Leo Strauss, Max Weber, and the scientific study of politics / Nasser Behnegar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Behnegar, Nasser, 1963- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Strauss, Leo.

Weber, Max, 1864-1920.

Weber, Max.

Cultural relativism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (236 pages)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2005.

Summary:

Can politics be studied scientifically, and if so, how? Assuming it is impossible to justify values by human reason alone, social science has come to consider an unreflective relativism the only viable basis, not only for its own operations, but for liberal societies more generally. Although the experience of the sixties has made social scientists more sensitive to the importance of values, it has not led to a fundamental reexamination of value relativism, which remains the basis of contemporary social science. Almost three decades after Leo Strauss's death, Nasser Behnegar offers the first sustained exposition of what Strauss was best known for: his radical critique of contemporary social science, and particularly of political science. Behnegar's impressive book argues that Strauss was not against the scientific study of politics, but he did reject the idea that it could be built upon political science's unexamined assumption of the distinction between facts and values. Max Weber was, for Strauss, the most profound exponent of values relativism in social science, and Behnegar's explication artfully illuminates Strauss's critique of Weber's belief in the ultimate insolubility of all value conflicts. Strauss's polemic against contemporary political science was meant to make clear the contradiction between its claim of value-free premises and its commitment to democratic principles. As Behnegar ultimately shows, values-the ethical component lacking in a contemporary social science-are essential to Strauss's project of constructing a genuinely scientific study of politics.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Part I

Chapter 1: Political Science in the Age of Relativism

Chapter 2: Political Philosophy in the Age of Relativism

Part II

Chapter 3: The Fact-Value Distinction and Nihilism

Chapter 4: The Fact-Value Distinction and Social Science as a Theoretical Pursuit

Chapter 5: The Problem of Social Science

Part III

Chapter 6: Strauss's Polemic against the New Political Science

Chapter 7: The New Political Science

Chapter 8: The Revolt against the Old Political Science

Chapter 9: The New Political Science and Liberal Democracy

Concluding Remarks

Works Cited

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-218) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780226821160

0226821161

OCLC:

1264471876