[lbo-talk] Leo Strauss on Plato

[guava tree]

Love of Thucydides is a thread that runs through the
"neo-conservative" (anti-democratic) menagerie-- Hobbes of course
translated Thucydides -- Donald Kagan, who in his condensed
single-volume of the peloponnesian war keeps flogging on how the
Athenians failed to rout the Spartans when they had the chance and
overall weren't "tough" enough. --Victor Davis Hanson-- There are many
more, but one's time is better spent elsewhere-- The refrain is "our
democracy has enemies within who will weaken us to such an extent that
the enemies out there will be able to completely crush our society!"

the other way of reading Thucydides of course is to ask: "why is the
"democracy" sending colonies out across the Mediterranean, demanding
tribute from them, protection money, acting like an aggressor,
bullying smaller city-states-- Is this a society worth defending?"

On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 12:30 AM,  <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
> Oh, boy! I notice these guys
>
> http://www.openculture.com/philosophy_free_courses
>
> have half a dozen Strauss lectures on Plato, one on Vico, and one on Thucydides.
>
> I'm almost tempted to see what this asshole might have had to say about Thcydides.
>
> Joanna
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk

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