Leo Strauss's Intention with Plato's Symposium
Hi all,
Since it’s Valentine’s Day, I thought it appropriate to share some erotica.
So I posted an essay I wrote, “Leo Strauss’s Intention with Plato’s Symposium.” The essay will, by the grace of the reviewers, be published in a collection of previously unpublished essays, notes, and fragmentary pieces by Strauss, as one of the commentaries on those works.
I start by outlining the potential significance of the Symposium for Strauss’s oeuvre, a significance I argue to be quite large. I then try to show how Strauss’s interpretation of the Symposium builds off of his inquiries in The City and Man and Socrates and Aristophanes. I close with some reflections on why Strauss may have abandoned his intention with the Symposium. These concern, specifically, the theological-political problem and the deficiencies of the treatment of the gods of the city in the dialogue. This seems to have motivated his eventual turn to the Laws for his final work on Socrates.
I also engage in some wild speculation in the essay’s final paragraph—caveat lector!
One last thing. Here are links to video of my talk on Thucydides and Plato’s Symposium last month and the discussion session a couple weeks ago. Great questions from very smart people—do give it a listen.
Cheers,
Alex