Esoteric philosophy: Leo Strauss and sociolinguistics

Aron B Bekesi

Abstract


Leo Strauss’ controversial theory of esoteric philosophy, as presented in Persecution and the Art of Writing (1952), sparked a fierce debate. Opponents and proponents of the theory utilised a wide range of perspectives to support their arguments. By investigating esoteric philosophy from a sociolinguistic perspective, this paper introduces a novel perspective to the Strauss dispute.  In PAW Strauss is mistaken regarding esotericism and its role in philosophy. On one hand it is reasonable to endorse Strauss’ persuasive account on the origins of esoteric writing. The Straussian account provides a plausible sociological background as to why philosophy, per se became an esoteric fliedH. On the other hand it seems as Strauss ascribed undue significance to possible clandestine massages that may be found within works of philosophy because philosophy is mostly already done in an esoteric linguistic space.


Keywords


Leo Strauss; Persecution and the Art of Writing; sociolinguistics; esoteric philosophy; Minowitz

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References


Laszlo Aron, aronlaszlo@aol.com, (ELTE BTK)

Zsuzsanna Mariann Lengyel, lengyelzsm@gmail.com (ELTE BTK)

Ella Csikós, csikosella@yahoo.com, (ELTE BTK)




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23756/sp.v7i2.481

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Science & Philosophy - Journal of Epistemology, Science and Philosophy. ISSN 2282-7757; eISSN  2282-7765.