The Crisis of Liberal Democracy: A Straussian Perspective

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Kenneth L. Deutsch, Walter Soffer
SUNY Press, 1987 M01 1 - 304 pages
The Crisis of Liberal Democracy is the first book devoted exclusively to Leo Strauss, one of the most influential and controversial political thinkers of the twentieth century. This work includes essays which illustrate and evaluate Strauss' teaching on natural right and the tradition of political philosophy and demonstrate how Strauss' perspectives have influenced European and American liberal theory. In keeping with Strauss' commitment to philosophical inquiry, essays critical of his work are included as well.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Three Quarrels Three Questions One Life
17
On Natural Right
29
The Problem of Natural Right and the Fundamental Alternatives in Natural Right and History
30
Evolutionary Biology and Natural Right
48
A Critique
67
The Case of Leo Strauss and Liberal Democracy
68
Issues in Liberalism
89
Strauss on Liberalism
90
Aristotle and Machiavelli on Liberality
125
Aristotle and the Moderns on Freedom and Equality
148
The Content of Lockian Consent
167
Nihilism and Modern Democracy in the Thought of Nietzsche
180
Why Wasnt Weber A Nihilist?
212
Liberalism and the American Experience
243
Private Interest and Public Choice
244
Liberality and Democratic Citizenship
245

Leo Strauss and the Crisis of Liberal Democracy
91
A Reply Gildin
104
A Response to Gourevitch
114
Straussian Applications
124
Problems of Coherence and Rationality in Social Choice
269
EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS
297
INDEX
301
Copyright

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About the author (1987)

At the State University of New York at Geneseo, Kenneth L. Deutsch is Professor of Political Science. He has written three books on political philosophy and constitutional rights.

Walter Soffer is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Geneseo.

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