It is interesting that you do not mention Stanley Rosen among Leo Strauss's students. I would say he was philosophically the most gifted one. His student of sorts, Robert Pippin, practically singlehandedly revived Hegel in the US.
Good point! I should have included him, especially since he wasn't especially political. I'm also a big Pippin fanboy, but he's not a Straussian, so I wouldn't have included him on these lists. I could also have mentioned Seth Benardete, who taught some of my favorite Straussians. Strauss certainly considered him one of his very best students, though I usually have no idea what he's talking about. I also didn't quite know where to place him on the lists. Fodder for a future post perhaps.
Maybe write a long form post on Pippin? To my mind, his thought is virtually unknown in the public sphere. His Hegelian take on modernity, in particular how it bears on issues such as the nature of the woke movement, is, I think, very much on point. It would also be interesting to explore his critique of Strauss as well (sth that was evident, to be sure, in Rosen's writings as well).
Maybe. I'll think about it. Pippin is pretty high level for a journalistic newsletter. I "dumbed down" Strauss as much as I could in my two lost posts on him. Not sure I could pull it off with Pippin. I also have no thoughts about how Pippin's Hegel would respond to "woke" stuff. If he's written on that, I haven't seen it. I last read him like 20 years ago, before he started writing on James.
He hasn't written anything on woke topics, you are right, but I just think a Hegelian take would make most sense of what exactly that movement represents (not exactly a straitforward task of course). Also what about Mark Lilla and Fukuyama?
I studied with Mark Lilla in grad school, and we're close friends now. I didn't include him in my Strauss posts because he isn't a Straussian. I may have occasion to write something about his thinking at some point.
Thanks, will read it. It would be great to read sth on Lilla. I agree he is not a Straussian, but I do think he would never have written a book like Once and Future Liberal without some influence from Strauss (same goes for Fukuyama's Identity, to speaking nothing of the End of History). At any rate keep up the good work!
Coupla comments for you from a lapsed Catholic. If you're not familiar with the term, it means someone who was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school (until my sophomore year in college) and doesn't go to Mass every Sunday. I want to respond to "I just couldn’t persist in the charade of attending Mass with my kids when I just didn’t find the church especially worthy of reverence."
I've been lapsed since then, but I'm a retired public school Teacher Librarian and I currently work part-time in a Catholic school. When I am at a required school Mass, I sing in the choir (always find the music to be uplifting). And our pastor is pretty liberal and so is our parish. Teachers who are gay are not fired. We don't ban library books like "The Boy in the Dress" by David Walliams. Non-Catholic students and teachers - and lapsed Catholics like me - are welcome. I feel very at-home here.
Here is what I wanted to say to you about attending Mass with your kids: The Church iself is NOT worthy of reverence. It is an institution and like all institutions it gets diverted from its purpose. The teachings of Jesus, on the other hand, are worthy of reverence. I'm afraid you were with Catholics who praise the Church over Jesus' teachings. They are authoritarians. In my parish, the emphasis - led by our pastor - is on the teachings and walking the talk.
I thought your comment about finding spiritual longing in your late 20s to be of great interest to me. So, now that you've left what I would call Conservative Catholicism, what has happened to that longing? And your children? Are they part of a larger community?
Coming back to this late - not sure what I was doing when it came out.
I appreciate your detail on the Straussians: while I knew about Mansfield, Bloom, and Jaffa, and had read pieces aimed at lay audiences from a couple of others (Lawler, Manent, Arkes), I hadn't even heard of anyone in your "My Straussians" list.
Thanks for this interesting edition! I hope you make this a regular feature.
Thanks, Ken. I plan to. Maybe once a month or so. I could make it more frequent as my number of paying subscribers rises over time.
It is interesting that you do not mention Stanley Rosen among Leo Strauss's students. I would say he was philosophically the most gifted one. His student of sorts, Robert Pippin, practically singlehandedly revived Hegel in the US.
Good point! I should have included him, especially since he wasn't especially political. I'm also a big Pippin fanboy, but he's not a Straussian, so I wouldn't have included him on these lists. I could also have mentioned Seth Benardete, who taught some of my favorite Straussians. Strauss certainly considered him one of his very best students, though I usually have no idea what he's talking about. I also didn't quite know where to place him on the lists. Fodder for a future post perhaps.
Maybe write a long form post on Pippin? To my mind, his thought is virtually unknown in the public sphere. His Hegelian take on modernity, in particular how it bears on issues such as the nature of the woke movement, is, I think, very much on point. It would also be interesting to explore his critique of Strauss as well (sth that was evident, to be sure, in Rosen's writings as well).
Maybe. I'll think about it. Pippin is pretty high level for a journalistic newsletter. I "dumbed down" Strauss as much as I could in my two lost posts on him. Not sure I could pull it off with Pippin. I also have no thoughts about how Pippin's Hegel would respond to "woke" stuff. If he's written on that, I haven't seen it. I last read him like 20 years ago, before he started writing on James.
He hasn't written anything on woke topics, you are right, but I just think a Hegelian take would make most sense of what exactly that movement represents (not exactly a straitforward task of course). Also what about Mark Lilla and Fukuyama?
I wrote about Fukuyama here: https://damonlinker.substack.com/p/lessons-in-defending-liberalism
I studied with Mark Lilla in grad school, and we're close friends now. I didn't include him in my Strauss posts because he isn't a Straussian. I may have occasion to write something about his thinking at some point.
Thanks, will read it. It would be great to read sth on Lilla. I agree he is not a Straussian, but I do think he would never have written a book like Once and Future Liberal without some influence from Strauss (same goes for Fukuyama's Identity, to speaking nothing of the End of History). At any rate keep up the good work!
Thanks for doing this, Damon. I appreciate the effort required and your willingness to take on all comers. :)
Thanks for this. Personal and excellent writing.
Coupla comments for you from a lapsed Catholic. If you're not familiar with the term, it means someone who was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school (until my sophomore year in college) and doesn't go to Mass every Sunday. I want to respond to "I just couldn’t persist in the charade of attending Mass with my kids when I just didn’t find the church especially worthy of reverence."
I've been lapsed since then, but I'm a retired public school Teacher Librarian and I currently work part-time in a Catholic school. When I am at a required school Mass, I sing in the choir (always find the music to be uplifting). And our pastor is pretty liberal and so is our parish. Teachers who are gay are not fired. We don't ban library books like "The Boy in the Dress" by David Walliams. Non-Catholic students and teachers - and lapsed Catholics like me - are welcome. I feel very at-home here.
Here is what I wanted to say to you about attending Mass with your kids: The Church iself is NOT worthy of reverence. It is an institution and like all institutions it gets diverted from its purpose. The teachings of Jesus, on the other hand, are worthy of reverence. I'm afraid you were with Catholics who praise the Church over Jesus' teachings. They are authoritarians. In my parish, the emphasis - led by our pastor - is on the teachings and walking the talk.
I thought your comment about finding spiritual longing in your late 20s to be of great interest to me. So, now that you've left what I would call Conservative Catholicism, what has happened to that longing? And your children? Are they part of a larger community?
Re "non-partisan/open primaries" see https://www.fairvote.org/ranked_choice_voting.
Coming back to this late - not sure what I was doing when it came out.
I appreciate your detail on the Straussians: while I knew about Mansfield, Bloom, and Jaffa, and had read pieces aimed at lay audiences from a couple of others (Lawler, Manent, Arkes), I hadn't even heard of anyone in your "My Straussians" list.
Strong second to Mark Lilla as a future topic.