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Natural Right Decisionism? On the Problematic Status of the State of Exception in the Philosophy of Leo Strauss
Abstract
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The article offers an analysis of those fragments of Natural Right and History where Leo Strauss interprets the views of Aristotle on the state of exception. The aim of the analysis is to demonstrate that although Strauss’s interpretation falls within the discourse of natural right, it is also highly decisionist: distant from classical political rationalism and close to the political theology of Carl Schmitt.
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The article is a critical philosophical textual analysis. It hypothesizes that although Strauss explicitly positioned himself as a philosophical rationalist, his views on the state of exception hint at a presence of political theology in his writings.
THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: First I position Strauss’s explanation of Aristotle’s political philosophy against his views on the classic natural right. Next, I analyze Strauss’s interpretation of the state of exception in Aristotle which clearly impairs his theses on classic natural right. Finally, I speculate if Strauss’s decisionist interpretation of the state of exception makes it legitimate to speak of his “political theology,” and what are the risks of interpreting classic natural right through the prism of modern political decisionism.
RESEARCH RESULTS: The analysis demonstrates substantial inconsistency of Strauss’s theses on classic natural right and his interpretation of Aristotle’s views on the applicability of natural right in the states of higher necessity. The results allow for questioning Strauss’s reputedly negative attitude to modern decisionism and prove the existence of theologico-political discourse in his philosophy.
CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The views of Strauss on the state of exception challenge his well-established image of a classical political rationalist averse to the modern understanding of the political. At the same time they show that the parallels between Strauss and Schmitt might be sought not only in their critiques of liberalism but also in decisionist idiomacy.
Keywords
Leo Strauss ; state of exception ; Carl Schmitt ; Aristotle ; decisionism
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