Synopsis:
- The solution to the crisis of rationalism is a new form of rationalism, not Heidegger's forsaking of rationalism
- "Philosophy is the attempt to replace opinion by knowledge", thus it is subversive in nature
- Philosophy is a threat to society because it uncovers that there are no gods and that morality is prejudice
- Philosophy is ultimately political
- Philosophers concealed their true message from the masses: their texts contained both an esoteric (for philosophers only) and an exoteric (for the masses) level
- Liberalism contains within itself an intrinsic tendency towards nihilism
- The liberal view of politics is artificial while the view of the ancient philosophers is universal and authentic
- Athens vs Jerusalem (revelation vs reason): the overemphasis on reason leads to the deterioration of society
- The elite should use deception, religious fervor and perpetual war to control the ignorant masses
- "the universal society, a society consisting of free and equal nations, each consisting of free and equal men and women"
- Was Strauss himself an esoteric philosopher? What did Strauss really believe?
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