On Sun, 11 Nov 2001 14:48:00 -0800 "Luke Weiger" <lweiger at umich.edu>
writes:
> Justin wrote:
> > You are too flattering to him. In the Straussian precincts of the
> Cmtee on
> > Social Thought, it is presumed that taxi drivers and businessmen
> can't
> think
> > and must be lied to by the Enlightened. I am not making this up.
> What I am
> > saying is literally true.
> >
> > jks
>
> I've read this before, but don't good Straussians disagree as to its
> importance/validity? Did Bloom think likewise?
It is my understanding that this was one of the essential teachings of Leo Strauss, who as far I know first expounded this doctrine, in his essay "The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed" in which he interpreted Maimonides' treatise *A Guide for the Perplexed*, which attempted to resolve the conflict between faith and reason, as being open to both exoteric and esoteric readings. In the exoteric reading, Maimonides treatise resolved the conflict between reason and faith through a harmonization of the teachings of the Torah and those of Aristotle but in the esoteric reading the teachings of faith are taken to be at best metaphorical representations of the truths that are uncovered by philosophy. Indeed, according to this reading of Maimonides, he is taken as viewing the teachings of religion as being like Plato's Noble Lies. According to Strauss, Mainmonides deliberately wrote his treatise so that it could be read either way. The exoteric reading being meant for the masses, so that their faith would not be unsettled by the teachings of philosophy, while the esoteric reading was meant for the enlightened few, who were capable of understanding the basic falsity of religion without being unsettled by this revelation.
Strauss maintained that it was not just Maimonides' writings that were open to an esoteric reading but that such a reading could also be given to the leading philosophers of antiquity and the Middle Ages, especially to the writings of Plato and Aristotle. Thus Strauss developed a special brand of hermaneutic which he maintained was applicable not just Maimonides but to other major philosophers of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and even the modern era.
As Justin correctly notes Strauss' hermaneutucs is avowedly elitist in nature. The truths of philosophy being understandable only by an enlightened few, while the unelightened many must make due with Platonic noble lies, which their betters will tell them for their own good. Not surprisingly, Leo Strauss' political philosophy has had great appeal to many conservatives. And a number of important figures in the Reagan and the two Bush administrations have been avowed Straussians.
Jim F.
>
> -- Luke
>
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