Abstract GERMAN SOKRATES: HEIDEGGER, ARENDT, STRAUSS by Rodrigo Chacn This dissertation traces the genesis of three conceptions of political philosophizing in the work of Heidegger, Arendt, and Strauss. I draw on recently published works to shed light on their respective turns to political philosophy as responses to the crisis of the Weimar Republic. I argue that the philosophical, theological, and political dimensions of the crisis led to a rediscovery of Socratic philosophizing. Heidegger rediscovered the Socratic project of a philosophy of human affairs in his early lectures on Aristotle, which Strauss and Arendt attended in 1922 and 1924/25 respectively. Heideggers project was to refound philosophy on its existential basis by redirecting the care of philosophy away from attempts to secure universal and binding knowledge to the self-illumination of life in its historical facticity. In an unprecedented effort to understand the phenomena to which Plato and Aristotle referred, Heidegger showed that philosophy grows out of a world of common practical concerns, opinions, and passions. He thus inadvertently refounded philosophy as political philosophy and made possible the projects of Arendt and Strauss. Strauss was particularly affected by Heideggers confrontation with the problem of ethics or of providing a rational answer to the question concerning the right or the good way of life. Strauss understood this problem Socratically as the question of the necessity and possibility of a techne politike or political science. I argue that Strausss work as a whole responds to this question. Like Heidegger, Strauss was aware of the fact that a rational justification of ones way of life especially when it is shared with a political communitymay be impossible. Beyond this, it may be unnecessaryif faith or divine revelation are sufficient for achieving human perfection. Drawing on Arendts Denktagebuch and her dissertation on Augustine, I argue that her project emerged from a similar theological-political predicament: whether or not we should be completely at home in this world is the guiding question of Arendts oeuvre. This question grew out of Arendts condition as a Jew born and raised in Germany and her discovery of neo-orthodox dialectical theology. Thus read, the work of Heidegger, Arendt, and Strauss appears in a fresh light. It becomes the source of a conception of neo-Socratic political philosophy. GERMAN SOKRATES: HEIDEGGER, ARENDT, STRAUSS by Rodrigo Chacn September 2009 Submitted to the New School for Social Research of the New School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Dissertation Committee: Dr. James E. Miller Dr. David Plotke Dr. Richard J. Bernstein Dr. Andreas Kalyvas UMI Number: 3396646 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3396646 Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 Rodrigo Chacn 2009 iv Acknowledgments I discovered the work of Leo Strauss and Martin Heidegger almost fifteen years ago in Mexico City in the lectures of professor Eric Herrn. I wish to thank him at the outset for introducing me to political philosophy in such an excellent and rare way. My graduate studies were made possible by the support of the Fulbright- Garca Robles scholarship fund, the McArthur-Ford-Hewlett Foundation, and the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologa. I owe it to these institutions that my greatest debts are moralparticularly to Mexico and the United States of Americaand not financial. Professor Steven B. Smith suggested to me several years ago that a good dissertation was waiting to be written comparing Hannah Arendts The Human Condition and Strausss Natural Right and History. I am grateful for this and other cues, and for his encouragement over the years. I learned much about Socratic dialogue and friendship from my students at Eugene Lang College and the TU-Dresden. I thank Rafael Khatchaturian in particular for helping me edit and improve the manuscript. At various moments friends provided support when I was losing my wayand listened patiently when I was too excited to keep my findings to myself. Gracias de todo corazn a Paula Ramrez, Fernanda Ezeta, Melissa v Amezcua, Carolina Gallegos-Anda y Oi Yen Lam. Thank you, Kang Chen, for sharing your intelligence and passion f