peter Minowitz is associate professor of political science at Santa Clara University and author of Profits, Priests, and Princes: Adam Smith's Emancipation of Economics from Politics and Religion.

Inhalt

Chapter 1 Introduction: Persecution and the Art of WrithingChapter 2 Chapter 1. All Hate Leo StraussChapter 3 Chapter 2. "Careless Scholarship and a Tendency to Quote out of Context": Early Drury on Strauss, Locke, and XenophonChapter 4 Chapter 3. The American Right, Pious Frauds, and Secret KingshipChapter 5 Chapter 4. "A Great Enemy of Democracy"? Strauss on Plato's Republic, Germany, and EmpireChapter 6 Chapter 5. "Mired in Perpetual War": Confrontations with Cyber-Age VilificationChapter 7 Chapter 6. "Untold Mischief" and "Enigmatic Works": Appreciating Strauss on Machiavelli and ModernityChapter 8 Chapter 7. From the Peloponnesus to Iraq-and Michigan

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.8.2009
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sonstiges ► Geschenkbücher
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
• ISBN-10: 0-7391-4019-1 / 0739140191
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7391-4019-2 / 9780739140192