Being much saddened by the ongoing feud between Straussians and Arendtians, who I am convinced could be largely (though not wholly) reconciled if they just thought harder about it, I was pleased to discover this exchange in Arendt's correspondence with Karl Jaspers from 1954 as a sign of at least civility:
Jaspers: "Do you know anything about Leo Strauss, who has written about Spinoza, an orthodox Jew of strong rational powers? Is he still alive?"
Arendt: "Leo Strauss is a professor of political philosophy in Chicago, highly respected. Wrote a good book about Hobbes (as well as the one about Spinoza). Now another about natural law. He is a convinced orthodox atheist. Very odd. A truly gifted intellect. I don't like him."
Jaspers: "What you say about Leo Strauss interests me. An atheist now? In his earlier books he appears as an orthodox Jew who is providing justification for authority. The style and tone of his books puts me off, but what he writes is very informative."
Sunday, May 25, 2008
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4 comments:
You mean Straussians and Arendtian could be reconciled if the former just stopped being inclined toward authoritarianism, right? Okay, I agree!
Strauss on Jaspers: "A well-intentioned North-German Protestant Pastor, full of unction and earnestness even in sexual relations, who for that very reason never achieves clarity or decisiveness."
It's true the Straussians don't like Arendt, I don't know if this quote suggests a reason.
In the ideal city, Straussians would be interdicted from fire and water.
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