Perversion and the Art of Persecution

In this critical work on the political thought of Leo Strauss, Sean Noah Walsh addresses Leo Strausss claims about esotericism in the philosophic texts of Plato. He challenges Strausss understanding of esoteric writing as an attempt by Plato to secretly encode the highest truths exclusively between the lines in order to avoid persecution. Indeed, through the character of Socrates, the speaker with whom Plato is inextricably associated, Walsh asserts that Platos exoteric writings were sufficiently incendiary and provocative to demonstrate that a fear of persecution was not his highest priority. The politics that follow from Strausss thought depend on the interpretation of these Platonic philosophical bases and by analyzing how the problem of fear has been confronted in the works of Plato and Leo Strauss, Walsh offers a direct and thorough account of the politics that emerge from Strausss esoteric reading of political philosophy. Applying Lacanian psychoanalysis, Walsh investigates the discourse of Straussian esotericism. and examines Platos writing for examples of exoteric risk, subjecting both Plato and Strausss writings to Lacan's psychoanalytic technique for interpreting the function of desire in discourse. Given the continuing influence of Strausss ideas on contemporary politics, particularly within American foreign policy, Walshs examination of this Straussian esotericism for these effects will prove an interesting read for political theorists, international relations scholars, and philosophers alike.