| My dissertation seeks to shed light on Strauss's famous---or notorious---thesis of "esoteric" writing as well as to examine the related question of the literary character of his own writings.; In Persecution and the Art of Writing, Strauss stated that one "writes as one reads." Since Strauss was one of the most careful readers of all time, one must attempt to read him as he read the greatest authors of the past---i.e., with the most exacting and detailed attention possible. Scholars as a rule refuse to consider the possibility that Strauss wrote as he read because they characteristically misunderstand the relation of "persecution" to "the art of writing." Most scholars assume that persecution is the sole cause of "esotericism"; yet persecution is only the "most obvious or crudest reason" for exotericism. Such scholars ignore what Strauss quietly suggested is the most important reason animating exoteric teaching: philosophic education, or genuine freedom of thought.; The body of my dissertation consists of interpretations of Strauss's studies thematically devoted to reading, writing and study, particularly those treating the literary artistry of his two great medieval models: Farabi and Maimonides.; Via interpretations of those studies, I prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Strauss's writings are composed as carefully as those of his greatest models.; My contentions are not, however, simply literary. I contend, for example, that the chief intention of Strauss's writings is educational, that they are designed above all to serve as a means to the end of freedom of thought. I argue that Strauss's twofold division of the history of political philosophy, wherein the moderns take up arms against the ancients, is as characteristically understood itself an exoteric doctrine. I suggest furthermore that Strauss's accounts of the literary arts of Maimonides and Machiavelli indicate that a fundamental kinship exists between the two, the thinkers whom arguably Strauss regarded as the greatest "pre-modern" and the greatest "modern." Strauss, thus read, appears in a fresh light. |
