Episode #135 - Leo Strauss - Ancients vs. Moderns
Leo Strauss - Ancients vs. Moderns
In this episode on Leo Strauss, the discussion centers on how early 20th-century thinkers—amid growing skepticism toward Enlightenment rationality—sought not to reject reason, but to question its dominance and limitations. Strauss, embracing rational analysis, critiques modernity for its value-neutral stance, arguing that modern rationality, though effective in science and technology, fails to provide the moral and political guidance societies need. He contrasts the modern focus on the real with the ancient Greek pursuit of the ideal, where rationality aimed at virtue and purpose rather than just utility. Strauss warns that without shared values, modern political systems inevitably drift toward relativism, nihilism, and authoritarianism. His solution is to return to ancient philosophical traditions that embedded reason within a framework of meaning and ideals. For Strauss, philosophy is not an academic discipline but a way of life—a never-ending pursuit of wisdom that resists easy solutions and embraces the complexity of existence.
Further Reading:
Liberalism Ancient and Modern by Leo Strauss (1968)
The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss by Leo Strauss, edited by Thomas L. Pangle (1989)
Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy by Thomas L. Pangle (2006)
See the full transcript here.
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