1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812431903321

Titolo

Reading between the lines -  Leo Strauss and the history of early modern philosophy / / edited by Winfried Schröder

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berlin, [Germany] ; ; Boston, [Massachusetts] : , : De Gruyter, , 2015

©2015

ISBN

3-11-042429-0

3-11-042437-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (232 p.)

Collana

New Studies in the History and Historiography of Philosophy, , 2364-3161 ; ; Volume 3

Disciplina

181/.06

Soggetti

Philosophy, Modern

Methodology

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- Leo Strauss and the Radical Enlightenment -- The Irrelevance of (Straussian) Hermeneutics -- The Virtues and Vices of Leo Strauss, Historian -- Leo Strauss’s Olympian Interpretation: Right, Self-preservation, and Law in The Political Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes -- Art of Writing or Art of Rewriting? -- Resurrecting Leo Strauss -- Spinoza, Strauss, and the Morality of Lying for Safety and Peace -- Pierre Bayle and the Red Herring -- Subject index -- Index of Names

Sommario/riassunto

Since its publication in 1952, Leo Strauss's Persecution and the Art of Writing has stirred considerable controversy, particularly among historians concerned with early modern philosophy. On the one hand, several scholars share his view that it would be inadequate to generally take at face value the explicit message of texts which were composed in an era in which severe sanctions were imposed on those who entertained deviating views. ‘Reading between the lines’ therefore seems to be the appropriate hermeneutical approach. On the other hand, the risks of such an interpretative maxim are more than obvious, as it might come up to an unlimited license to ascribe heterodox doctrines to early modern philosophers whose manifest teachings were in harmony with the orthodox positions of their time. The contributions



to this volume both address these methodological issues and discuss paradigmatic cases of authors who might indeed be candidates for a Straussian ‘reading between the lines’: Hobbes, Spinoza, and Bayle.