>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 5/16/2005 3:17:56 PM >>> according to one "nationalist" conservative, the Straussians didn't reject moral relativism: >The main difference between the Straussians and Left-wing nihilists is that the former think the "truth" of value-relativism should be known only to the few. All the philosophical problems with relativism apply to the Straussians' Right-wing version, and in spades. Suffice it here to say that the Straussians, too, have to introduce quasi-objective standards of judgment, covertly and unintentionally: e.g., the social utility of religion and patriotism. Surely, the very fact that society requires certain things -- communal loyalty, for instance -- in itself justifies these things: they are rooted in nature, the social nature of humanity.< (from http://home.earthlink.net/~karljahn/Strauss.htm) In other words, the Straussians accept relativism but hide it, seeing it as something to be hidden from the masses so that the latter can be controlled. Jim Devine <<<<<>>>>>
strauss, in _natural right and history_, specifically critiques 'unqualified relativism' - in contrast, i guess, to a 'qualified relativism' - that he claimed initially took over german philosophy and later became characteristic of western thought in general and especially u.s. social science and liberalism (he cites this as example of victor ultimately being defeated by vanquished)... strauss essentially lumped 'liberal relativism' (he didn't use term 'moral relativism'), historicism, and natural science into similar 'bad' category, crisis of political thought required that western political theory - which strauss claimed had been in decline since machiavelli and hobbes - recover truth of classical political philosophy in plato and aristotle... of course, 'eternal truth' that strauss believed in could only be uncovered by likes of strauss which explains all that esoteric reading crap... elsewhere, strauss argued that experimental method was dangerous because it obscured need for moral absolutism (he wrote number of articles in journal _social research_, can try to find specific citation if interested)... also, despite his acknowledgement of a conservative political perspective, strauss tended to cast his lot with 'the left' in u.s. political science and was associated with caucus for a new political science for some years, his rationale for this was that he - like 'the left' - was issuing a challenge to mainstream 'orthodoxy' in the discipline... michael hoover (who, but for funding snafu, was headed to chicago for grad school not longer after strauss died when poli sci dept was thoroughly and profoundly controlled by straussians) -------------------------------------------------------------- Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.
