20th century
A01=Laurence Lampert
analysis
ancient
audience
Author_Laurence Lampert
Category=QDHR
close reading
communication
contemporary
debate
enlightenment
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eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
exotericism
halevi
historical
history
influences
influential
modern
natural world
nietzsche
philosopher
philosophical
philosophy
plato
political
politics
radical
reader
rhetoric
rhetorical
science
scientific
social studies
truth
writer
Product details
- ISBN 9780226039480
- Weight: 624g
- Dimensions: 16 x 24mm
- Publication Date: 14 Aug 2013
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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In The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss, Laurence Lampert takes on the crucial task of separating what is truly important in the work of Leo Strauss from the ephemeral politics associated with his school. Lampert focuses on exotericism - the use of artful rhetoric to simultaneously communicate a socially responsible message to the public at large and a more radical message of philosophic truth to a smaller, more intellectually fit audience. Largely forgotten after the Enlightenment, exotericism, he shows, deeply informed Strauss both as a reader and as a philosopher. Examining Strauss' most important books and essays through this exoteric lens, Lampert reevaluates not only Strauss but the philosophers - from Plato to Homer to Halevi to Nietzsche - with whom Strauss most deeply engaged. Ultimately he shows that Strauss' famous distinction between ancient and modern thinkers is primarily rhetorical, one of the great examples of Strauss' own exoteric craft.
Celebrating Strauss' achievements but recognizing one main shortcoming - a lack of proper grounding in modern science, which Nietzsche would remedy - Lampert illuminates Strauss as having even greater philosophic importance than generally realized.
Laurence Lampert is professor emeritus of philosophy at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He is the author of several books, most recently How Philosophy Became Socratic, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
