The first major piece of unpublished work by Leo Strauss to appear in more than thirty years, Leo Strauss On Plato's "Symposium" offers the public the unprecedented experience of encountering this renowned scholar as his students did. Given as a course in autumn 1959 under the title "Plato's Political Philosophy," at the University of Chicago, these transcripts previously had circulated in samizdat fashion, passed down from one generation of students to the next. They show Strauss at his best, in his subtle and sometimes indirect style of analysis, which has attracted almost as much commentary as has the content of his thought. Strauss presents a coherent and complete interpretation of the Symposium, proceeding by a meticulous reading from beginning to end. Operating on the once common hypothesis that commentary is an excellent method of expounding the truth, Strauss sheds light not only on the meaning of the dialogue and its place in the Platonic corpus, but also on a host of important topics, including the nature of eros and its place in the overall economy of human life; the perennial quarrel between poetry and philosophy, and the relation of both to piety, politics, and morality; the character of Socrates and the questions of his trial; and many other matters. As provocative as they were a half century ago, these important lectures will be welcomed by students of classics, philosophy, politics, psychology, and political philosophy.

The political thought of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle defended and justified the values and way of life of the declining and decaying landed aristocracy in opposition to Athenian democracy and the craftsmen, traders and labourers upon which it increasingly rested. Although the Socratics recognized and condemned aristocratic regeneration, they hoped that the outlook and conduct of the nobility could be revitalized so as once more to become the foundation of civic life in order to stem the levelling tide of democracy, the tyranny of the mob, and the vulgarity that they felt were endangering Greece and especially Athens. To be understood and appreciated fully, the classics of political theory must be viewed as basically ideological and much more closely and rigorously related to their social contexts than has usually been the case. The point of departure for this critique of the Socratics is a particular conception of the Greek polis and its significance for Western social organization, an interpretation differing from most standard treatments. Besides casting new light upon the political thought of the Socratics, this study should help to illuminate the aristocratic myth about the character of the demos which, immortalized by the Socratics, has been a cornerstone of anti-democratic ideology and social theory in the West ever since the ancient philosophers first recorded their fears of the 'mob'.