| The article is not very good, but it is tiresome to have to explain in detail the various problems. In the end, Strauss agreed with Churchill, that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others. His main point was that philosophers and academics had to be protected from popular prejudices, and they, in turn, would contribute to the education of those most likely to fill offices within the state. He did not think that philosophers were suited to rule, but he did think that education was necessary to create an elite fit to rule. He did not think that such an elite was necessarily drawn from the upper classes, but that it was drawn from the natural aristocracy of talent. He did not believe in arbitrary lying, but he did believe that some dissembling was necessary to conduct the affairs of state, and also to protect the philosophers from the wrath of the unenlightened. Remember, he was anti- Nazi and anti- Communist, and interested in how one shapes and preserves a moderate regime in a world that was often chaotic and dangerous....... |
