leo strauss

during my senior year, i immersed myself into the thoughts of leo strauss...i used his writings quite extensively for my final exam for one of my political philosophy classes, and i made sure to memorize key chunks of what he's written on certain subjects so that i would be able to quote directly. this is what i remembered today:

philosophy is essentially not possession of the truth, but quest for the truth. the distinctive trait of the philosopher is that “he knows that he knows nothing,” and that his insight into our ignorance concerning the most important things induces him to strive with all his power for knowledge

since political philosophy is a branch of philosophy, even the most provisional explanation of what political philosophy is cannot dispense with an explanation, however provisional, of what philosophy is. philosophy, as quest for wisdom, is quest for universal knowledge, for knowledge of the whole.

all political actions aims at either preservation or change. when desiring to preserve, we wish to prevent a change to the worse; when desiring to change, we wish to bring about something better. all political action is then guided by some thought of better and worse. but thought of better or worse implies thought of the good. the awareness of the good which guides all our actions has the character of opinion: it in no longer questioned but, on reflection, it proves to be questionable. the very fact that we can question it directs us towards such a thought of the good as is no longer questionable – towards such a thought which is no longer opinion but knowledge. all political action has then in itself a directedness towards knowledge of the good: of the good life, or of the good society. for the good society is the complete political good.