Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 334 pages
- Published by: University Of Chicago Press January 1, 1997
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0226776883
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0226776880
-
Book Dimensions:
9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
- Weighs: 1.1 pounds
Product Description
Leo Strauss articulates the conflict between reason and revelation as he explores Spinoza's scientific, comparative, and textual treatment of the Bible. Strauss compares Spinoza's
Theologico-political Treatise and the Epistles, showing their relation to critical controversy on religion from Epicurus and Lucretius through Uriel da Costa and Isaac Peyrere to Thomas Hobbes.
Strauss's autobiographical Preface, traces his dilemmas as a young liberal intellectual in Germany during the Weimar Republic, as a scholar in exile, and as a leader of American philosophical thought.
"[For] those interested in Strauss the political philosopher, and also those who doubt whether we have achieved the 'final solution' in respect to either the character of political science or the problem of the relation of religion to the state." --
Journal of Politics "A substantial contribution to the thinking of all those interested in the ageless problems of faith, revelation, and reason." --
Kirkus Reviews Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was the Robert Maynard Hutchins Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of political science at the University of Chicago. His contributions to political science include
The Political Philosophy of Hobbes, The City and the Man, What is Political Philosophy?, and
Liberalism Ancient and Modern.
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German
Reader ReviewsLeo Strauss, intellectual godfather of neoconservativism and intellectual bogeyman of the postmodern left, is always sure to provoke thought in his readers. Here, in one of his earliest works, he takes on Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, the very root of the enlightenment critique of religious revelation. According to Strauss, Spinoza's critique is rooted in the prior philosophical work of Maimonides, da Costa, and Hobbes. Unlike Maimonides, who tries to reconcile reason and faith, or Hobbes, who believes in the necessity of a "religious lie" for political control, Spinoza believes that man can live by reason alone. According to Strauss, Spinoza's critique is flawed- though the philosopher can live without revelation, revelation is a necessity for the populous at large. Strauss evaluates Spinoza's critiques of both Christianity and Judaism, as well as where his philosophy intersects and diverges from Calvinism- the major trend of theological thought in the Netherlands during Spinoza's own time. A valuable book for students of philosophy, politics, and anyone trying to understand the origins of our modern separation between church and state.
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