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Articles

Leo Strauss: Tributes And Reflections

William Bluhm and Alfred Geier offer non-neo-con views on their old teacher.

During the last ten years or more, a considerable literature has appeared that sets forth a variety of views about the political stance of Professor Leo Strauss, who taught for many years at the University of Chicago. Perhaps this is because his name has gotten tied up with those of a number of neo-cons, especially some members of the Bush administration, such as Paul Wolfowitz and Daniel Pearle, who planned and justified the Iraq war and who are sponsors of the contemporary idea of America as an imperial power. Strauss has also been called “a Nietzsche with the mask of Burkhardt” (Michael Platt), and even a fascist. His work as decipherer of secret writings in many of the classic works of political theory led to the charge that the professor himself wrote in such a way as to veil his real meaning. This has lent cogency to the statements that his true political opinions were extremist.

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