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Natural Right and History

In this classic work, Leo Strauss examines the problem of natural right and argues that there is a firm foundation in reality for the distinction between right and wrong in ethics and politics. On the centenary of Strauss’s birth, and the fiftieth anniversary of the Walgreen Lectures which spawned the work, Natural Right and History remains as controversial and essential as ever.

"Strauss . . . makes a significant contribution towards an understanding of the intellectual crisis in which we find ourselves . . . [and] brings to his task an admirable scholarship and a brilliant, incisive mind."—John H. Hallowell, American Political Science Review

Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was the Robert Maynard Hutchins Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Political Science at the University of Chicago.

An audiobook version is available.


336 pages | 5-1/2 x 8 | © 1965

Walgreen Foundation Lectures

Political Science: Political and Social Theory

Table of Contents

Introduction
I. Natural Right and the Historical Approach
II. Natural Right and the Distinction between Facts and Values
III. The Origin of the Idea of Natural Right
IV. Classic Natural Right
V. Modern Natural Right
A. Hobbes
B. Locke
VI. The Crisis of Modern Natural Right
A. Rousseau
B. Burke
Index

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