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Leo Strauss

Leo Strauss Quotes

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Famous Leo Strauss Quotes

“According to our social science, we can be or become wise in all matters of secondary importance, but we have to be resigned to utter ignorance in the most important respect: we cannot have any knowledge regarding the ultimate principles of our choices, i.e. regarding their soundness or unsoundness... We are then in the position of beings who are sane and sober when engaged in trivial business and who gamble like madmen when confronted with serious issues.”

ImportantMatterChoicesSocialPrinciplesIssuesWisePositionIgnoranceSeriousUltimateImportanceEngagedSaneSoberGambleMadmenOur ChoicesSocial ScienceResignedSoundnessSerious IssuesUnsoundness
Author:Leo Strauss
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“Men must always have distinguished (e.g. in judicial matters) between hearsay and seeing with one's own eyes and have preferred what one has seen to what he has merely heard from others. But the use of this distinction was originally limited to particular or subordinate matters. As regards the most weighty matters the first things and the right way the only source of knowledge was hearsay.”

MenWayFirstsMatterUseEyeSeeingHeardParticularSourceRegardDistinctionRight WayDistinguishedJudicialSubordinatesHearsay
Book:Natural Right and History
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“The adjective "political" in "political philosophy" designates not so much the subject matter as a manner of treatment; from this point of view, I say, "political philosophy" means primarily not the philosophic study of politics, but the political, or popular, treatment of philosophy, or the political introduction to philosophy the attempt to lead qualified citizens, or rather their qualified sons, from the political life to the philosophic life.”

MeanMatterPhilosophyPoliticalViewsStudySubjectsSonCitizensPoint Of ViewTreatmentQualifiedIntroductionPolitical PhilosophySubject MatterAdjectivesPolitical LifePhilosophic
Author:Leo Strauss
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