REORIENTATION RECOVERING POLITICAL

SERIES EDITORS: THOMAS L. PANGLE AND TIMOTHY W. BURNS

PUBLISHED BY PALGRAVE MACMILLAN: Lucretius as Theorist of Political Life By John Colman

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Political Philosophy Cross-Examined: Perennial Challenges to the Philosophic Life Edited by Thomas L. Pangle and J. Harvey Lomax

Eros and Socratic By David Levy

Reorientation: in the 1930s Edited by Martin D. Yaffe and Richard S. Ruderman REORIENTATION: LEO STRAUSS IN THE 1930s

Edited by Martin D. Yaffe and Richard S. Ruderman REORIENTATION Copyright © Martin D . Yaffe and Richard S . Ruderman , 2014 . Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-32438-2 All rights reserved. First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-137-37423-3 ISBN 978-1-137-38114-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137381149

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Reorientation : Leo Strauss in the 1930s / edited by Martin D. Yaffe and Richard S. Ruderman. pages cm.—(Recovering political philosophy) Includes index.

1. Strauss, Leo—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Political science— Philosophy. I. Yaffe, Martin D. II. Ruderman, Richard S., 1958– JJC251.S8R46 2014 181.06—dc23 2013025811 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: July 2014 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Connie and Anne This page intentionally left blank CONT ENTS

Acknowledgments ix AAbbreviations xi

Editors’ Introduction 1 Martin D. Yaffe and Richard S. Ruderman 1. How Strauss Became Strauss 13 Heinrich Meier 2. Spinoza’s Critique of Religion: Reading the Low in the Light of the High 33 Steven Frankel 3. The Light Shed on the Crucial Development of Strauss’s Thought by his Correspondence with Gerhard Krüger 57 Thomas L. Pangle 4. Strauss on ’s “Idealizing” Appropriation of as a Platonist 69 Martin D. Yaffe 5. Strauss on the Religious and Intellectual Situation of the Present 79 Timothy W. Burns 6. Carl Schmitt and Strauss’s Return to Premodern Philosophy 115 Nasser Behnegar 7. Leo Strauss on the Origins of Hobbes’s Natural Science and Its Relation to the Challenge of Divine Revelation 131 Timothy W. Burns 8. Leo Strauss on Farabi, Maimonides, et al. in the 1930s 157 Joshua Parens 9. The Problem of the Enlightenment: Strauss, Jacobi, and the Pantheism Controversy 171 David Janssens viii CONTENTS

10. “Through the Keyhole”: Leo Strauss’s Rediscovery of Classical Political Philosophy in Xenophon’s Constitution of the Lacedaemonians 191 Richard S. Ruderman 11. Strauss and Schleiermacher on How to Read Plato: An Introduction to “Exoteric Teaching” 203 Hannes Kerber

Appendices: Seven Writings by Leo Strauss 215 Preliminary Note to Appendices A Leo Strauss: “Conspectivism” (1929) 217 Translated by Anna Schmidt and Martin D. Yaffe B Leo Strauss: “Religious Situation of the Present” (1930) 225 Translated by Anna Schmidt and Martin D. Yaffe C Leo Strauss: “The Intellectual Situation of the Present” (1932) 237 Translated by Anna Schmidt and Martin D. Yaffe D Leo Strauss: “A Lost Writing of Farâbî’s” (1936) 255 Translated by Gabriel Bartlett and Martin D. Yaffe E Leo Strauss: “On Abravanel’s Critique of Monarchy” (1937) 267 Translated by Martin D. Yaffe Supplementary Note on Archival Materials 269 Jeffrey A. Bernstein Editorial Note to Appendices F and G 271 Hannes Kerber F Leo Strauss: Exoteric Teaching (1939) 275 Edited by Hannes Kerber Supplement 1: Early Plan of “Exoteric Teaching” 287 Supplement 2: Later Plan of “Exoteric Teaching” 291 G Leo Strauss: Lecture Notes for “Persecution and the Art of Writing” (1939) 293 Edited by Hannes Kerber Notes on Contributors 305 Index 309 ACKN OWLEDG MEN TS

arlier versions of chapter 1 have appeared previously as “Vorwort des EHerausgebers” in Leo Strauss, Gesammelte Schriften, Band 2: Philosophie und Gesetz—Frühe Schriften, edited by Heinrich Meier, Stuttgart and Weimar: Metzler Verlag, 1997, ix–xxxiii, and in translation as “How Strauss Became Strauss,” in Enlightening Revolutions: Essays in Honor of Ralph Lerner, edited by Svetozar Minkov, 363–82, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2006. We are grateful to Heinrich Meier for his kind permission to republish. Earlier versions of chapters 7 and 9 have appeared previously as “Leo Strauss on the Origins of Hobbes’s Natural Science,” Review of 64, no. 4 (June 2011): 823–55, and “The Problem of the Enlightenment: Strauss, Jacobi, and the Pantheism Controversy,” Review of Metaphysics 56, no. 3 (March 2003): 605–31, respectively. We are grateful to Review of Metaphysics and its editor, Professor Jude P. Dougherty, for their kind permission to republish. The German originals of appendices A, B, C, D, and E have appeared previ- ously in Strauss, Gesammelte Schriften, Band 2, as “Konspektivismus” (pp. 365–75, 620–21), “Religiöse Lage der Gegenwart” (pp. 377–90, 621), “Die geistige Lage der Gegenwart” (pp. 441–62, 623), “Eine vermißte Schrift Farâbî’s” (pp. 167–77, 614), and “Zu Abravanels Kritik der Königtums” (pp. 233–34, 615), respectively. We are grateful to J. B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und C. H. Poeschel Verlag, GmbH, for their kind permission to publish translations of these and to Heinrich Meier for his help in arranging for their permission. Thanks especially to the Earhart Foundation of Ann Arbor, Michigan, for its generous financial support for that purpose. Our series coeditor Timothy W. Burns has been unstinting in his encourage- ment and judicious in his counsel during the routine and not-so-routine ins and outs, ups and downs of the preparation of this volume. And Daniel Burns, Guy Chet, Kenneth Hart Green, Joshua Parens, and Alan Udoff havep rovided timely assistance concerning Hebrew and Arabic and related matters. This page intentionally left blank ABBREVIATIONS

Titles of Leo Strauss’s Writings AAPL The Argument and the Action of Plato’s “Laws.” Chicago: The Press, 1975. APT “On Abravanel’s Philosophical Tendency and Political Teaching.” In Isaac Abravanel, edited by J. B. Trend and H. Loewe, pp. 93–109. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1937. CaM “Cohen and Maimonides.” Translated by Martin D. Yaffe and Ian Moore. LSMCC 173–222. CM The City and Man. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1964. CuM “Cohen und Maimuni.” GS–2 393–436. EMFL “Einleitung zu Morgenstunden und An die Freunde Lessings.” GS–2 528–605. EP “Einleitung zu Phädon.” GS–2 485–504. EPLJJ Das Erkenntnisproblem in der philosophischen Lehre Fr. H. Jacobis. GS–2 237–92. EPM “Einleitung zu Pope ein Metaphysiker!” GS–2 476–72. ESG “Einleitung zu Sache Gottes, oder die gerettete Vorsehung.” GS–2 514–27. ESL “Einleitung zu Sendschreiben an den Herrn Magister Lessing in Leipzig.” GS–2 473–75. FP “Fârâbî’s Plato.” In Louis Ginzberg Jubilee Volume. New York: American Academy for Jewish Research, 1945, 357–93. FPP Faith and Political Philosophy: The Correspondence Between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, 1934–1964. Edited by Peter Emberley and Barry Cooper. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2004. GA With Jacob Klein. “A Giving of Accounts.” The Collegee (Annapolis,, MD) 22, no. 1 (April 1970): 1–5. GA––JPCMM “A Giving of Accounts,” JPCMM 457–66. GS–1 Gesammelte Schriften, Band 1: Die Religionskritik Spinozas und gehörigee Schriften. Herausgegeben von Heinrich Meier. Stuttgart und Weimar: J. B. Metzler Verlag, 1996; 3rd, rev. and expanded ed., 2008. GS–2 Gesammelte Schriften, Band 2: Philosophie und Gesetz—Frühe Schriften. Herausgegeben von Heinrich Meier. Stuttgart und Weimar: J. B. Metzler Verlag, 1997; 2nd rev. printing, 1998; 3rd printing, 2004. xii A BBREV I ATI O N S

GS–3 Gesammelhflte Schriften, Band 3: Hobbes’Hobbes’ ppolitischeolitische WissenscWissenschaft,haft, anandd zuzugehörigegehörige Schriften—Briefe. Herausgegeben von Heinrich Meier. Stuttgart und Weimar: J. B. Metzler Verlag, 2001; 2nd, rev. ed., 2008. HBS “How to Begin to Study The Guide of the Perplexed.” Maimonides, Moses. The Guide of the Perplexed. Translated by Shlomo Pines. Introductory Essay by Leo Strauss. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963. HCRR Hobbes’s Critique of Religion and Related Writings. Translated and Edited by Gabriel Bartlett and Svetozar Minkov. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. ISP “The Intellectual Situation of the Present.” Appendix C of the present volume. JJPCMM and the Crisis of Modernity. Edited by Kenneth Hart Green. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1997. LAM Liberalism Ancient and Modern. New York: Basic Books, 1968. LSEWW The Early Writings (1921–1932). Translated and Edited by Michael Zank. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2002. LSMCC Leo Strauss on Maimonides: The Complete Writings. Edited by Kenneth Hart. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2013. LSMMM Leo Strauss on Moses Mendelssohn. Translated, Edited, and with an Interpretive Essay by Martin D. Yaffe. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2012. NRHH Natural Right and History. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1953. ONI “On a New Interpretation of Plato’s Political Philosophy.” Social Research 13 (1946): 326–67. OPSS On Plato’s “Symposium.” Edited by Seth Benardete. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2001. OPSPS “ The Origins of Political Science and the Problem of Socrates.” Interpretation 23, no. 2 (1996):127–208. OTT On Ty ranny. Revised and Expanded Edition, Including the Strauss-Kojève Correspondence. Edited by Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth. New York: Free Press, 1991. PAW Persecution and the Art of Writing. Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1952. PGG Philosophie und Gesetz: Beiträge zum Verständnis Maimunis und seiner Vorläufer. Berlin: Schocken Verlag, 1935. PLA Philosophy and Law: Contributions to the Understanding of Maimonides and His Predecessors. Translated by Eve Adler. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1995. PLB Philosophy and Law: Essays Toward the Understanding of Maimonides and His Predecessors. Translated by Fred Baumann. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 1987. PPH The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis. Translated by Elsa M. Sinclair. Reprint. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952.1 PoP “The Place of the Doctrine of Providence according to Maimonides.” Translated by Gabriel Bartlett and Svetozar Minkov. Review of Metaphysics 57 ()(2004): 537–49. A BBREV I ATI O N S xiii

PoR “Progress or Return?” JPCMM 87–136. RCPRR The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism. Edited by Thomas L. Pangle. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1989. RSP “Religious Situation of the Present.” Appendix B of the present volume. SA Socrates and Aristophanes. New York: Basic Books, 1966. SCRR Spinoza’s Critique of Religion. Translated by Elsa M. Sinclair. New York: Schocken Books, 1965. SR “Some Remarks on the Political Science of Farabi and Maimonides.” Interpretation 18 (1990–91): 1–30. SSTX “The Spirit of Sparta or the Taste of Xenophon.” Social Research 6 (1939): 502–36. TM Thoughts on Machiavelli. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press, 1958. TWM “Three Waves of Modernity.” In An Introduction to Political Philosophy: Ten Essays by Leo Strauss. Edited by Hilail Gildin. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1989. WIPPP What is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies. Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1959. XS Xenophon’s Socrates. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1972. XSDD Xenophon’s Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the “Oeconomicus.” Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1970.

Other Titles JJMWW The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History. Edited by Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. NHEE Karl Löwith. Nature, History, and Existentialism. Edited by Arnold Levison. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1966. MPP–1 Me dieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook. Edited by Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi. New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1963. MPP–2 Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook. 2nd ed. Edited by Joshua Parens and Joseph C. Macfarland. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011.

Other Abbreviations Gk. Greek Ger. German Heb. Hebrew {HM} Heinrich Meier (appended to footnote as its author) Lat. Latin Lit. literally {LS} Leo Strauss (appended to footnote as its author) xiv A BBREV IATIO N S

Note 1. Originally: Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936. This edition will be referred to as Thee Political Philosophy of Hobbes (1936). It differs from the 1952 reprint in that the latter includes a two-page “Preface to the American Edition” by Strauss, which begins as follows: “For various reasons this study is here reissued in its original form. It is, no doubt, in need of considerable revision. But it still seems to me that the way in which I approached Hobbes is preferable to the available alternatives. Hobbes appeared to me as the originator of modern political philosophy. This was an error: not Hobbes but Machiavelli deserves this honor. But I still prefer that easily corrected error, or rather its characteristic premises, to the more generally accepted views which I was forced to oppose and which are less easily corrected” (p. xv).