Jim F.
On Sun, 11 May 2003 09:05:52 -0400 "Jeet Heer" <jeet at sturdynet.com>
writes:
> I know there have been quite a few postings on Strauss and his
> washington influence already, but I thought some of you might be
> interested in my piece from today's Boston Globe. Jeet
> http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/131/focus/The_PhilosopherP.shtml
>
>
> The Philosopher
>
> The late Leo Strauss has emerged as the thinker of the moment in
> Washington, but his ideas remain mysterious. Was he an ardent
> opponent of tyranny, or an apologist for the abuse of power?
>
> By Jeet Heer, 5/11/2003
>
> ODD AS THIS MAY SOUND, we live in a world increasingly shaped by Leo
> Strauss, a controversial philosopher who died in 1973. Although
> generally unknown to the wider population, Strauss has been one of
> the two or three most important intellectual influences on the
> conservative worldview now ascendant in George W. Bush's Washington.
> Eager to get the lowdown on White House thinking, editors at the New
> York Times and Le Monde have had journalists pore over Strauss's
> work and trace his disciples' affiliations. The New Yorker has even
> found a contingent of Straussians doing intelligence work for the
> Pentagon.
>
> Yet while the extent of Strauss's influence is wide, his writings
> are frequently obscure, and his legacy is hotly disputed by admirers
> and critics alike. Certainly, Strauss was no ordinary Republican
> idea-maker: Steeped in ancient philosophy, he had dark forebodings
> about democracy, religion, technology, and nearly everything else
> that can claim the allegiance of the contemporary conservative (or
> liberal, for that matter).
>
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