Leo Strauss Discussion
The New School's Wolfson Center is sponsoring a discussion between Werner J. Dannhauser and William Shapiro on the legacy of controversial political philosopher Leo Srauss. The discussion will be held on October 18th, from 4:00-5:30pm, at 66 West 12th Street, Room 510. This will be a rare opportunity to learn about an influential and often misrepresented educator, scholar, and (for a brief time)New School faculty member.
For opposing views and additional background, see this site devoted to the work of Leo Strauss, and this story on the AlterNet site.
Here's additional material provided by the Wolfson Center:
In reviewing two recent books on Strauss that have just been published, Damon Linker writes: "Of the many émigré scholars to leave a mark on American intellectual life in the latter half of the 20th century, none has sparked greater controversy than Leo Strauss...he faced the general charge of having used a series of academic appointments at such institutions as The New School for Social Research and the University of Chicago to spread elitist and anti-democratic ideas throughout the nation." Strauss was called the "intellectual godfather to the Contract with America" and "the philosophical founder of neo-conservatism and the primary inspiration behind the Bush administration’s goal of democratizing the Middle East through military force" {see Damon Linker’s review in The New Republic, July 31).
Strauss has, of course, defenders in addition to critics. Few, in our time, have written so evocatively of the relationship between politics and philosophy, or been so compelling a critic of liberalism. In this public conversation, I have asked my two colleagues to explicate the Strauss legend.
Werner J. Dannhauser has taught political philosophy at both the University of Chicago and Cornell University and considers himself to be a student of Leo Strauss. A close friend of another Strauss student, Allan Bloom, he was at the University of Chicago during the Strauss years of residence. He has written on Goethe, Nietzsche and Strauss. William Shapiro teaches political theory at Oxford College, Emory University and writes on the links between Nietzsche and Weber. He was a student of Dannhauser’s and did his doctoral dissertation under him at Cornell at a time when the latter had a fair number of Straussians on the faculty and a fair number of students of Straussians in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Over the years, Dannhauser and Shapiro have discussed the differences between being a Straussian and being a student of Strauss. The very posing of the issue this way is rather Straussian - as well it should be. But even more important, for me, is the opportunity to learn more about Strauss, the man and the legacy, through the interchange of Dannhauser and Shapiro.
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