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Revelation and Reason in Leo Strauss and His Critical Study of Niccolò Machiavelli

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Revelation and Reason in Leo Strauss and His Critical Study of Niccolò Machiavelli Discourses on Strauss Revelation and Reason in Leo Strauss and his Critical Study of Niccolò Machiavelli Kim Sorensen Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Politics University of Adelaide July 2002 All the hopes that we entertain in the midst of the confusions and dangers of the present are founded positively or negatively, directly or indirectly on the experiences of the past. Of these experiences the broadest and deepest, as far as we Western men are concemed, are indicated by the names of the two cities Jerusalem and Athens. Western man became what he is and is what he is through the corning together of biblical faith and Greek thought, In order to understand ourselves and to illuminate our trackless way into the future, we must understand Jerusalem and Athens. Leo Strauss, "Jerusalem and Athens" . the clear grasp of a fundamental question requires understanding of the nature of the subject matter with which the question is concemed. Genuine knowleclge of a fundamental question, thorough understanding of it, is better than blindness to it, or indifference to it, be that indifference or blindness accompanied by knowleclge of the answers to a vast number of peripheral or ephemeral questions or not. Leo Strauss, "What Is Political Philosophy?" Table of Contents Table of Contents I Abstract iv Statement v Acknowledgments vi Abbreviations used in footnotes vii Introduction: Leo Strauss on the Permanent Problems and the Predicaments of Modernity 1 i. Introduction ii. Strauss and his critics iii. The critique of modernity iv. History and philosophy v. Studying Strauss 'between the lines' vi. Re-reading Strauss PART OI\E Approaching Leo Strauss Chapter One: Leo Strauss's Idea of History JJaa i. Introduction ii. Historicism on the meaning of history iii. Turning to history iv. Conclusion Chapter Two: Revelation and Reason in Leo Strauss 69 i. Introduction ii. Defining revelation and reason Faith and belief vs. biblical criticism Theology in the Bible and Greek philosophy Biblical and philosophic moral precepts The Bible and Greek philosophy on the scope of law and justice iii. Either/Or Revelation and reason as mutually exclusive opposites The challenge of openness between theology and philosophy iv. Dialogue between revelation and reason Philosophy vs. atheism Strauss, Judaism and Zionism v. Conclusion PART TWO Strauss's Machiavelli on Religion: Neither Christian nor Pagan Chapter Three: Christianity and the Bible tr7 i. Introduction I ii. Machiavelli's judgment on Christianity Christianity and matters of the world The tyranny of religious authority iii. Machiavelli's reflections on Biblical/Christian theology Theology in Machiavelli Conscience Providence Creation and miracles Machiavelli on the character of religion iv. Conclusion Chapter Four: Cosmology and the UtilÍfy of Religion 162 i. Introduction ii. Machiavelli's cosmological reflections Divine attributes: God, heaven and Fortuna Prophecy and heavenly signs Fortuna Fortunq and nafure Chance, accidents and the natural order of the world iii. The utility of religion Defining religion ' The use(s) of religion iv. Conclusion PART THREE Strauss's Machiavelli on Philosophy: Political Virtue Chapter Five: Moral Virtue and Human Action r92 i. Introduction ii. Virtue and goodness The scope ofgoodness Virnre and the mean A prudent mean Virtue vs. goodness iii. Free will, necessity and chance Virtue and free will Necessity and fear Necessity and virtuous action Necessity and goodness Free will vs. necessity and chance iv. Conclusion Chapter Six: Virtue and Governance 239 i. Introduction ii, The common good and selfishness Virtue and the common good Moral virtue vs. republican virtue tl The factual truth of republican virtue and the common good iii. Forms of government: republics, principalities and tyrannies Republican rule or princely rule? Virtue, princely rule and tyrants Tyrants and the common good Prolonging tyrannical rule iv. Human nature, the common good and the highest good Goodness and badness in human nature: a comparison with Hobbes Human nature and the common good The common good vs. the highest good v. Conclusion Chapter Seven: The Legacy of Machiavelli's Moral-Political Teaching 288 i. Introduction ii. Strauss's concluding thoughts on Machiavelli Plato and Machiavelli on the efficacy of the best regime The newness of Machiavelli's moral-political teaching and its opposition to the classics The soullessness of Machiavelli's moral-political teaching Machiavelli vs. the classics Conclusion 3r3 Appendix: An Outline of Leo Strauss's Critical Study of Niccolò Machiavelli's Teaching 322 Bibliography 324 111 Abstract The importance of the revelation-reason question in the works of Leo Strauss is central to an understanding of his thought. This central question poses two fundamental altematives-religion and philosophy-for understanding the good life, This thesis will seek to demonstrate that the elucidation of these alternatives and their shared opposition to modernity are key themes in Strauss's æuvre, particularly in his critical study of Niccolò Machiavelli's teaching. Part One offers a close reading of Strauss's idea of history and his conception of the revelation-reason question. Chapter One shows why he thought it critically important to undertake the study of the history of political philosophy, Chapter Two, which examines how Strauss considered revelation and reason as fundamentally different worldviews, refutes arguments that his position on the authority and truth of religion was basically atheistic. Parts Two and Three explore Strauss's critical study of Machiavelli's teaching. Exploring Strauss's thesis that Machiavelli is neither Christian nor pagan, Part Two examines Machiavelli's teaching on the nature and efficacy of religion. Chapter Three focuses on his critique of Christianity, while Chapter Four focuses on Strauss's response to Machiavelli's critique of religion in general. Chapters Five to Seven explicate Strauss's thesis that Machiavelli's teaching on morality and politics is a revolt against not only Biblical religion but also classical political philosophy as found in Plato and Aristotle. Strauss's effort here is to demonstrate that Machiavelli based his notions of goodness, virtue and govemance in the "effectual truth" of all things, in the empirical realm, not in the abstract realm of eternal verities. The close examination of Strauss's critical study of Machiavelli's teaching in Parts Two and Three shows that Strauss identified his work as a commentary on classical political philosophy. Nonetheless, as a critical engagement with the precepts of Biblical religion, it was a contribution to philosophical tradition. Strauss's open, if not precarious, stance with respect to these two traditions is fundamental to understanding his critique of modernity. Strauss maintains that the "crisis of our time" is the apogee of a modernity that has its point of origin in Machiavelli's rejection of biblical and classical morality as a guide to the efflrcacy of political virtue. lV Acknowledgments This thesis was written in the Department of Politics at the University of Adelaide with the financial support of an Australian Postgraduate Award with Stipend. I would like to thank my principal supervisor, Associate Professor Paul Corcoran (Department of Politics), and my co-supervisor, Dr. Wayne Cristaudo (Centre for European Studies, University of Adelaide) for their unflagging patience; thanks also are due to Dr. Vicki Spencer (Department of Politics), who was of great assistance as a temporary supervisor in July-December 2000, when both my principal and co- supervisors were on study leave. The political theory group in the Department provided a welcome opportunity for discussions about Strauss and political philosophy; thanks in particular are due to David Olney, for reading drafts of my abstract, introduction and Chapters One and Two. I would also like to thank the following people: Chris McElhirurey, Tina Esca, Peter Newnham, the interlibrary loan staff at the Ban Smith Library, Rachel Templer, Dominic Stefanson, Charles McPhee, my parents, Peder and Lesley Sorensen, and my twin brother and his wife, Julian and Belinda Sorensen. vi Abbreviations used in footnotes Works by Leo Strauss AAPL The Argument and Action of Plato's Laws AE "An Epilogue" CCM "Correspondence Concerning Modernity" (exchange of letters with Karl Löwith) CCWM "Correspondence Conceming ï(ahrheit und Methode" (exchange of letters with Hans-Georg Gadamer) CM The Cily and Man COT "The Crisis of Our Time" CPP "The Crisis of Political Philosophy" ET "Exoteric Teaching" Exi "Existentialism" FMM "Freud on Moses and Monotheism," in -/P GA "A Giving of Accounts," in JP GH "Greek Historians" GN "German Nihilism" HBSGP "How To Begin To Study The Guide of the Perplexed' HPP History of Political Philosophy 3rd ed. HSMP "How to Study Medieval Philosophy" HSS "How to Study Spinoza's Theological PolitÌcal Treetise," in JP IEHC "Introductory Essay to Hermann Cohen, Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judøism," inJP IPP An Introduction to Political Philosophy JA "Jerusalem and Athens," in SPPP JP Jewish Philosophy and the Crisis of Modernity LAM Liberalism Ancient and Modern LCGP "The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed," ín PAW LE "Letter to the Editor," in -/P LHK "Letter to Helmut Kuhn" LRK "The Law of Reason in the Kuzari," in PAíl ¿,SP.S Leo Strauss on Plato's Symposium v1l MCL "Machiavelli and Classical Literature" MITP "The Mutual Influence of Theology
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