Spring 2025 | Yale University
This course will look at four giants of twentieth-century political philosophy: Leo Strauss, Michael Oakeshott, Isaiah Berlin, and Raymond Aron. Born within a decade of one another around the beginning the last century, each lived through the experience of war, dislocation (in the cases of Berlin, Strauss, and Aron), and the dangers of totalitarianism. Each contributed mightily to the recovery of political philosophy from its eclipse by the twin sources of positivism and historicism. The course will explore their views on the nature and purpose of political philosophy, the relation of philosophy and historical understanding, the threats to liberty, and the role of education as a condition of political freedom.
General
Readings
Required Works
[\c] Isaiah Berlin, The Proper Study of Mankind
[\c] Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays
[\o] Leo Strauss, What Is Political Philosophy? and Other Studies
[\c] Leo Strauss, Persecution and the Art of Writing
[\c] Raymond Aron, The Opium of the Intellectuals
Course Outline
Week 1: Introduction: The Revival of Political Theory
I. The World of Leo Strauss
Week 8: The Ancients and the Moderns
[\o] Leo Strauss, “What Is Political Philosophy?” in What Is Political Philosophy? and Other Studies (WPP)
[\o] Leo Strauss, “On Classical Political Philosophy,” in What Is Political Philosophy? and Other Studies (WPP)
[\o] Leo Strauss, “Political Philosophy and History,” in What Is Political Philosophy? and Other Studies (WPP)
Week 9: How to Read a Book
[\c] Leo Strauss, “Introduction,” in Persecution and the Art of Writing (PAW)
[\c] Leo Strauss, Persecution and the Art of Writing (PAW)
[\o] Leo Strauss, “On a Forgotten Kind of Writing,” in What Is Political Philosophy? and Other Studies (WPP)
[\c] Leo Strauss, “How to Study Spinoza’s ‘Theologico-Political Treatise,’” in Persecution and the Art of Writing (PAW)
Week 10: Strauss’s New Political Science
[\c] Leo Strauss, “Preface,” in Liberalism Ancient and Modern (LAM)
[\c] Leo Strauss, “What Is Liberal Education?” in Liberalism Ancient and Modern (LAM)
[\c] Leo Strauss, “Liberal Education and Responsibility,” in Liberalism Ancient and Modern (LAM)
[\c] Leo Strauss, “An Epilogue,” in Liberalism Ancient and Modern (LAM)
Abbreviations:
WPP = What Is Political Philosophy?
PAW = Persecution and the Art of Writing
LAM = Liberalism Ancient and Modern
SCPR = Studies in Classical Political Rationalism
II. The Conservatism of Michael Oakeshott
Week 5: On the Use and Abuse of Rationality
[\c] Michael Oakeshott, “Rationalism in Politics,” in Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (RP)
[\c] Michael Oakeshott, “Rational Conduct,” in Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (RP)
[\c] Michael Oakeshott, “The Tower of Babel,” in Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (RP)
Week 6: What Is Politics?
[\c] Michael Oakeshott, “On the Character of a Modern European State,” in On Human Conduct (OHC)
[\c] Michael Oakeshott, “Talking Politics,” in Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (RP)
Week 7: Political Education
[\c] Michael Oakeshott, “Political Education,” in Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (RP)
[\c] Michael Oakeshott, “The Activity of Being an Historian,” in Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (RP)
[\c] Michael Oakeshott, “The Study of Politics in a University,” in Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (RP)
Abbreviations:
RP = Rationalism in Politics
OHC = On Human Conduct
III. The Liberal Vision of Isaiah Berlin
Week 2 – Freedom and Its Enemies
[\c] Isaiah Berlin, “Two Concepts of Liberty,” in The Proper Study of Mankind (PSM)
[\c] Isaiah Berlin, “Historical Inevitability,” in The Proper Study of Mankind (PSM)
Week 3: Cultural Pluralism and History
[\c] Isaiah Berlin, “The Pursuit of the Ideal,” in The Crooked Timber of Humanity (CTH)
[\c] Isaiah Berlin, “Herder and the Enlightenment,” in The Proper Study of Mankind (PSM)
[\c] Isaiah Berlin, “The Counter-Enlightenment,” in The Proper Study of Mankind (PSM)
Week 4: Political Theory and Political Judgment
[\c] Isaiah Berlin, “The Sense of Reality,” in The Sense of Reality (SR)
[\c] Isaiah Berlin, “Political Judgment,” in The Sense of Reality (SR)
[\c] Isaiah Berlin, “Winston Churchill in 1940,” in The Proper Study of Mankind (PSM)
Abbreviations:
PSM = The Proper Study of Mankind
CTH = The Crooked Timber of Humanity
IV. Raymond Aron: Le Spectateur Engagé
Week 11: Intellectuals in Politics
[\c] Raymond Aron, The Opium of the Intellectuals (OI) chaps. Chaps. 2, 5, 7
[\c] Raymond Aron, “The Destiny of the Intellectuals,” in The Opium of the Intellectuals (OI)
[\c] Raymond Aron, “On the Historical Condition of the Sociologist,” in Politics and History (PH)
[\c] Raymond Aron, “The Social Responsibility of the Philosopher,” in Politics and History (PH)
Week 12: Liberty and Its Enemies
[\c] Raymond Aron, “The Liberal Definition of Freedom,” in Politics and History (PH)
[\c] Raymond Aron, “The Liberal Definition of Liberty,” in In Defense of Political Reason (DPR)
[\c] Raymond Aron, “Liberty and Equality”
Abbreviations:
PH = Politics and History
DT = Democracy and Totalitarianism
DPR = In Defense of Political Reason
OI = The Opium of the Intellectuals
Week 13: The SOBA Challenge
Additional Readings
Works on Leo Strauss
[\c] Steven B. Smith, Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism
[\c] Steven B. Smith, The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss
[\c] Daniel Tanguay, Leo Strauss: An Intellectual Biography
[\c] Michael and Catherine Zuckert, The Truth About Leo Strauss
Works on Michael Oakeshott
[\c] Robert Devigne, Recasting Conservatism: Oakeshott, Strauss, and the Response to Postmodernism
[\c] Paul Franco, The Political Philosophy of Michael Oakeshott
[\c] Paul Franco and Leslie Marsh, eds. A Companion to Michael Oakeshott
[\o] Efraim Podoksik, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss
Works on Isaiah Berlin
[\c] Joshua Cherniss, A Mind and its Time: The Development of Isaiah Berlin’s Political Thought
[\c] Joshua Cherniss and Steven B. Smith, Cambridge Companion to Isaiah Berlin
[\c] George Crowder, Isaiah Berlin: Liberty, Pluralism, and Liberalism
Arie Dubnov, Between Zionism and Liberalism: Isaiah Berlin and the Dilemma of the Jewish Liberal
[\c] John Grey, Isaiah Berlin
[\c] Michael Ignatieff, Isaiah Berlin: A Life
[\a] Robert Wokler and Joseph Mali, eds. Isaiah Berlin’s Counter- Enlightenment
Works on Raymond Aron
[\c] Ben Anderson, Raymond Aron: The Recovery of the Political
[\c] José Colen and Elisabeth Dutartre-Michaut, eds. The Companion to Raymond Aron
[\c] Aurelian Craiutu, Faces of Moderation, chap. 2
[\c] Tony Judt, The Burden of Responsibility, chap. 3
[\c] Daniel Mahoney, The Liberal Political Science of Raymond Aron
[\c] Iain Stewart, Raymond Aron and Liberal Political Thought in the 20th Century