The Closing of the American Mind123 reviews Allan Bloom Simon & Schuster, 1988 The Roots of American Disorder + Makes his points well, but exposes some serious intellectual blind spots The university is supposed to be the place where excited young minds come to be initiated into the mysteries of the cosmos. And it wasn't long ago that such adventures were both available and pursued. Liberal education encouraged students to ask for themselves the question "what is man?" and to ...             Giants and Dwarfs : Essays 1960-19904 reviews Allan David Bloom Touchstone Books, 1991 Like experiencing imaginary superiority + Noble savagery + Noble savagery + An excellent collection of Bloom's lesser known essays             The Republic Of Plato: Second Edition41 reviews Plato Basic Books, 1991 Great Political Theory and Philosophy + Indispensable + Correcting two reviewers + Nice Translation! + Best Literal Translation             The Tragedy and Comedy of Life: Plato's Philebus1 review Plato University Of Chicago Press, 1993 difficult Benardete is very good on the details. For instance, Socrates must abstract from the cause-or mind-in order to deal with the un/limit by itself. The problem of mind is if mind is outside the mix, it is apeiron, or inexperienced, or if it is part of the mix, or the unlimited (apeiron), it is not ...             The City and Man5 reviews Leo Strauss University Of Chicago Press, 1978 Two Types of Reason, Two Types of Justice + Strauss vs. the "Straussians"? + The city and the political philosophy + Two Types of Reason, Two Types of Justice + Just for 21st-century enlightened people             The Argument of the Action: Essays on Greek Poetry and Philosophy2 reviews Seth Benardete, Ronna Burger, ... University Of Chicago Press, 2000 Benardete, sweet Jesus, you're a genius. + great book If you are a fellow budding philosopher/classics scholar, a random run-in with Benardete can be either a baffling or enlightening experience. For instance, for the life of me, I really cannot make the slightest sense of any of Socrates' Second Sailing. And not for lack of trying. And his work on ...             The Spirit of Modern Republicanism: The Moral Vision of the American Founders and the Philosophy of Locke ...1 review Thomas L. Pangle University Of Chicago Press, 1990 A powerful Straussian reading of Locke and his influence My basic belief about historical method is that it should be pretty much wide open. Certain methods seem custom designed for the researching and writing strengths of certain historians. One somewhat controversial methodology that has born recent brilliant fruit in the historiography of the American ...             The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (Cornell paperbacks)7 reviews Donald Kagan Cornell University Press, 2006 A tour de force + Kagan's Inexhaustible Guide to the Peloponnesian War + Unqualified Endorsement + for serious readers only + Mutually Assured Destruction (for the Ancients)             Xenophon: Memorabilia (Agora Editions) Xenophon Cornell University Press, 2001 An essential text for understanding Socrates, Xenophon's Memorabilia is the compelling tribute of an affectionate student to his teacher, providing a rare firsthand account of Socrates' life and philosophy. The Memorabilia is invaluable both as a work of philosophy in its own right and as a complement to the study of Plato's dialogues. The longest of Xenophon's four Socratic works, it ...             Sacred Transgressions Seth Benardete St. Augustines Press, 1999 This detailed commentary on the action and argument of Sophocles' Antigone is meant to be a reflection on and response to Hegel's interpretation in the Phenomenology (VI.A.a-b). It thus moves within the principles Hegel discovers in the play but reinserts them into the play as they show themselves across the eccentricities of its plot. Wherever plot and principles do not match, there is a glimmer ...             Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy2 reviews Muhsin Mahdi University Of Chicago Press, 2001 A Superior work by a superior scholar The radicalism and centrality of (philosophical) politics for the Muslim philosopher Farabi (around 900 CE) is the first thing that greets you, like the bristling edge of a row of thorn-bushes, in this amazing book; that uncomfortable impression never leaves you. Mahdi situates Farabi in the midst ...             Natural Right and History (Walgreen Foundation Lectures)16 reviews Leo Strauss University Of Chicago Press, 1999 Societies good vs. individual rights + An actual attempt to tell you what the book is about. Leo Strauss was a 20th century philosopher who spent his life studying and espousing the teachings of classical philosophical ideas. "Natural Right and History" delineates the fight between those who believe in the predominance of societal rights over individual rights. Here are a few quotes that ...             History of Political Philosophy11 reviews University Of Chicago Press, 1987 The Best Single Text On History Of Political Philosophy + The best philosophy overview + Excellent, for what it is... + One of the Best Sourcebooks + Essential Political Philosophy             Encounters and Reflections: Conversations with Seth Benardete4 reviews Seth Benardete University Of Chicago Press, 2003 The elements of style + Platonists in Rolls Royces + learning fan Encounters: Lady Beazley hates Germans. Peter Blanckenhagen hates hospitals. Leo Strauss is baffled by physics, Richard Rorty is diagnosed with Weltschmerz, Hilary Putnam welcomes the Maoist insurgency, and Eva Brann is oblivious to her own allure. Arthur Darby Nock bares it all; Jacob Klein ...             Leo Strauss On Plato's Symposium4 reviews Leo Strauss University Of Chicago Press, 2003 Take Professor Strauss's Class + The Founder of the Neo-Con movement... + Works like majic on the mind + Stunning clarity             The Archidamian War (Cornell paperbacks)5 reviews Donald Kagan Cornell University Press, 2006 Great Book, Great History + Kagan's Inexhaustible Guide to the Peloponnesian War + very in depth, but... + War and Peace, 5th Century B.C. + The Relevance of Greek History             The Being of the Beautiful: Plato's Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman1 review Plato University Of Chicago Press, 2007 Brilliant Benardete's translation is very literal. His commentaries on each of the dialogues is insightful and his introduction that is a commentary on the major hippias is incredibly helpful.             Plato's "Laws": The Discovery of Being2 reviews Seth Benardete University Of Chicago Press, 2001 Laying down the law... + Complex but worth the effort When one thinks of Plato and his ideas of politics, one naturally gravitates toward his best-known work, the Republic. In that book, Plato set up the ideal city-state, with classes born and bred to specific functions and roles in society, and a sense of philosophical outlook consistent across the ...             The Education of Cyrus (Agora Editions)5 reviews Xenophon Cornell University Press, 2001 A Brilliant Read + In the name of Iran + Xenofreak + What exactly are you buying here? + The opposite of xenophobia             Montesquieu's Philosophy of Liberalism: A Commentary on The Spirit of the Laws Thomas L. Pangle University Of Chicago Press, 1989 This first comprehensive commentary on The Spirit of the Laws uncovers and explicates the plan of Montesquieu's famous but baffling treatise. Pangle brings to light Montesquieu's rethinking of the philosophical groundwork of liberalism, showing how The Spirit of the Laws enlarges and enriches the liberal conception of natural right by means of a new appeal to History as the source of basic ...