Leo Strauss, Max Weber, and the Scientific Study of Politics - Softcover

Behnegar, Nasser

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226041433 ISBN 13: 9780226041438

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2005

Synopsis

Can politics be studied scientifically, and if so, how? Assuming it is impossible to justify values by human reason alone, social science has come to consider an unreflective relativism the only viable basis, not only for its own operations, but for liberal societies more generally. Although the experience of the sixties has made social scientists more sensitive to the importance of values, it has not led to a fundamental reexamination of value relativism, which remains the basis of contemporary social science. Almost three decades after Leo Strauss's death, Nasser Behnegar offers the first sustained exposition of what Strauss was best known for: his radical critique of contemporary social science, and particularly of political science.

Behnegar's impressive book argues that Strauss was not against the scientific study of politics, but he did reject the idea that it could be built upon political science's unexamined assumption of the distinction between facts and values. Max Weber was, for Strauss, the most profound exponent of values relativism in social science, and Behnegar's explication artfully illuminates Strauss's critique of Weber's belief in the ultimate insolubility of all value conflicts.

Strauss's polemic against contemporary political science was meant to make clear the contradiction between its claim of value-free premises and its commitment to democratic principles. As Behnegar ultimately shows, values—the ethical component lacking in a contemporary social science—are essential to Strauss's project of constructing a genuinely scientific study of politics.

About this title

About the Author

Nasser Behnegar is an assistant professor of political science at Boston College.

Review

"The best book-length study of Strauss to date, because like Strauss, Behnegar has a naive concern for discovering a scientific (theoretical) perspective on politics, whether ancient or modern." - Rafael Major, Perspectives on Political Science; "In no small part as a result of his acute grasp of Strauss's being a philosopher, Behnegar has the honor of having authored the single best book on Strauss." - Weekly Standard"

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0226041433
• ISBN 13: 9780226041438
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 235