Existentialism - Suffolk University

Existentialism
Leo Strauss
According to Dr. Victor Gourevitch, whose own lecture on Existentialism is
referred to by Professor Strauss in the text, this lecture was delivered in Febru
ary, 1956, at the Hillel Foundation of the University of Chicago. The lecture
was available to the editors
tions,
while
indicating
Professor Strauss merely
where
can
of Chicago. We have
University
in the text,
version
a
Professor Strauss's revisions,
with
chives at the
copy of a typescript with additions, correc
Professor Strauss's own hand. The original of this
by
and alterations
typescript,
in
in
only the
corrected version.
Wiebke Meier for
rich and
Strauss
We have
ar
However,
typographical mistake, or where
we
of punctuation,
also taken the
comment, a few misspellings in the typescript. We
without
the
notes what the revisions were.
corrected a
added a comma or made other small changes
sented
be found in
chosen to present the revised
help
their most generous
in
liberty
have
he
pre
of correcting,
are grateful
deciphering
to
Hein
Professor
Strauss's handwriting.
A
more
heavily
edited version
differs, in part, from
been
having
lecture, based
of this
on a typescript that
the one we used, and on a copy that gives no indication of
by
Professor Strauss,
previously published, under the
title "An Introduction to Heideggerian Existentialism,
in The Rebirth of Clas
seen
was
"
sical
Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought
cago:
pp.
University
of Chicago Press, 1989
2746. We have
in
noted
important divergences between
This
should
series of
help
lectures
with
1989
by
The
of
Leo Strauss (Chi
University
an epilogue what appear to us to
of Chicago]),
be the most
the earlier version and the present one.
the perplexities
a reminder of
the Jewish students in
the modem Jew
[
particular
towards
somewhat greater clarity.
facing
of modem man
the perplexities of
Existentialism has
reminded
many
thinking is incomplete and defective if the thinking being, the
triinking individual, forgets himself as what he is. It is the old Socratic warn
ing. Compare1 Theodorus in the Theaetetus, the purely theoretic, purely objec
people
tive
that
loses himself completely in the contemplation of mathematical
knows nothing about himself and his fellow men, in particular
man who
objects,
about
who
his
own
defects. The
thinking2
The3
observer, for instance.
swered by science, for this
1995
by
The
University
interpretation,
Spring
of
man
is
not a pure
question what am
would
mean
Chicago. All rights
1995, Vol. 22, No. 3
I,
mind, a
or who am
that there are some
reserved.
pointer-reading
cannot be an
I
self-forgetting
304
Interpretation
Theodoruses
have
who
gotten
hold
of the
limits
of the
human
soul
by
means of
For if they have not done so, if their results are necessarily
provisional, hypothetical, it is barely possible that what we can find out by
scientific method.
ourselves and our situation
examining
tence of scientific
knowledge, is
'Existentialism is
a
ment
like
and
overriding
to a single
in
about such a radical change
Germany, in
thought in
Anglo-Saxony. I
This is
man:
deceptive.5
The
is
like
not
owes
alone
as a
is revolutionizing
all
to affect even
beginning
young Ph.D. in 1922.
its
brought
this effect. I remember the impression
by
I heard him first
and
is
Existentialism
thought as
Europe,
continental
name
a nameless move
Heidegger. Heidegger
philosophic
am not surprised
made on me when
science.
thought.
Thomism. Existentialism is
pragmatism or positivism.
significance
the pride and the pre
without
helpful than
of philosophic
school
Platonism, Epicureanism,
more
honestly,
Up
he
to that time I
had been particularly impressed, as many of my contemporaries in Germany
Weber's6
intransigent devotion to intellectual hon
were, by Max Weber, by
esty,
his
by
passionate
devotion to the idea
way north from Freiburg
Main Franz Rosenzweig
formed
where
whose
people speak about
child
in
before
philosophic
name will
Heidegger,
always
and
be
I told him
Weber
in Frankfurt
saw
remembered
appeared
no
seriousness, profundity,
Charity
our own
compels me
was
eyes
Hegel. He
in
of
Heidegger. I
to
me as an orphan
said
and concentration
in the interpretation
of
texts. I had heard Heidegger's interpretation of certain sections in
comparison.
Heidegger
am
when
Aristotle. Sometime later I heard Werner Jaeger in Berlin interpret the
texts.
was
to precision, and probing, and competence. I had never seen
regard
such
devotion that
a
science,
Heidegger then taught, I
Existentialism,
to him: in comparison with
of
regarding the meaning of science. On my
combined with a profound uneasiness
to
Gradually
limit the
the breadth of the
preparing dawned upon
that there had been no
in
remark7
comparison to the
revolution
me and
my
of
thought
generation.
such phenomenon
time in
same
that there was
We
in the
which
saw with
world
since
very
dethroning
philosophy in Germany. There was a famous discussion between Heidegger
and Ernst Cassirer in Davos which revealed the lostness and emptiness of this
succeeded
a
short
the
established schools
of
philosophy to everyone
Hermann Cohen, the founder of the
remarkable representative of established academic
who
had
neo-
eyes.
Kantian
Cassirer had been
school.8
was ethics.
a pupil of
Cohen had
elaborated a system of
Cassirer had transformed Cohen's
philosophy whose center
into a new system of
system
philosophy in which ethics had completely disappeared: it had been silently
dropped: he had not faced the problem. Heidegger did face the problem. He
declared that
ethics
awareness that this
most
pher
is impossible
fact
opens
and
his
an abyss.
whole
being
was permeated
up
I would say the
outstanding German philosopher
was Edmund Husserl. It was Heidegger's critique
enology
which
by
the
Prior to Heidegger's emergence the
became decisive: precisely because that
only5
of
German
Husserl's
philoso
phenom
criticism consisted
in
a
305
Existentialism
Husserl's
radicalization of
to
once said
me who
had been trained
the
mistake of
Marburg
in9
Marburg
the
to all other German
neo-Kantians were superior
made
Briefly,
own question and questioning.
beginning
with
neo-Kantianism was the
Husserl
as8
the10
neo-Kantian
school,
schools, but
philosophical
they
the roof. He meant: the primary theme of
analysis
But science, Husserl
of science.
from our primary knowledge of the world of things; sci
taught, is derivative
ence is not the perfection of man's understanding of the world, but a specific
modification
that pre-scientific
of
understanding is
science out of pre-scientific
the
philosophical
first
understanding
place the analysis of the
Husserl
himself5
began
understanding.
a
meaningful genesis
of
problem; the primary theme is
of the pre-scientific world and therefore
sensibly
perceived
According
thing.
the roof: the merely
with
The
sensibly
in the
to Heidegger
perceived
thing is
itself derivative; there are not first sensibly perceived things and thereafter the
same things in a state of being valued or in a state of affecting us. Our primary
understanding of the world is not an understanding of things as objects but
indicated"
what the Greeks
by pragmata, things which we handle and
of
use.12
The horizon
derstanding
analyzed
the world of pre-scientific un
was the pure consciousness as the absolute being. Heidegger ques
tioned that orientation
the
Husserl had
within which
by
referring to the fact that the inner time belonging to
be understood if one abstracts from the fact that
pure consciousness cannot
this time is necessarily finite and even constituted
same effect which
Heidegger had in the late twenties
many, he had very
soon
in
continental
existence a philosophic position apart
All
or refined.
rational13
liberal
Europe
from
by
mortality.
man's
and
as a whole.
early thirties in Ger
There is no longer in
Marxism
neo-Thomism and
philosophic
have lost their
positions
The
crude
signifi
One may deplore this but I for one cannot bring myself to
be8
inadequate. I
philosophic
positions which have been shown to
to
clinging
great
effort
in
order
to
find a solid
shall
have
to
make
a
afraid that we
very
cance and power.
am14
basis for
rational
liberalism.
is the
tual plight. But here
Only
great
a great
thinker could
trouble, the only
help
great
in
us
our
intellec
thinker in our time
is
Heidegger.
The only
ger's
importance
question of
teaching is true
or not.
of course
But the very
silent about the question of competence
haps only
of who
is
question whether
made a
distinction between
Heideg
is deceptive because it is
competent
thinkers are really competent to judge
great
Kant16
thinkers.
is the
question
of5
to judge. Per
the thought of great
those
philosophers and
for
whom
philosophy is identical with the history of philosophy. He made a distinction, in
other words, between the thinker and the scholar. I know that I am only a
scholar.
But I know
mostly,
at
great
thinkers,
authority.
to
best,
The
our sight
in,
also
scholars.
that
The
of men who
us
scholar
faced the
that call themselves philosophers are
is radically dependent
problems without
is cautious, methodic,
inaccessible heights and
scholar
to
most people
not
on
being
bold. He does
mists as
the work of the
covered"
not
by any
become lost
the great thinkers do. Yet
306
Interpretation
while
the great thinkers are so bold
they
are;
the
We
see pitfalls where we are sure of our ground.
live in
scholars
a
circle, light-living like the Homeric gods, protected against the prob
the great thinkers. The scholar becomes possible through the fact that
charmed
lems
are also much more cautious than we
they
by
great
thinkers disagree. Their disagreement
reason about
for wondering
their differences
creates a
which of
possibility for
them is
more
us
to
likely
to
be right. We may think that the possible alternatives are exhausted by the great
thinkers of the past. We may try to classify their doctrines and make a kind of
herbarium
and think
in 2200 in Burma
ture
provided
out
that we look over them from a vantage point. But we
the possibility that
cannot exclude
for
by
the limits of human
the little we
about
The
scholar
books. If he is
great thinker
the
our schemata.
For
possibilities?19
thought
of whose
In brief,
has in
way been
found
no
to believe that we have
who are we
we are occupied with
reasoning
the great thinkers have said.
understand oP what
faces the fundamental
intermediacy
through the
problems
a serious man through the
faces the
thinkers might arise in the fu
other great
character18
intermediacy
of
the great books. The
of
directly.
problems
I apply this to my situation in regard to Heidegger. A famous psychologist I
in Europe, an old man, told me that in his view it is not yet possible to
saw
form
work.
a
judgment
a
Because this
in
significance
work changed
a most general
the intellectual
There is
way22
this
what
The
work means.
a not altogether unrespectable
Nazi in 1933. This
a
part of a man who
lived
Everyone
read
the trees
of
orientation so
Heidegger is aiming at the more I see how much
stupid thing I could do would be to close my eyes
became
the truth
as
as well
Heidegger's
radically21
time is needed in order to understand with even tolerable
long long
and
the
about
who
had
could see
the
was not
due to
his first
great
book
kinship
in temper
I
or
to reject his
doing
a mere error of
above the
did
and
and
understand what
still escapes me.
justification for
heights high
on great
more
that
adequacy
The
work.
so.
Heidegger
judgment
lowland23
not overlook
most
the
on
of politics.
the wood for
direction between Heidegger's
thought and the Nazis. What was the practical, that is to say serious meaning of
the contempt for
the
work24
rector of
which
the
of
University
not yet
his writings,
recent publications.
in
which
ment.
rected.
he
In the
The
of
Freiburg
Nietzsche.
dared to
Yet8
in
of
Nietzsche,
kinship
that speech
from time to time
he
published a
the greatness and
in
movement?
in 1933 he delivered
mention
195325
preface written
an undeniable
praise of resoluteness which permeated
When Heidegger
195325
dignity
he
Heidegger
reminds
naturally,
would not
in the
on
in
Germany.
otherwise complete
the book jackets
book, lectures
of
was
an official speech
the movement which then swept
with
which appear
spoke of
case
the
to encourage that extremist
he identified himself
Heidegger has
list
reasonableness and
except
of
his
in 1935,
the National Socialist move
said that all mistakes
given
had been
cor
to a certain extent of the case of
have
sided with
between Nietzsche's thought
and
Hitler. Yet there is
fascism. If
one rejects
307
Existentialism
as
democracy
well as
be
will
Nietzsche
as
passionately
with
a27
did26
view
much more effective
the conservative constitutional monarchy as
to a new aristocracy, the passion of the denials
than the necessarily
character of the new nobility.
To28
political action against such things
It is
not even
intimations
more subtle
of
the
his29
blond beast. Passionate
say nothing of
is absolutely in order but it is not sufficient.
Are there no dangers threatening democracy
politically sufficient.
not only from without but from within as well? Is there no problem of democ
racy, of industrial mass democracy? The official high priests of democracy with
their
amiable reasonableness were not reasonable enough
the decline of
situation:
heritage
is
which
Mediterranean
at
believe that the U.N.
And30
within
commercials
as great and even greater
civilization
around
organization
democracy: it
logical
and5
have indeed the
described the
is
of
our
than that which threatened
the Christian
an answer even
positivism with
chambers, but is the absence
once
300
era.
to the
suffices to mention the name of
merit of not
for
the danger to the west, to the whole western
Europe,
least
to prepare us
sending
of
It is
political problem.
31
France
and5
their indescribable vulgarity.
into
men
to
childish
the
They
concentration camps and gas
these unspeakable evils sufficient? Nietzsche
had been
change which
in the
effected
half
second
of
the
follows.32
The reading of the morn
century in continental Europe as
prayer had been replaced by the reading of the morning paper: not every
nineteenth
ing
day
thing, the same reminder of
but every day something new with
the same
destiny,
destiny. Specialization,
impossibility
entirely depends
look for
me
the very few
this33
a moment at
duty
duty
and
and exalted
and exalted
less,
problem.
practical
things upon which
specialization compensated
philistinism and
the Jewish
less
essential
the stimulation of all kinds of interests
by
true passion, the danger of universal
let
absolute
no reminder of
more and more about
of concentration upon
man's wholeness
universality,
knowing
men's
by
sham
and curiosities without
creeping conformism. Or
The nobility of Israel is
beyond praise, the only bright spot for the contemporary Jew who
knows where he comes from. And yet Israel does not afford a solution to the
literally
Jewish
conceal grave
price of
It
"The Judaeo-Christian tradition"? This
problem.
differences. Cultural
blunting
thinking
As
men and
you
may
to blur and to
means
only be had it
seems at
the
all edges.
be wholly unworthy of
democracy even if they are
would
critics of
pluralism can
us as
thinking beings
not
democracy
not blustering
enemies of
to listen to the
provided
especially great thinkers and
from Mr. Gourevitch's lecture, Existentialism
recall
a certain experience
(anguish)
as the
basic
experience
they
are
fools.
in the light
appeals
to
of which
everything must be understood. Having this experience is one thing; regarding
it as the basic experience is another thing. Its basic character is not guaranteed
This argument
only be guaranteed by
in our time.
admitted
in
what
is
it
is
implied
generally
may be invisible because
What is generally admitted may imply, but only imply a fundamental uneasi-
by
the
experience
itself. It
argument.5
can
308
Interpretation
is vaguely felt but not faced. Given this context, the experience to
which Existentialism refers will appear as a revelation, as the revelation, as the
authentic interpretation of the fundamental uneasiness. But something more is
ness which
required which
however is equally generally admitted in our time: the vaguely
must be regarded as essential to man, and not only to
present5
felt
uneasiness
day
man.
Let
non.
Yet this vaguely felt uneasiness is distinctly a present day phenome
however that this uneasiness embodies what all earlier ages
us assume
have thought, is the result of what earlier ages have thought; in that case the
vaguely felt uneasiness is the mature fruit of all earlier human efforts: no return
is
to an older interpretation of that uneasiness is possible. Now this
a second
today (apart from the fundamental uneasiness which is
faced); this second element is the belief in progress.
view
accepted
generally
vaguely felt but not
I have already referred to the
more about
less
less.'
has
not
kept the
the
nineteenth century:
verse and
promise which
the truth
memorable
known
it held
expression
mean?
out
It
from its
means
'we know
that
beginning
more and
modem science
up to the
end of
that it would reveal to us the true character of the uni
about man.
document
well
What does this
and
of
You have in the Education of Henry Adams
a
the change in the character and in the claim of science
itself felt in the general public towards the end of the last century
has increased since, in momentum and sweep. You all know the
that value-judgments are impermissible to the scientist in general and
which made
and which
assertion
to the social scientist in particular. This means
increased
lutely
man's power
incapable to tell
whether
it is
wiser
to
in
men
how to
that
use
former
ways that
use5
that power.
power
wisely
devilishly. From this it follows that science is
ingfulness
We
ing,
or
to
answer
and
beneficently
unable
question whether and
Science
in
but8
which
in itself has
still said
to establish its
from the
own
ever
say
as
he
talking
as a scientist
point of view of science
spoken of a
bulk is
a scientist would
flight from
but
is
him
foolishly
that science and reason is man's highest power,
told that he was not
which
If
no meaning.
cannot tell
or
what sense science
are then confronted with an enormous apparatus whose
Mephisto
has
the
certainly that while science has
dreamt of, it is abso
men never
is
and
mean-
good.
increas
Goethe's
would
be
a value
judgment
altogether unwarranted.
Someone
was34
scientific reason.
making
This flight is
not
due to any
perversity but to science itself. I dimly remember the time when people argued
as follows: to deny the possibility of science or rational value judgments means
to admit that all values are of equal rank; and this means that respect
values,
gone.
ity
universal
Today
of all
should
we
tolerance, is
hear that
values; that
draw
the
dictate
of scientific reason.
no conclusion whatever can
science
does
rational conclusions
not
from
legitimate
scientific
for
be drawn from the
nor
all
But this time has
equal
indeed forbid that
findings. The
we
assumption that
31
rationally and therefore turn to science for reliable information
this assumption is wholly outside of the purview and interest of science proper.
we should act
The flight from
scientific reason
is35
the consequence of the
flight
of5
science
Existentialism
from5
if he does
being
does
from the
reason
not allow of value
progress except
in the
It
judgments has
his
who perverts
saying that a science which
longer any possibility of speaking of
no
irrelevant
humanly
being
a rational
goes without
has accordingly been
cept of progress
is
notion that man
not act rationally.
309
sense of scientific progress:
by
replaced
the concept
the con
If
of change.
why science is good, of why
fulfill a duty in devoting them
science or reason cannot answer the question of
gifted and otherwise able people
sufficiently
selves to
nal: one
science,
may
Furthermore,
choose with equal
science
does
no
human understanding36; it
which will always remain
except that
mean
his
science and
entific
and
choice of science
and otherwise
conceive of
itself
that it is based
hypotheses. The
any
on
as
satisfying
choice of
does
not
the scientific orientation
as
groundless choice
of the choice of the scientific
myths.
fundamental hypotheses
the reflective scientist discovers
the choice of alternative orientations,
not ratio
the perfection of the
alternative orientation.
a8
is
whole stmcture of science
If this is so, the
choice of science
interpretation
that the
right pleasing
longer
as groundless as the choice of
this
effect
admits
rest on evident necessities.
is
in
science says
But
what else
does
the ground of
an abyss.
orientation,
on
For
the one
his
a sci
hand,
the other, presupposes already the
on
The fundamental freedom is the only
Everything else rests on that fundamental free
acceptance of the scientific orientation.
non-hypothetical phenomenon.
dom. We
are
Someone
ism
might
are of course
have
ism
already in the
say that
helpless
a rational
asked
by
the Existentialist onslaught. But do
as well as poor and stupid positiv
and
where
of
the
old,
of
match?19
do I find today the
philosopher who
good
life?19
Plato
of
ideas
as
Naturally
and of
I
If
dares
the true metaphysics and the tme ethics which
to us in a rational, universally valid way the nature of
doctrine
no
philosophy?19
character of
phers of
we not
takes up the thread where science and positiv
which
I disregard the neo-Thomists,
to say that he is in possession
reveal
itself
science
against
philosophy
for which poetic, emotional Existentialism is
myself for a long time where do I find that rational
drop it,
have
Existentialism.
midst of
we can sit at
or
feet
being
and the
of the great philoso
dare to say that Plato's
Aristotle's doctrine of the nous that does
Aristotle. But
he intimated it,
the
who can
nothing but think itself and is essentially related to the eternal visible universe,
Are those like myself who are inclined to sit at the feet of
is the true
teaching?19
the old philosophers
enough
to
remind
to the danger of a weak-kneed eclecticism
not exposed
which will not withstand a single
them
of
the
blow
on
the part of those who are competent
characterizes every thinker who deserves to be called
profound
disagreement among the
appeal
to them
proper
is taken
without
Weltanschauungslehre, theory
mitted
great?19
great thinkers of the
blunting all edges?
by what was
more and more
inspiration that
singleness of purpose and of
The
Considering
the
past, is it possible to
place of rational
philosophy
in the country of its origin
views. In this stage it is ad
called
of comprehensive
that we cannot refer to the tme metaphysical and ethical
teaching
avail-
310
Interpretation
in any
able
great thinkers of
the
of
that37
the past. It is admitted
there
are n
answering the fundamental questions, that there are n types of absolute
presuppositions as Collingwood called them, none of which can be said to be
ways of
rationally
to any other. This
superior
has
truth as a rational philosophy
groundless;
fundamental
at
its
end.
thus
we are
the fact that any
led39
to the abyss of
again
doctrine
such
it. It
means
just
of
the
in
the
as
presuppositions
is
freedom. To say nothing
of
that the
of comprehensive views presupposes
that fundamental human creativity
possibilities are available or
Furthermore there is
idea
to abandon the very
that the choice of any of these
scientists38
case of the social
means
always understood
disproportion between the
a radical
face the fundamental
is
analyst of
comprehensive views who
does
does
in their primary meaning, viz. as pointing to one
thinkers themselves. He is separated from them by a
answer
deep
only,
position
are
to
the great
is
gulf which
of original
must
and
not
created
by
his
have been
the thinkers
understood
if
knowledge
pretended
philosophy itself. How
understand
directly
questions
and
them
not even recognize
one
of
the Utopian character
possibly believe
want
to be understood
they
that40
can we
as
is to
he is in
and
as8
a
they
tabulate their teachings. We
order and
sufficiently familiar with the history of moral philosophy in particular in
to be taken in for one moment by the pious hope that while there may
order not
be
profound
disagreements among the
spects, that they
will
possible
of
views
and that
views
If
way out
finds itself
rational
in
philosophers
all other re
regarding human conduct. There is only one
doctrine41
of comprehensive
the predicament in which the
happily
agree
is to find the
ground of
the variety of comprehensive
soul or more generally stated in the human condition.
indispensable step one is again already at the threshold of
in the human
one takes
this8
Existentialism.
There is
another
People say that
very
values of our society.
science
common
way
of
we must adopt values and
itself depends
Our42
solving the so-called
that it is natural for
values are our
on values.
highest
principles
Now it is impossible to
value problem.
us to adopt
the
if the meaning
overlook
the
of
relation
society to our society5, and the dependence of the
principles on the society. This means generally stated that the principles, the
so-called categorial system or the essences are rooted ultimately in the particu
of
the
principles5
lar, in something
of our
which exists.
people mean when
or relative to the
they
say,
decay
Existence
that the
e.g.
of the
Greek
precedes essence.
Stoic
natural
polis and
For
what else
law teaching is
rooted
do
in
the emergence of the Greek
empire?19
As I
said,43
sometimes people
try
to avoid the
difficulty indicated by
that we have to adopt the values of our society. This is altogether
for
serious men.
We
values of our society.
values of one's
cannot
To
society
help
raising the
question as
accept the values of one's
means
saying
impossible
to the value of the
society because they
are the
simply to shirk one's responsibility, not to
the situation that everyone has to
make
his
own
choice, to mn
away from
face
one's
Existentialism
self.
To find the
society, because
duty
solution
to our problem in the acceptance of the
they
the
are
values of our
and to make oneself oblivious
society
-311
values of our
to make philistinism a
means
to the difference between tme individuals
and whitened sepulchres.
The
uneasiness
izes that
today is felt but
which
Existentialism
single word: relativism.
far from
relativism so
Existentialism is the
in the last
analysis
is in the last
be
he
because it
in
we
have
but this
be
relief, is deadly.
All truth, all meaning is seen
man's freedom. Objectively there
This
nothingness.
experience cannot
life
and
of an
project,
a
real
relativism.
find
freely
Man is
are possible.
unsupported
nothingness can
an objective expres
originates
ideal,
the absolute presupposition, the
understanding
by
an abyss.
in detachment. Man
made
horizon,
horizon-fonning
their own
but it
the realization that as the ground of all ob
discover
no support except
anguish
expressed
of relativism
a solution or even a
only meaninglessness,
cannot
the
originates
within which
a
to
analysis
experienced
sion:
knowledge
rational
with
be
can
the truth
reaction of serious men to
Existentialism begins then
jective,
being
faced
not
admits
man
project, of
by
a
meaning,
the project
virtue of such
thrown project.
More precisely man always lives already within such a horizon without being
aware of its character; he takes his world as simply given; i.e. he has lost
himself; but he
himself back from his lostness
can call
and
take the respon
sibility for what he was in a lost, unauthentic way. Man is essentially a social
being: to be a human being means to be with other human beings. To be in an
way means to be in an authentic way
is incompatible with being false to others. Thus
with44
authentic
oneself
exist
a
the possibility of
strictly formal
However this may
possibility of an ethics.
To be a human being
authentic
means
in the world; to
and one's own
being
sham certainties
(and
as
that
from him the
To live
We
merely
the things
factual;
certainty necessarily
himself
means
ultimately
oneself
he
must
resolutely,
Only
if
themselves to him as
world reveal
abyss of which
believed in the
the world as merely
within
to risk
man erects around
dangerously
are
be,
have to be however
never
to be in the world. To be authentic means to be
accept
way do the things in the
consequence
Heidegger
all objective certainties are sham).
concern with objective
there would seem to
an existentialist ethics which would
ethics.
to be true to
others:
be
narrows
they
despising
is in this
are.
The
the horizon. It leads to the
an artificial
aware
man
factual
if he
setting which conceals
to be truly human.
wants
to think exposedly.
confronted with mere
facticity
or contingency.
But
are we
not able and even compelled to raise the question of the causes of ourselves and
of the things
Where45
and
in the
world?
Whither,
or of
Indeed
the Where and Whither and the
light
of the whole,
Whole.46
in the light
ignorance is the basis
of
we cannot
the Whole. But
of
his
his lostness
help
we
Man
do
cannot understand
origin or
or
raising the questions of the
not know and cannot know
the core
his
of
end.
This
the human
himself in the
irredeemable47
situation.
By
312
Interpretation
making this
Kant's
assertion existentialism restores
thing-in-itself and of
man's
knowledge
of objective
tentialism there is
ability to grasp the fact
law
It becomes necessary to
of
the
unknowable
his freedom
at
the limits
in
the ground of objective knowledge. But
and as
no moral
notion of
exis
and no other world.
fully
make as
the character of
explicit as possible
human existence; to raise the question what is human existence; and to bring to
light the essential structures of human existence. This inquiry is called by
Heidegger
tenz
from the
Plato's
and
being
Existenz. Heidegger
analytics of
is
the fundamental ontology. This means he took
outset as
Aristotle's
to
question what
be?19
Heidegger
is being? What is that
Plato
agreed with
and
by
up
again
virtue of which
Aristotle
not
only as
to this, that the question of what is to be is the fundamental question; he also
agreed with Plato and Aristotle as to this, that the fundamental question must
any
said
the analytics of Exis-
conceived of
be primarily
to that
addressed
Yet
authoritative way.
est sense means
in the highest
is
sense
brings to light the
new
is5
in the
according to Plato
constituted
essential
by
Aristotle to be in the high
and
in
of
existence.
tivity? Does
knowledge,
the
not
difference
spite of the
of
the new philosophy is necessarily based on a specific
from
not subject
Man is
non of existence.
of
existence
of existence.
content, objective,
analytics of subjec
philosophy too take on the character of absolute
knowledge, final knowledge, infinite knowledge? No
cannot analyze existence
is
is: to be
new
complete
choice which
which man
Analytics
philosophy, comparable to Kant's transcendental
rational
be in the highest
that to
manner
structures, the unchangeable character
in
most
mortality.
analytics
Philosophy
the
most emphatic or
contends
is to say, to be in the
thus becomes
Philosophy
which
to be always, Heidegger
to exist, that
sense means
Is then the
while
being
to
a neutral point of
examination
in
order
finite being, incapable
a
ideal
view; one
of existence.
must
have
to be open to the
of absolute
One
made a
phenome
knowledge: his
very knowledge of his finiteness is finite. We may also say: commitment can
only be understood by an understanding which is itself committed, which is a
commitment. Or: existential philosophy is subjective truth about the
specific5
subjectivity
guided
by
is
which
tialism
of
opinion
(or
general
terms,
rational
philosophy has been
the
with
Existenz.5
was
A
itself.
called
subjective
of
Heidegger
was
coherent exposition
tence within the traditional
of
formerly
itself to be
as49
reveals
of existen
superficial
itself
as
pro
the understanding that there is no apodicticity.
essential character of
distinction between
distinction). On the basis
called objective reveals
achievement
experience of
tence out
in
an equivalent of this
what
assertoric,
great
of
speak
formerly
and
problematic;
The
To
the distinction between the objective which is true and the subjective
what was
found
tenz;5
truth.48
Existenz.5
horizon,
i.e.
the coherent exposition of the
based
within
essence and existence.
on
the experience of Exis
Kierkegaard had
the
horizon
spoken of exis
the traditional
Heidegger tried to understand exis
of
Existentialism
Yet the
analytics
of existence
was
eventually induced Heidegger to find
to break with existentialism. I shall
to serious difficulties
exposed
fundamentally
a
313
basis,
new
which
that is to say,
these difficulties.
mention now some of
Heidegger demanded from philosophy that it should liberate itself com
pletely from traditional or inherited notions which were mere survivals of for
mer ways of thinking. He mentioned especially concepts that were of Christian
theological origin. Yet his understanding of existence was obviously of Chris
1
(conscience,
tian origin
analytics
of existence was
the
wonder whether
had
of existence
the
sun and
should
form
other words
it
difficulty
was
said
neatly
own existentialism
physics, Plato
to
are.
all
rather
the
beings
of
4
are.
The highest
finiteness:
yet
how
infinity?19
of
Professor
whole?
Hocking
can
Or in
stated
presupposes espoir and espoir
than despair the
Hegel had
is the
metaphysics
made
fundamental
to Kant. The
this
presup
phenomenon?
that
same as
Existence
are.
relation of
Heidegger to
Hegel to Kant. The
of
objections
to lead to the consequence that one cannot escape meta
consequence
is impossible. But
intended
on an
must rather
From this
be
is
is
what
needed
understood
point of view
by
some repetition of
Existence
virtue of which
in the light
the
is
plane.
Heidegger. The
by
rejected
entirely different
clue, the clue to the understanding of that
beings
hence
example
ultimately loves, God, the ultimate ground?
Heidegger made to himself were fundamentally the
Aristotle. This
and
what metaphysics
the5
analytics
not that which man
objections which
mentioned would seem
return
The
truth and
that we cannot know the whole; but does this not
then not love
same objections which
his
no
beings (for
in the light
not seen
follows: desespoir
as
3
human beings. This is hard: that there
virtue of which
finiteness if it is
be
there can be
while
The fact that the
of existence made one
arbitrary.
be finite knowledge
presuppose awareness of
love; is
Is therefore
These
to
was said
seen as
by
that
without
ideal
specific
assertion that there can
are no
2)50
anguish).
fundamentally
the earth), if there
finiteness be
poses
in the
a
beings,
knowledge
necessarily
on
human
are no
be beings
of
based
death,
unto
analysis was not
culminated
be, if there
no to
being
guilt,
of
that
by
cannot
all5
be
beings
virtue of which
analytics of existence appears still
to
subjectivism.51
partake of modem
I have
of
compared
the relation of Heidegger to existentialism with the relation
Hegel to Kant. Hegel may be said to have been the first philosopher who
that his philosophy belongs to his time. Heidegger's criticism of
was aware
existentialism can therefore
be the insight into the
such would
belong
be
existentialism claims
essential character of
man, the final
insight
claims
to
which as
time, to the fullness of time. And yet existential
a fullness of time: the historical process is unfinwill
be
a
historical being.
In
other
words
to be the understanding of the
not reflect about
of western man.
follows. Existentialism
to the final
ism denies the possibility of
ishable; man is and always
does
expressed as
its
own
historicity,
of
its
historicity of man and yet it
belonging to a specific situation
It becomes therefore necessary to
return
from Kierkegaard's
314
Interpretation
existing individual who has nothing but contempt for Hegel's understanding of
man in terms of universal history, to that Hegelian understanding. The situation
to which
existentialism
belongs
liberal
be
can
seen
insight has
grave
which
Let
consequences.
of
itself
uncertain of
Europe
a
This
Hegel.
to
moment
its
or of
West.52
or of the
look back for
us
More
to be liberal democracy.
has become
democracy
precisely
future. Existentialism belongs to the decline
a
Hegel's philosophy knew itself to belong to a specific time. As the completion
or perfection of philosophy it belonged to the completion or fullness of time.
This
for Hegel that it belonged to the post-revolutionary state, to Europe
under Napoleon
non-feudal, equality of opportunity, even free enter
meant
united
prise, but a strong
expressive of
of
the rights of
head
man or of
the state guided
of
dependent
government not
the general will
by
which
the
a
ety thus constructed was the
is the
dignity
first
will of
the majority yet
recognition
each,
every human being, the
of
rate and
final
the
on
reasonable will of
highly
History
monarchic
Soci
educated civil service.
society.
had
come
to its
end.
Pre
cisely because history had come to its end, the completion of philosophy had
become possible. The owl of Minerva commences its flight at the beginning of
dusk. The
the
completion of
therewith,
west and
west, the
Almost
beginning
of
history
is the
beginning
since all other cultures
the decline
of
have been
the decline of mankind. There
everyone rebelled against
is
Hegel's conclusion,
no
of
Europe,
absorbed
future for
no one more
of
into the
mankind.
powerfully
than Marx. He pointed out the untenable character of the
settlement and the problem of the
the vision of a world
arose
working
class with all
post-revolutionary
its implications. There
which presupposed and established
society
the complete victory of the town over the country, of the
Orient53;
which would make possible
the
full
Occident53
potentialities of
each,
on
for
ever
the
over
the basis
of man
world
who
having become completely collectivized. The man of the
is perfectly free and equal is so in the last analysis because
all specializa
tion,
all
division
of
society
labor has been abolished; all division of labor has been
private property. The man of the world society
to be due ultimately to
hunting
in his
in the forenoon,
fied the
the
extreme
the
set.
philosophizes
He is
a perfect
in the afternoon,
jack
of all
energy
society as the last man, that is to say, as
This did not mean however that Nietzsche
of man.
European
conservatives
democratic
which was not a
he
saw
in
communism
As
the consis
only
liberalistic demand for
freedom from. But in contra
egalitarianism and of
that
freedom for, but only a
conservatives he saw that conservatism
distinction to the European
as such
is
merely defensive positions are doomed. All merely backward
positions are doomed. The future was with democracy and with nation
doomed. For
alism.
trades. No one
than Nietzsche. He identi
the non-communist society of the nineteenth century or its future.
completion of
looking
works
communist world
degradation
all continental
freedom
has
noon,
the communist vision with greater
man of
accepted
tent
the sun
garden after
questioned
paints at
seen
goes
all
And both
were regarded
by
Nietzsche
as
incompatible
with what
he
saw
Existentialism
to be the task of the twentieth
leading
age of world wars,
this rule would
have to be
tasks
iron
of such an
for this
and
reason also
the
by
an overstatement to
most superficial
human
future,
enormous
meaning
of
most obvious
his
notion of
the planetary age. The
philosophers5
of
new5
meaning
the super
greatness would not enable man to
of
Nietzsche. This is
as
the future as Nietzsche described them
to have thought, of
features in
to have a
invisible
face the
mlers of
the future. It is certainly not
say that no one has ever spoken so greatly and so nobly of
is
what a philosopher
ideal. This is the
a new
infinitely increased responsibility
that possible future would be the
the
man were
Europe. And the
a united
the emergence of a new aristocracy. It had to be a
man: all previous notions of
self seems
If
rule.
possibly be discharged, he thought, by weak
dependent upon democratic public opinion. The new
nobility formed
a
nobility,
by
exercised
the twentieth century to be the
saw
age could not
and unstable governments
situation required
He
century.
up to planetary
-315
deny
that the philosophers of
remind much more
Plato's5
as5
not to
philosophers.
Nietzsche
For
Nietzsche him
than
while
Plato had
seen
clearly
clearly than
he
had
intimated
rather
than
stated
his
deepest
insights.
But there is
Nietzsche,
one decisive difference between Nietzsche's philosophy of the future and
Plato's
question
philosophy.
Bible. He is
as
Nietzsche's
heir to that
an
philosopher54
deepening
of
and perhaps more
of
the future is
an
heir to the
the soul which has been effected
by
the biblical belief in a God that is holy. The philosopher of the future as distin
guished
from the
classical philosophers will
be
philosophizing
intrinsically
lieves in God, the biblical God. He is
will
for
a god who
also
has
religious.
not yet shown
an
be
concerned with
This does
atheist, but
the holy. His
not mean that
with
the biblical
especially because the biblical God as the creator of the
the world: compared with the biblical God as the highest
and
outside
is waiting
faith
an atheist who
himself. He has broken
he be
world
is
the
good
is necessarily less than perfect. In other words the biblical faith neces
leads
according to Nietzsche to other-worldliness or asceticism. The con
sarily
highest human excellence is that man remains or becomes fully
of
the
dition
world
loyal to the earth; that there is nothing
concern to us
be it god or ideas or
knowledge
or
by
faith.
Every
outside of
the world, i.e.
his
Such
world.
character of
perplexing
is rooted in
of
a
of
is
concern
concern
progress
original vigor were
non-communists
seemed
which man
of
any
by
the world as is
alienates man
from
from the terrifying
down reality to what a man can bear
in the desire to
escape
and
it
sense
decayed. The only people who kept that faith
the communists. But precisely communism showed to
the delusion of progress. Spengler's Decline of the West
to be much more credible. But one had to
Spengler's
lives,
be
certain
Europe to its foundations. Men lost their
shook
direction. The faith in
the
such a ground of
be
comfort.
The First World War
in its
for
the world in
rooted
reality, to cut
desire for
outside the world which could
atoms of which we could
prognosis.
Is there
no
hope for Europe
be inhuman to leave it
and therewith
for
at
mankind?
316
It
Interpretation
in the
was
and withdrew.
for55
him? Nietzsche's hope
united
only
had
rule
but
revitalized
ton or Moscow
this
appeared
It
iron
self
levelling
unity
no
of
How
can
or
Moscow
either
by Washing
For Heidegger it did
would
be the
center:
not make a
"America
and
What is decisive for him is that
He
more than a nightmare.
as
calls
it the "night
Marx had predicted, the victory
completely technological,
and
of an evermore
the whole planet
west over
it is brought
regardless whether
uniformity
the
of
by
about
by
routine without rhyme and
no
elevation,
peoples, but
withdrawal, but
leisure,
recreation;
satisfied
Fundamentally because
by this world society: the
ideals have
societies.
The
old
no concentra
individuals
and
is something in man
desire for the genuine, for
there
the noble, for the great. This desire has expressed itself in
previous
no
crowds."
"lonely
be
no
reason;
work and
there be hope?
which cannot
not
soapy advertisement of the output of mass production. It
the human race on the lowest level, complete emptiness of life,
perpetuating
tion,
no
indeed,
evermore
compulsion or
means
Europe
same."
means
urbanized,
approaching.
metaphysically the
are
world."
complete
to be
society is to him
world
a
this new, transcendent responsibility of planetary
Washington
whether
Soviet Russia
by
for55
Europe ruling the planet,
a united
to be a delusion. A world society controlled
proved
difference
hope that Heidegger perversely welcomed 1933. He
What did the failure of the Nazis teach
spirit of such
became disappointed
proved
ideals
to be
ideals, but
man's
all
to societies which were not world
related
will not enable man
overcome5
to
the power, to
master5
technology. We may also say: a world society can be human
is
if
there
a world culture, a culture genuinely uniting all men. But there
only
never has been a high culture without a religious basis: the world society can be
the
power of
human only if all
religions are
by
the
men are
steadily
progress
united
genuinely
undermined as
far
by
as
towards a technological
But
a world religion.
all existing
is concerned,
There forms itself an
their effective power
world society.
open or concealed world alliance of the
by
their
conceal
ible5
existing religions which are united only
Their union requires that they
(atheistic
communism).
enemy
fact56
that they are incompat
from themselves and from the world the
common
that
with each other
This is
not
very
world religion.
becomes
promising.
He
receptive
can
the
each regards
On the
only
other
man
indeed noble, but
cannot make or fabricate
untrue.5
it
by becoming
deeply enough about
prepare
to it if he thinks
others as
hand,57
to it. And
receptive
himself
and
his
a
he
situa
tion.
Man's
humanity is
threatened with
the fruit of rationalism
philosophy is the
same
time of the
extinction
and rationalism
condition of
impasse5
the possibility of
created
by
by
is the fruit
losophy
was
of
the attempt to
and
There is
of modem
understand the whole.
is
therefore
at
the
hope beyond
limitations to Greek philoso
technology.
technology, to say nothing
Technology
Greek philosophy. Greek
technology
technological mass society if there are no essential
phy, the root
technology.
of
no
philosophy.
Greek
phi
It presupposed therefore that
Existentialism
the whole
is intelligible,
ligible:
the disposal of
at
or
that the grounds of the whole are essentially intel
human mastery
of
ing58
be
in
the
means
is the
view
and therefore
in
condition of the possi
But that mastery leads, if its ultimate
degradation of man. Only by becom
on a specific
the
have hope.
can we
discovery
being
of what
understanding
Transcending
the limits of rationalism.
of
means,
viz.
that
primarily to be present, to be ready at hand and therefore that to be
highest
be
sense means to
to be a
rationalism proves
dogmatic
is hollow:
rationalism
A
cannot master.
assertion that to
means
be
to
spite of
itself
of
rests on
its seemingly overwhelming
on something which it
rests
being
of
understanding
be
elusive or to
This basis
always.
Rationalism itself
assumption.
rationalism
more adequate
be
present, to be
always
non-rational, unevident assumptions: in
power,
always5
are
to the ultimate
rationalism requires
Rationalism is based
to
they
is beyond human mastery
aware of what
the limits of
This
man.5
of the whole.
drawn,
consequences are
that
man as man
principle always accessible to
bility
"317
is intimated
This is the
a mystery.
by
the
eastern
understanding of being. Hence there is no will to mastery in the east. We can
hope beyond technological world society, for a
world society only if
genuine5
we
become
capable of
learning
from the east, especially from China. But China
There is needed a
of the west and of
meeting5
succumbs to western rationalism.
The
the east.
has to
west
make
its
own
technology. The west has first to recover
contribution to the
within
itself that
overcoming
of
which would make
meeting of west and east. The west has to recover within itself its
deepest roots which antedate its rationalism, which, in a way, antedate the
possible a
own
separation of west and east.
the level
vocal,
of
of present
most
both
day
genuine
meeting of
i.e. in the form
roots of
The meeting
is
west and east
possible on
the meeting of the most
of
most superficial representatives of
glib,
west and east.
the deepest
No
thought
the
most superficial period
of west and east can
only be
a
meeting
of
both.
Heidegger is the only
has
man who
an
inkling
of
the dimensions of the
problem of a world society.
The
western
in Heidegger's
Biblical thought is
lute,
one
the east
blocks the
within
earlier
one
form
access
within61
us,
descending59
meeting by
the limitations of
that
the biblical tradition. (Here
by
ments
can prepare
the west. Within the west
roots of
seen
thinker
lies the justification for the biblical
thought.) But
of
Eastern60
to other
forms
western man.
this must be
thought.
experience of
ele
understood.
the Bible as abso
thought. Yet the Bible
is
Bible but the Bible
as
Not the Bible
as
us
being. The specifically
consequence that
the
being was
experienced being
ence of
rightly
By taking
of eastern
in overcoming Greek rationalism.
help
The deepest root of the west is a specific understanding
eastern can
to the deepest
rationalism were always
western experience of
ground of grounds was
used
in
a
forgotten
only for the investigation
way
of
which prevented
of
being,
a specific
being
led to the
the
primary experi
the beings. The east has
and
the investigation of beings and
318
Interpretation
therewith the concern with the mastery of beings. But the
being
in principle,
makes possible
ourselves to the problem of
em
understanding
The
not
being,
of
being
only
of religion
but
the problematic
By
character of
opening
the
west-
may gain access to the deepest root of the east.
is indicated by the word being will be the ground
even of
the possibility
being.
coherent speech about
and to
we
ground of grounds which
understand
western experience of
From here
possible gods.
any
one can
begin to
of a world religion.
The meeting of east and west depends on an understanding of being. More
precisely it depends on an understanding of that by virtue of which beings
are
esse, etre, to be, as distinguished from entia, etants, beings. Esse as
Heidegger
it may be described crudely
understands
and
superficially and even
misleadingly, but not altogether misleadingly, by saying that it is a synthesis of
Platonic ideas and the biblical God: it is as impersonal as the Platonic ideas and
as elusive as
the biblical God.
NOTES
1
"compare"
.
left
has been
uncorrected
added
hand to
by
3. In the typescript the
begins
changed
the insertion of the capital letter. The period at the
that seems to have been
correction of a comma
"theoretical"
replace
has been
which
instance,
"
the.
The
crossed out.
"observer,"
and
the new one
punctuation and capitalization
have been
hand.
by
4. Continuation
for
by
editors'
previous sentence ends after the word
the words "For
with
hand
is the
in the typescript.
"thinking"
2.
by
changed
"warning"
the previous word
end of
of the old paragraph
in the typescript, but
with a marginal
indication
by
hand
a new one.
5.
Underlining
added
7. "to limit the
by hand.
by hand to
added
"Weber's"
6.
"his"
which
replace
remark"
comparison
to the
has been
by
added
hand to
crossed out.
replace
"to
say"
which
has been
crossed out.
8. Word
added
10. The
11
(in the
by
"that"
added
by
between the
lines) by
hand.
"the"
has been
crossed out.
replace
before
"indicated"
by
margin or
hand to
word
.
12. The
added
added
"in"
9.
which
"the"
hand to
has been
crossed out.
"meant"
replace
"pragmata"
comma after
and
which
has been
crossed out.
the words "things which we handle and
use"
have been
hand.
13. The
"rationalistic"
word
has been
changed
to
"rational"
by
hand
by crossing
out the
letters
"istic.''
14. The
"am"
above
15. "of
16.
"I'm"
word
has been
replaced
by
"I
"
am"
by hand, by
crossing
out
'm
"
and
adding
the line.
added
by
"Kant"
added
hand to
by
"about"
replace
hand to
which
has been
"Heidegger"
replace
which
crossed out.
has been
crossed out.
typescript, but not one that gives any clear indication of having been seen by
"cowered."
Professor Strauss, this word has been changed by an unknown hand to
This other
Professor
which
has
been
Strauss's
students
for some years, is the
typescript,
circulating among
17. In
one
from
another
which
Thomas Pangle
worked
in editing this lecture for The Rebirth of Classical Political
Rationalism.
18.
"character"
19. The
added
by
question mark
hand to
has been
"possibility"
replace
added
by
which
has been
crossed out.
the editors to correct a period in the typescript.
319
Existentialism
20. "of
added
21. The
word order
"about"
by hand
to replace
has been
which
here has been
hand. The
by
changed
crossed out.
original
typed phrase is "so radically
orientation."
the intellectual
22. "and in
way"
a most general
added
23. The typescript has the
"low
words
hand.
by
land"
which
have been joined into
by
a single word
hand.
work"
24. "which
permeated the
"1953"
25.
by
added
26. The
does"
"as Nietzsche
words
by hand, by
added
"1952"
have been
after
in the typescript.
and
"as passionately
by
replaced
"as"
as"
"passionately
adding
hand.
by
the editors to correct
by
crossing
did"
Nietzsche
as
"does"
"did"
out
and
above
adding
the line.
"a"
27.
of
hand to
by
added
"to"
28.
has been
by
"his"
has been
"problem"
"the"
by
is
32. The
"as
words
"this"
added
"was"
added
by
by
"is"
35. The
follows"
word
36. The typescript
hand
the end
period at
that seems to have been left
has been
37. The
"we
words
added
by
"the"
which
"is"
replace
in
which
period after the
note
hand.
has been
has been
crossed out.
crossed out.
though not, it seems,
by hand,
added
The
hand.
to replace
referred to
crossed out.
by the insertion of the capital letter.
by hand of the original comma.
have been
hand to
by
Professor Strauss's hand.
"mind,"
17 apparently has the
by
confirmed as such
word
"understanding."
hand, instead
an unknown
by
has been
which
hand
a correction
31. The dash has been inserted
of
crossed out.
correction of a comma
replace
changed
previous word
34.
by
has been
the insertion of the capital letter. The
editors'
is the
hand to
by
added
"and"
33.
which
hand
in the typescript.
uncorrected
30.
replace
changed
"nobility"
the previous word
29.
"the"
of
to the true
cannot refer
is
the great thinkers of the past. It
teaching available in any
by hand, though not by
metaphysical and ethical
that"
have been
admitted
added
Professor Strauss's hand.
38. The typescript
"groundless"
39. The
hand to
to in note 17 has the
referred
"him"
40. The
us"
"and leads
has been
which
before
word
the words "we
and
semicolon after
replace
"that"
"sciences"
word
instead
thus
are
led"
"scientists."
of
have been
has been
crossed out.
"doctrine"
41.
by
added
crossed out.
is the reading of the typescript referred to in note 17. It is included
which appears in the primary typescript.
correction for the word
by
the
"doctrines,"
editors as a
"Yet"
42. The
inserted
by
word
43. "As I
removed
44.
"our"
before
has been
by
said,"
added
hand. A
by
"with"
by
added
hand to
capital
letter
"to"
at the
beginning
other typescript referred
"Our"
has been
"sometimes"
of
has been
word
48. The
"about
words
to in
truth"
subjective
by hand, by
note
17 has the
after
adding
above
49. This
the
is
word
"2)"
added
51. Quotation
line,
have been
"irremediable"
enclosed
by
by
the final
marks
"Secondly,"
have been added,
which
by
of
"irre
"subjective"
by
replace
instead
"about the subjectivity of
and adding the
in
"e"
by crossing
adding "of between
in parentheses inserted by hand.
hand to
of
truth"
replaced
out
and
"Where."
of
in brackets, instead
word
"truth."
"subjectivity"
"ity"
instead
reading.
"about,"
"the"
"whence,"
Whole."
that this is the correct
editors suspect
"Whence"
to in note 17 has the
other typescript referred
The
crossed out.
word
the phrase "Where and Whither and the
47. The
has been
17 has the
typescript referred to in note
46. The
deemable."
which
replace
other
50.
letter in
the editors.
45. The
letters
crossed out and the capital
hand.
and
has been
an unknown
hand,
crossed out.
around
the
words
"modern
sub
jectivism."
52. The
53. The
words
"or
of
and
West"
which
have been
"Orient"
and
words
"east,"
"west"
the
"Occident"
added
by
hand.
have been inserted
have not, however, been
crossed out.
by
hand
above
the typed words
320
Interpretation
54.
"philosophy"
"er"
adding
55.
has been
above the
"for"
words
"the
57. The
words
"This is
59.
letter
fact"
"man"
word
have been
not
beginning
the
at
"dissenting"
very
of
before
has been
capital
61. The
crossing
out
"y"
the final
and
has been
These
crossed out.
changes are appar
letter
at
"within"
the
hand,"
On the
has been
other
removed
has been
have been
added
by
hand. A
the editors.
crossed out.
"descending"
by
by
by hand, by
crossing
out the
letters
"is-
the line.
beginning
before
word
hand.
by
added
"becoming"
replaced
above
adding
60. The
which
promising.
"man"
"escend"
sent"
and
"of
hand to
ently
by
56. The
58. The
replace
by
Professor Strauss's hand.
not
capital
by
line.
by
added
"philosopher"
hand to
changed
"Eastern"
has been inserted
of
"western"
has been
by hand,
added
by
hand.
but not, it seems,
by
Pro
fessor Strauss's hand.
EPILOGUE
divergences, most of which are apparently minor, between
in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduc
tion to the Thought of Leo Strauss. Those divergences which appear to be most significant, apart
from the fact that the paragraph breaks are different, are the following (page references are to the
There
are a considerable number of
this text and the
version published
earlier version):
The title is different, and the first
p. 29, line 32: Instead of
sentence
"Heidegger"
p.
30: Between the first
and
is missing in the
earlier version.
the present version reads "Kant".
the second paragraphs on this page, the present
version
inserts
a short
paragraph.
p.
30, line 5 of the second
31, line 22: Between
38, line 25: After
p.
39, line 7 from bottom: The
p.
paragraph reads
"that"
another
full
sentence.
differently
"Nietzsche"
"era"
p.
and
in the
the present version inserts a
After this
insertion,
the
present version
present version.
the present version
"the,"
word
has
inserts three
new completion of
sentences.
this sentence and then
capitalized, begins
a sentence worded so
a new sentence.
differently
as
to change
the meaning considerably.
p.
43: The
one-sentence paragraph
the present version placed
p.
44, line 24: The
being,"
as
well
remainder of
Introduction.
which
with
the words "Heidegger
is the only
man
.
.
is in
beginning at the bottom of the page.
beginning with the words "The ground of
paragraph
this paragraph,
as the entire subsequent
Socrates,"
problem of
beginning
just before the
paragraph, is taken from
Professor Strauss delivered many
years
all
different lecture, "The
later. Cf. page xxix of the
a