Straussophobia: Defending Leo Strauss and Straussians against Shadia Drury and Other Accusers

347 Pages·2009·1.63 MB·English

by  Peter Minowitz

Straussophobia

Straussophobia
Defending Leo Strauss and
Straussians against Shadia Drury
and Other Accusers
Peter Minowitz
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
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Copyright © 2009 by Lexington Books
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Minowitz, Peter, 1955–
Straussophobia : defending Leo Strauss and Straussians against Shadia Drury and
other accusers / Peter Minowitz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7391-1951-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-1952-5 (pbk. : alk.
paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-4019-2 (electronic)
1. Strauss, Leo—Criticism and intepretation. 2. Strauss, Leo—Political and social
views. 3. Political science—Philosophy. I. Title.
JC251.S8M56 2009
320.53092—dc22 2009014497
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
This one’s for Debbie and Joan

Contents
List of Abbreviations xi
Abbreviations for Works by Leo Strauss xi
Abbreviated Works by Shadia Drury, John Locke, Carnes Lord,
Anne Norton, Andrew Payton Thomas, Nicholas Xenos, and
Catherine and Michael Zuckert xiii
Note to the Reader xv
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction: Persecution and the Art of Writhing 1
1 All Hate Leo Strauss 19
I. “As Leo Strauss Would Say”: The Ignoble Lies of
Tim Robbins 19
II. Calling Names 22
Special Plans 23
Wolfowitz, Wohlstetter, Shulsky 24
“The Best Brains in Our Country” 28
Platonic Fundamentalists? Perle, Rice, Rumsfeld, Cheney 32
III. “Leading the Stupid Masses” 35
IV. Hannah and Her Brothers 36
V. “Tainted with Certain Specific Vices”: Classic Straussophobia
at the Intellectual Summit 38
vii
viii Contents
2 “Careless Scholarship and a Tendency to Quote out of Context”:
Early Drury on Strauss, Locke, and Xenophon 53
I. Dethroning Drury 53
II. “Devastating Reviews” and the Battle for Locke 57
Yolton versus Strauss on Locke and Hobbes 58
A Declaration of Incompetence: Will Hutton and Joe Klein
Join the Anti-Strauss Campaign 64
Yolton versus Strauss on Christianity and Circumlocutions 65
III. “The Most Fearful Depths of Depravity” 68
IV. Strauss’s Xenophonic Discourse: Harming, Tyranny,
Slavishness, Revolution? 69
“Motivated to Harm” 70
“The Innumerable Crimes” 72
Haze in the Maze: Xenos on Xenophon and Strauss 77
“A Shadow on the Noble Life” 77
“Warriors and Workers . . . Unite”! 79
V. “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” 83
3 The American Right, Pious Frauds, and Secret Kingship 101
I. Interpreting the Interpreters 101
II. Drury and Luban on the Inner Dimensions of Race and
Religion 103
III. The Sexist Strauss 108
IV. Straussians in Washington 109
V. Farabi and the Secret Kingship 112
VI. Secret Kingship and Plato’s Laws 119
VII. The City in Speech and Perverse Hierarchies 123
4 “A Great Enemy of Democracy”? Strauss on Plato’s Republic,
Germany, and Empire 141
I. “A Wild Beast”: Drury in the Routledge Encyclopedia 141
II. “How Democracy Gives Way to Tyranny” 145
III. “Ruled by the Rabble”? Strauss, Hitler, and Controversies
about Inequality 148
IV. Nietzsche, Weimar, and the Golden Age 151
V. “Fascist, Authoritarian, and Imperial”: Strauss’s 1933
Letter to Löwith 154
VI. Sparing the Vanquished and Crawling to the Cross 158
VII. Freedom and Empire: Daniel Flynn’s Accusation about
Imperialism 163
Contents ix
5 “ Mired in Perpetual War”: Confrontations with Cyber-Age
Vilification 179
I. “Fascistic Glorification of Death and Violence” 179
II. Nicholas Xenos on Natural Evil 183
III. “To Rush Naked into Battle” 185
IV. “Their Cult-Like Qualities”: Reputable Authors Join the
Crusade 187
V. To Lilliput—and Beyond! 193
VI. Dostoevsky and “Delusional Elitism” 198
VII. From the Grand Inquisitor to the Basiji: Anne Norton Strafes
the Straussians 201
An Interpreter of Evil 202
“Identity Pluralizing” 205
Muslims Everywhere 208
A Kinder and Gentler Lord 210
6 “Untold Mischief” and “Enigmatic Works”:
Appreciating Strauss on Machiavelli and Modernity 223
I. “Perilously Close to Insanity”: Flynn on Spinoza and
Machiavelli 223
II. The Machiavellian Mouthpiece 226
“The Tradition of Machiavelli” 229
Preservation Preeminence 230
“His Other Virtues” 232
“Against Faith” 233
“Extreme Situations” 236
“The Lowly but True Principles” 236
III. Esotericism, Ancient and Modern 238
IV. “Vilified for All Time”? 241
V. “Under the Spell of Christianity”? 243
VI. “The Intrepidity of His Thought” 248
7 From the Peloponnesus to Iraq—and Michigan 261
Part 1: Ballistic Drury 261
I. “Her Philosophical Love of Truth”? 261
II. Into the Wild Blue Yonder 266
Naming Names 267
Drury Abandons the Reality Community 268
Drury’s Nuclear Option 270
“The Straussian Ideal”? 271