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Leo Strauss
An Introduction
Neil G. Robertson
polity
Copyright Page
Copyright © Neil G. Robertson 2021
The right of Neil G. Robertson to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2021 by Polity Press
Polity Press
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Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK
Polity Press
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Medford, MA 02155, USA
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-1630-8
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-1631-5 (pb)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Robertson, Neil G., author.
Title: Leo Strauss : an introduction / Neil Robertson.
Description: Medford : Polity Press, 2021. | Series: Key contemporary thinkers | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “A non-partisan introduction to the ideas of the controversial political philosopher and classicist”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020053826 (print) | LCCN 2020053827 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509516308 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509516315 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509516322 (pdf) | ISBN 9781509516346 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Strauss, Leo--Political and social views. | Political science--Philosophy. | Political science--History.
Classification: LCC JA71 .R5853 2021 (print) | LCC JA71 (ebook) | DDC 320.092--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020053826
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020053827
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Dedication
In memory of my parents, Ronald and Sheila Robertson for their sustaining love and understated wisdom
Acknowledgments
This book is a culmination of the fascination with and critical admiration for the thought of Leo Strauss that I have had since first encountering him when I was an undergraduate, through the teaching of George Grant and of Robert Eden when both were at Dalhousie University. I have thought and taught and written about Leo Strauss for nearly forty years. I am so grateful for the teachers, colleagues, and students who have supported in so many ways my effort to understand this most evasive of thinkers. I must especially acknowledge two intersecting intellectual centers: the University of King’s College and the Classics Department of Dalhousie University, together so fundamental to my intellectual formation, and the home for my thinking about Strauss.
There are specific colleagues and friends who have contributed directly to this book’s composition by reading drafts of chapters and aiding and correcting my thinking and understanding of Strauss: Daniel Brandes, Eli Diamond, Susan Dodd, Mark Henrie, Ken Kierans, Simon Kow, David Peddle, and Henry Roper. I am also very much in the debt of the anonymous reviewers who gave such helpful corrections and suggestions to aid in the final reworking of the book. I am deeply grateful to George Owers and Julia Davies of Polity Press for the invitation to write this book and the care and consideration they have shown both it and me over its somewhat delayed emergence.
This book was made possible by six months’ leave of absence from my work as Director of the Foundation Year Program at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. For the astonishing generosity of my colleagues, above all Susan Dodd who stepped in so graciously to take over my duties, I am deeply thankful: it is the most perfect affirmation of the collegiality in our little institution and in the program that is its heart. I am grateful as well to our President and Vice-President, and to the Board of Governors, for granting me this unplanned leave. The support of the University of King’s College Library has also been an enormous help in the writing of this book.
However, the person who must be acknowledged beyond all others is my wife and the endlessly patient yet challenging editor of all the writing of this book. Whatever clarity, articulacy, or poise belongs to it is entirely due to her extraordinary care, skill, and talent with language. She has been aided in supporting me through this consuming task by my two wondrous daughters.
Neil G. Robertson
March 2021