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Francis Bacon's "Inquiry Touching Human Nature" is a study of
Francis Bacon's moral philosophy in its relation to the
enlightenment project he helped launch. Since Bacon is one of the
founders of technological modernity, the book presents a meditation
on the presuppositions and character of modern life. In its
distinctiveness, modern life is characterized by a rejection as
well as a reinterpretation of the classical and Christian
approaches to life and conceptions of virtue. Svetozar Minkov
follows closely Bacon's confrontation with the traditional views on
courage, moderation, justice, wisdom, love, and ways of dealing
with death and general adversity. Bacon had a comprehensive vision
of the human situation. He can help us think through the relation
between power and wisdom. And because he saw the costs or dangers
of modern life as clearly as he predicted, and helped bring about,
its advancements and boons, Bacon is a thinker who addresses
directly and deeply our own perplexities.
Enlightening Revolutions_a collection of outstanding essays by
highly prominent scholars_examines the different ways in which the
relation between politics and philosophy has been understood and
enacted over the ages. The volume sheds light on key theoretical
and historical issues: the intriguing position and historical
influence of medieval Jewish and Islamic rationalism; the advent of
modernity in the thought of Machiavelli and Hobbes; the prospects
for greatness in modernity as seen by Adam Smith, Jonathan Swift,
the Founding Fathers, and Alexis de Tocqueville; and the prospects
for philosophic excellence in modern times as seen by, among
others, Montesquieu and Leo Strauss, as well as through the eyes of
Plato and the Bible. The volume is dedicated to Ralph Lerner,
Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. It honors Lerner's
splendid teaching and scholarship over half a century, and
testifies in some measure to his enlightening, enlivening,
gracefully witty, and humanizing activity and example.
Enlightening Revolutions-a collection of outstanding essays by
highly prominent scholars-examines the different ways in which the
relation between politics and philosophy has been understood and
enacted over the ages. The volume sheds light on key theoretical
and historical issues: the intriguing position and historical
influence of medieval Jewish and Islamic rationalism; the advent of
modernity in the thought of Machiavelli and Hobbes; the prospects
for greatness in modernity as seen by Adam Smith, Jonathan Swift,
the Founding Fathers, and Alexis de Tocqueville; and the prospects
for philosophic excellence in modern times as seen by, among
others, Montesquieu and Leo Strauss, as well as through the eyes of
Plato and the Bible. The volume is dedicated to Ralph Lerner,
Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. It honors Lerner's
splendid teaching and scholarship over half a century, and
testifies in some measure to his enlightening, enlivening,
gracefully witty, and humanizing activity and example.
Any presentation of political philosophy in the 20th century is
radically incomplete without Leo Strauss. The appearance of this
collection is particularly important given the relentless but
shifting interest in his influence and thought in recent years. An
emphasis on what Strauss has directly published, the editors
Lenzner and Minkov assert, must retain primacy when establishing
his full range of importance. "Though Strauss scholars, to say
nothing of others, have reason to be grateful for the publication
in recent years of many of Strauss’s unpublished lectures and
essays as well as his correspondence with some of his leading
contemporaries, the publication of these materials has tended to
overshadow the serious study of those works upon which he sought to
establish his reputation and legacy." The most complete record of
Strauss includes his full books together with his other published
writings, and the intention of this volume is to present in one
collection everything Strauss chose to publish in English that has
not already appeared as a full length book. The material is
arranged chronologically so as to provide the most direct
connection to the author himself and avoid undue categorization by
the editors. "Among the highlights of these works published between
1937 and 1972 are striking formulations not to be found in his
books on the relationship between philosophy and society, which is
perhaps the most prominent theme in Strauss’s corpus taken as a
whole; rare “personal” statements that shed light on his
self-understanding as a philosopher; his first writing devoted
solely to a classical thinker ('The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste
of Xenophon'); his first piece devoted to Plato, 'On a New
Interpretation of Plato’s Political Philosophy', his most
searching engagement of Jean-Jacques Rousseau; his first treatment
of the thought of Niccolò Machiavelli and a wonderful, later
treatment of Machiavelli’s relation to ancient writers; and a
critical review of a book on Xenophon’s Hellenica which expands
Xenophon’s own work." This new compilation of Strauss's scattered
work is invaluable for those interested in the political
philosopher, to be sure. But it is also an important contribution
to the field in general as well as the history of philosophy.
Natural Right and History is widely recognized as Strauss's most
influential work. The six lectures, written while Strauss was at
the New School, and a full transcript of the 1949 Walgreen Lectures
show Strauss working toward the ideas he would present in fully
matured form in his landmark work. In them, he explores natural
right and the relationship between modern philosophers and the
thought of the ancient Greek philosophers, as well as the relation
of political philosophy to contemporary political science and to
major political and historical events, especially the Holocaust and
World War II. Previously unpublished in book form, Strauss's
lectures are presented here in a thematic order that mirrors
Natural Right and History and with interpretive essays by J. A.
Colen, Christopher Lynch, Svetozar Minkov, Daniel Tanguay, Nathan
Tarcov, and Michael Zuckert that establish their relation to the
work. Rounding out the book are copious annotations and notes to
facilitate further study.
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