Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 84

MODERN AGE

SPRING 2016

within history, with the philosophical even appearing at times to
be defined in its opposition to the historical.
Indeed, in Strauss's thinking, natural right often seems to be an
empty category, deriving what little meaning it has from characteristics or qualities that are conceived as antithetical to those
associated with history: natural right is abstract rather than concrete, and permanent as opposed to changing. However, with his
strict dualism, which has more in common with Enlightenment
rationalism than with the ancient philosophy from which Strauss
claims to take his bearings, problems arise for understanding
how human beings are ever capable of coming into contact with
the "metaphysical." Having ruled out the possibility of the good
residing within the concreteness of man's historical life, Strauss
must now conceive of man as capable of ascending to heights
where the limits of his finitude may be entirely overcome. Consequently, Strauss can only conceive of moral knowledge as the
ability of human beings to transcend their finitude, or as success
in the pursuit of an "infinite intellect,"12 where reason ultimately is
understood as liberated from the obscuring effect of all particularity associated with man's historical life.
Sensing such problematic implications of this metaphysical
dualism, Gadamer suggests in various places in "Hermeneutics
and Historicism" that it is Aristotle's moral philosophy, with its
incipient understanding of the good's historical nature, that can
provide a needed corrective to the radically transcendent concept
of natural right articulated by Strauss. In other words, Gadamer's
focus on Aristotle in this essay appears directed against Strauss's
separation of the good from history and an awareness that just as
Aristotle's critique of Plato sought to dispel the dualism of Plato's
metaphysics-the idea that the good is literally separated from
84

moder nagejour nal .com



http://www.modernagejournal.com

Modern Age - Spring 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Modern Age - Spring 2016

Contents
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - Cover1
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - Cover2
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - Contents
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 2
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 3
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 4
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 5
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 6
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 7
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 8
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 9
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 10
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 11
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 12
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 13
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 14
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 15
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 16
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 17
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 18
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 19
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 20
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 21
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 22
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 23
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 24
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 25
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 26
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 27
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 28
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 29
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 30
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 31
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 32
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 33
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 34
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 35
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 36
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 37
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 38
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 39
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 40
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 41
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 42
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 43
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 44
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 45
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 46
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 47
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 48
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 49
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 50
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 51
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 52
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 53
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 54
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 55
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 56
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 57
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 58
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 59
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 60
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 61
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 62
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 63
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 64
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 65
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 66
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 67
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 68
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 69
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 70
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 71
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 72
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 73
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 74
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 75
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 76
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 77
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 78
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 79
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 80
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 81
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 82
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 83
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 84
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 85
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 86
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 87
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 88
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 89
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 90
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 91
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 92
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 93
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 94
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 95
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 96
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 97
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 98
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 99
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 100
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 101
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 102
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 103
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 104
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 105
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 106
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 107
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 108
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 109
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 110
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 111
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 112
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 113
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 114
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 115
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 116
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 117
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 118
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 119
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 120
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 121
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 122
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 123
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 124
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 125
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 126
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 127
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 128
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 129
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 130
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 131
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 132
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 133
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 134
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 135
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 136
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 137
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 138
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 139
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 140
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 141
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 142
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 143
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 144
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 145
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 146
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 147
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 148
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 149
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 150
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 151
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 152
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 153
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 154
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 155
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 156
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 157
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 158
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 159
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 160
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 161
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 162
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 163
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 164
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 165
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 166
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 167
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 168
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 169
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - 170
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - Cover3
Modern Age - Spring 2016 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2018winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2015fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2014fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2014summer
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com