The strauss-reading list is intended for slow readings of particular works by Leo Strauss. In a sense this list is an appendage to the leo-strauss list and I will copy below the description for that list:

Leo Strauss was an important and influential political philosopher. He was also one of the greatest teachers of his time. What he aspired to teach, more than anything else, was a new way of reading, a way of reading that makes old books come alive. (The idea of what I call "Slow reading" indebted to Strauss and some of his students, although it may not be exactly the same thing that Strauss was teaching. For a brief discussion of what I mean by "slow reading," please see my essay at http://www.freelance-academy.org/slowread.htm.)

In recent years the name of Leo Strauss has become somewhat controversial and various conservative and allegedly anti-democratic opinions have been attributed to him and to his students. To the extent that these controversies are to be the subject of discussion on this list, I hope the participants will recall that for Strauss opinion is where philosophical discussion begins, not where it ends.

This is one of a group of lists hosted by The Free Lance Academy, whose main purpose is to create opportunities for serious, committed intellectual inquiry outside the university, primarily by means of online media such as internet mailing lists. For the names of other lists in this group, search on the relevant keywords listed below.

Keywords: The Free Lance Academy, freelance, freelance-academy, philosophy, slow reading, Leo Strauss, political philosophy, politics