Harvey Mansfield: prediction

Transcript context

…What is Straussianism evolving into? Strauss himself is gone. His students are now typically older, or they’ve passed away, like Seth Benardete. What’s the future for the movement? I think the future is, if not assured, pretty good. The basis for my thinking that is the great books. I think Strauss emphasizes the great books is that that’s the center of his teaching, and those books are so superior that they, in a way, guarantee their own future. Why is it that we still read Plato’s Republic, say, 2,500 years later? I think the books will always be there, and therefore, the basis for Strauss will always be there. Since Strauss has shown what can be seen in those books, I think that will continue. It’s true that, in recent years, Straussian professors at the most prestigious universities have died or retired and not been replaced, but I don’t think that matters fundamentally, because people can always find it. If I just meet someone and introduce some of his ideas, I find they’re always attractive. But it’s true that there are many ways in which Strauss is not attractive to scholars and democrats, by which I mean all of us democratic citizens these days. These days, what’s the best way to learn Straussian methods of reading a text? You sit down with the AI?…

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