Maimonides’ Secret: Leo Strauss’s “The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed”

This article offers a new account of Leo Strauss’s interpretation of Maimonides’ esoteric teaching in the Guide for the Perplexed, which Strauss offers in his seminal essay ‘The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed.’ According to the generally-accepted view, for Strauss, Maimonides’ eso...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shaw, Beau (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Netherlands [2020]
In: Sophia
Year: 2020, Volume: 59, Issue: 2, Pages: 247-271
Further subjects:B Maimonides
B Decisionism
B Esotericism
B Leo Strauss
B Carl Schmitt
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:This article offers a new account of Leo Strauss’s interpretation of Maimonides’ esoteric teaching in the Guide for the Perplexed, which Strauss offers in his seminal essay ‘The Literary Character of the Guide for the Perplexed.’ According to the generally-accepted view, for Strauss, Maimonides’ esoteric teaching is the identity of the secrets of the Torah with Aristotelian philosophy, and—since that philosophy contradicts the foundational beliefs of the Torah—that the Torah has the merely instrumental function of bringing about political well-being. By contrast, I argue that, for Strauss, Maimonides’ esoteric teaching is the necessity of breaking the laws of the Torah for the sake of restoring Israel’s sovereignty. Additionally, I claim that Strauss’s interpretation depends on Carl Schmitt’s ‘decisionism.’
ISSN:1873-930X
Contains:Enthalten in: Sophia
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s11841-018-0685-2