Socrates and Aristophanes Author:Leo Strauss In one of his last books, Socrates and Aristophanes, Leo — Strauss's examines the confrontation between Socrates and Aristophanes — in Aristophanes' comedies. Looking at eleven plays, Strauss shows that — this confrontation is essentially one between poetry and philosophy, and — that poetry emerges as an autonomous wisdom capable of rivaling
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philosophy.
"Strauss gives us an impressive addition to his life's work--the
recovery of the Great Tradition in political philosophy. The problem the
book proposes centers formally upon Socrates. As is typical of Strauss,
he raises profound issues with great courage. . . . [He addresses] a
problem that has been inherent in Western life ever since [Socrates']
execution: the tension between reason and religion. . . . Thus, we come
to Aristophanes, the great comic poet, and his attack on Socrates in the
play The Clouds. . . [Strauss] translates it into the basic
problem of the relation between poetry and philosophy, and resolves this
by an analysis of the function of comedy in the life of the city." --