Anti-strauss

Leo Strauss's textual interpretations are epistemologically naive. Previous critics have not shown the full breadth and depth of Strauss's problems. The early, pre-esoteric Strauss makes some unduly certain claims on very slender evidence. The mature, esoteric Strauss's methodological principles rest on false dichotomies and logical errors. Most problematic is Strauss's one-sided approach: too often, he takes a single hypothesis, looks for and finds evidence which fits it, and thinks that this constitutes proof; he states too many conclusions as if they are certain, without adequately considering alternative explanations. Since we can see the same technique in his pre-esoteric writings, this suggests that the problem is not esoteric interpretation itself, but Strauss's particular version of esoteric interpretation. In short, the problem is not Straussianism, but Strauss. © 2012 Southern Political Science Association.