Browsing by Author "Namazi, R"
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Item Open Access Leo Strauss on Machiavelli's the prince & the discourses: A recently discovered lecture(Interpretation (United States), 2017-03-01) Namazi, RItem Open Access Leo Strauss on Modern Political Science:Two Previously Unpublished Manuscripts(Review of Politics, 2017-01-01) Minkov, S; Namazi, RThe two manuscripts published here for the first time were written by Leo Strauss: the first in 1956 and the second between 1957 and 1962. The first, entitled Lecture in Milwaukee: Michigan Midwest Political Science, was written for the Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Midwest Conference of Political Scientists on May 4, 1956, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The second is an unpublished passage of An Epilogue Strauss wrote for Essays on the Scientific Study of Politics, published in 1962. Together these pieces improve our understanding of both the context in which Strauss developed his critique of the new political science and the audience to whom that critique was addressed. These two texts are of biographical interest. They are biographical in the sense that they clarify Strauss's thought and its evolution. The Lecture in Milwaukee clarifies the context in which Strauss's critique of modern political science was born: confrontation with the political scientists of the 1950s, here represented by Glendon Schubert who is not mentioned in Strauss's published writings. Without this lecture one might overlook the reference to extrasensory perception in the ironical discussion of our man in Missouri in Epilogue. The critique of Arthur Bentley, Bernard Berelson, Harold Laswell, and Herbert Simon by Strauss's students also takes on new meaning if read in the light of this lecture's references and Schubert's published article. Aside from Strauss's view of academia in the 1950s, his references in the lecture to the British Labour Party's policy toward Nazi Germany, to postwar American disarmament, and to prison reform and immigration policy in the United States provide rare and thus important information about Strauss's political views and judgment.Item Open Access Leo strauss on thomas hobbes and plato: Two previously unpublished lectures(Perspectives on Political Science, 2018-10-02) Namazi, RIn recent years, there has been a considerable increase of interest in the thought and writings of Leo Strauss. This renewed interest has led to the discovery and publication of writings and lectures which heretofore have been available only to few scholars. The following two recently discovered lectures on Plato’s Republic (1958) and Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan (1962) were originally delivered by Leo Strauss in the Works of the Mind lecture series at the University of Chicago. In these transcripts one finds sharper and franker formulations of the issues discussed in Strauss’ published writings; they depict Strauss’ efforts in trying different approaches and lines of inquiry which provide the reader with fresh and fascinating glimpses into Strauss’s philosophical development and intellectual odyssey.Item Open Access Machiavelli’s Critique of Classical Philosophy and His Case for The Political Life(Perspectives on Political Science, 2021-01-01) Namazi, RThis article illuminates how Machiavelli’s critique of classical philosophy is fundamental to his teaching. It will argue that Machiavelli criticized classical philosophy for its ineffectiveness and its endorsement of the leisurely philosophic life as the best way of life. In contrast, Machiavelli’s optimistic depiction of the scope of human power in controlling chance and his critique of the life of contemplation promote his new understanding of the best life, in which political life and its glory occupy the highest rank. I will then contend that in Machiavelli’s writings there is a coherent and powerful defense of the political life as the alternative for the philosophical life of contemplation.Item Open Access Politics, religion, and love: How leo strauss read the arabian nights(Journal of Religion, 2020-04-01) Namazi, RItem Open Access “Religion and the Commonweal in the Tradition of Political Philosophy”: An Unpublished Lecture by Leo Strauss(American Political Thought, 2021-01-01) Minkov, S; Namazi, RThe transcript published here for the first time is of Leo Strauss’s 1963 lecture on, and discussion of, the relation of religion to the commonweal in the tradition of political philosophy. In this lecture, Strauss considers the question of the establishment of religion, the relation of freedom of religion to freedom from religion, and the question of the truth of religion. The lecture has implications for American constitutional jurisprudence, especially concerning the First Amendment, which Strauss situates within the development of modern political philosophy.Item Open Access The question of esoteric writing in Machiavelli’s works(Renaissance and Reformation, 2017-03-01) Namazi, RThe question addressed by this article is whether esotericism or secret teachings exist in Machiavelli’s writings. This question has been a major point of contention between the commentators of Machiavelli, with many denying the existence of esoteric teaching in the Machiavellian corpus. This article will explore the controversy by studying Machiavelli’s own works, and on this basis it will be contended that there are many references and elements present in Machiavelli’s works that justify an esoteric interpretation. Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that Machiavelli has esoteric intentions that are different from the surface meaning of his texts. It is therefore necessary for commentators to go beyond the surface of his writings to uncover his deeper teachings.Item Open Access The Qur'an, reason, & revelation: Islamic revelation & its relationship with reason & philosophy(Interpretation (United States), 2017-03-01) Namazi, R