Principle and prudence in Western political thought / edited by Christopher Lynch and Jonathan Marks.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Lynch, Christopher, 1963- editor.

Marks, Jonathan, 1969- editor.

Series:

SUNY series in the thought and legacy of Leo Strauss.

SUNY series in the Thought and Legacy of Leo Strauss

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science--Philosophy.

Political science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (400 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : State University of New York Press, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Discussions of the place of moral principle in political practice are haunted by the abstract and misleading distinction between realism and its various principled or "idealist" alternatives. This volume argues that such discussions must be recast in terms of the relationship between principle and prudence: as Nathan Tarcov maintains, that relationship is "not dichotomous but complementary." In a substantive introduction, the editors investigate Leo Strauss's attack on contemporary political thought for its failure to account for both principle and prudence in politics. Leading commentators then reflect on principle and prudence in the writings of great thinkers such as Homer, Machiavelli, and Hegel, and in the thoughts and actions of great statesmen such as Pericles, Jefferson, and Lincoln. In a concluding section, contributors reassess Strauss's own approach to principle and prudence in the history of political philosophy.

Contents:

Contents; Introduction; Notes; Part I: Principle and Prudence in "Athens" and "Jerusalem"; 1 Machiavelli and Homer on the Man and the Beast; Notes; 2 Practice and Principles in Ancient Statesmanship; The Enigma of the Statesman; Neutrality or Compromise? A Role for Wisdom?; Philosophy and Political Life; Ambition and Its Place in Political Life; The Rule of Law and Its Limits; Conclusion; Notes; 3 Weaponizing Words Some Pathologies of Strategic Communication in Thucydides' Peloponnesian War; Notes

4 "And God Led Them Not by the Way of the Philistines" Principle, Practice, and Prudence in the TorahIntroduction; Divine Prudence; God's Goals and His Prudence; God's Politics and His Prudence; Abraham and God's Prudence; 5 The Wedding of Logos and Ergon Josephus's Defense of the Torah in Against Apion1; Josephus as Apologist; The Torah as a Regime; Priests and Other Rulers; Toward a Cold Priesthood; Logos and Ergon; Notes; Part II: Principle and Prudence in Modern Political Thought; 6 Machiavelli's Literary Self-Portraits Clizia, the Discourses, Alternating Epochs, and the Pursuit of Fame

Machiavelli's Treatment of the Literary LifeAlternating Epochs, Ancient Sources, and the Prologue of Clizia; The Self Portrait of Clizia; The Self Portrait of the Discourses; Conclusion; Notes; 7 Principle and Practice in Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education; Notes; 8 Montesquieu's Legislator Putting Order in the Laws; The Design of the Spirit; The Laws and the Order of Things; Notes; 9 On the Lawgiver Rousseau's Articulation of the Political Problem; Notes; 10 David Hume on Principle, Nature, and the Indirect Influence of Philosophy; I. Philosophic Sects and Philosophy

II. The Epicurean, the Stoic, and the PlatonistIII. The Sceptic I; IV. The Skeptic II; V. Conclusion; Notes; 11 Principle and Practice in Hegel's Critique of Rousseau; From Early Inspiration to the Fury of Destruction; The Rational versus the General Will; Adapting Rousseau; Notes; Part III: Principle and Prudence in American Political Thought; 12 Principle and Prudence The Use of Force from the Founders' Perspective (1984); Notes; 13 Jefferson's "Summary View" Reviewed, Yet Again; I. Resolved . . .; II. Origins; III. Oppression; IV. Unkinging the King; V. Jefferson's End in View; Notes

14 Lincoln's Enlightenment"All Nature . . . is a Mine"; Labor and Education; "Every Man Can Make Himself"; Notes; Part IV: Principle and Prudence in the Thought of Leo Strauss; 15 Strauss on the Theoretical and Practical Origins of Philosophy; The "Natural World" vs. the Discovery of the Idea of Nature; Natural Right and Providence; The Conventionalists' Critique of Justice, Law, and the Common Good; Notes; 16 The Prudence of Philosophic Politics Leo Strauss's "Introduction" to Thoughts on Machiavelli; Notes; 17 Strauss's Second Statement on Locke1; Strauss's Critique of von Leyden

A Different Assessment of the Substantive Issues

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438461267

1438461267