THE UNDERLYING THESES THAT INFORM THIS ESSAY ARE THE CENTRALITY OF THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM FOR THE QUALITY OF THE DEMOCRATIC EXPERIENCE AND THE CONSEQUENT NECESSITY FOR REFINING THIS CRITICAL INSTRUMENT FOR THE COMMON WEAL. THE AUTHOR CONCLUDES THAT THE REFERENDOM-ELECTION RECOMMENDS ITSELF BECAUSE, OF ALL THE ALTERNATIVE SYSTEMS, IT SEEMS TO VINDICATE DEMOCRATIC IDEALS MOST FULLY.
Although his approach to politics and philosophy were relatively little known outside the United States, Leo Strauss was perhaps the most revered and the most controversial figure in post-war American political science. His followers today form what is arguably the most cohesive intellectual fraternity in the discipline. They constitute a highly influential opposition to the empirical–quantitative course taken by political science and political philosophy. This study explores Strauss's ideas highlighting the unconventional mixture of substance and style that gives them an arrestingly idiosyncratic character. Substantively, Strauss belonged to the pre-modern intellectual tradition that understood Truth as accessible and knowable through philosophical contemplation. The form of his argumentation, however, his relentless critique of modernity and the moderns, is conducted with all the cognitive weaponry provided for by the modernist intellectual style.
THE STUDY EXPLORES STRAUSS'S IDEAS, HIGHLIGHTING THE UNCONVENTIONAL MIXTURE OF SUBSTANCE AND STYLE THAT GIVES THEM AN ARRESTINGLY CHARACTER. SUBSTANTIVELY,STRAUSS BELONGED TO THE PRE-MODERN INTELLECTUAL TRADITION THAT UNDERSTOOD TRUTH AS ACCESSIBLE AND KNOWABLE THROUGH PHILOSOPHICAL CONTEMPLATION. THE FORM OF HIS ARGUMENTATION, HOWEVER, HIS RELENTLESS CRITIQUE OF AND THE MODERNS, IS CONDUCTED WITH ALL THE COGNITIVE WEAPONRY PROVIDED FOR BY THE MODERNIST INTELLECTUAL STYLE.
