The

problem of

Socrates

Leo Strauss

"The
the

Socrates"

problem

of

was

delivered

as a

lecture

on

April 17, 1970,

on

Annapolis

campus

Professor
ginia,

Jenny

of St. John's College. Professor Strauss's daughter, Clay, of the Department of Classics at the University of Vir

has generously
a tape

Also,

made available to the editors a copy of the manuscript. recording of the lecture in the St. John's College library in An

napolis was available to the

editors,

as were copies

of an

anonymous
after about

transcrip
forty-five

tion of that tape.

Unfortunately,

the tape is

broken off

minutes,

with

nearly

half of the

manuscript still

unread, and the transcription

also ends where The editors on the

lecture

which

tape does. Still, the transcription, as corrected by the basis of the tape itself, offers a version of the first part of the differs from the manuscript in a number of places and which

sometimes appears to

be

superior

to it.

Thus,

we

have

chosen to give the re

corded version almost equal weight with published text.

the manuscript as a

basis for

our

When the lecture

as

delivered merely
and where we

contains a word or words

that are not in the manuscript, we

cases where the two authorities

have included

these in

brackets. In the

other

differ have

have
in

preferred the version

in the lecture
cases we

as

delivered,

we

again

included it in brackets, but in these

a note.

have

also

included the
where we

manuscript version

In the

case

of

those

discrepancies

have

preferred the manuscript version, we

and we

have

included it in the
in
a note.

text without

brackets,

have included
on

the oral version

All italics

and paragraphs

are

based

the manuscript.

note

indicates
Strauss'

where

the tape is
on

broken off,
manuscript

and after alone.

this point we are of course

preserved

compelled

to

rely

the

We have

Professor sacrificing (apart

s punctuation to the extent that we thought possible without

clarity.

In those few

cases where we

have

made a change on our own

from adding or subtracting a comma), we have so indicated in a note. We have been compelled to substitute transliterations for Professor Strauss's Greek
words and script.

phrases, all of

which appear

in the

original

Greek in the
generous

manu

Finally,

we are grateful to

Dr. Heinrich Meier for his

help

in

deciphering
A
within a

Professor Strauss's handwriting.

small portion

of this lecture has been published previously, incorporated different lecture and in a somewhat modified form, in The Rebirth of
of

Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought

Leo Strauss

1995

by

The

University

of

Chicago. All rights Vol.

reserved.

interpretation,

Spring 1995,

22, No. 3

322

Interpretation

(Chicago:

University
pp.

of Chicago

Press, 1989 [ 1989 by The University of

Chicago]),
[I
was

44-46.

told that the local

Socrates."

paper

has

announced that

I lecture

tonight on

"The

problems of

This

was an

than one problem of

Socrates,

engaging printing error; for there is more in the first place, the problem with which Socra
with which

tes was concerned. But one could say, the problem

concerned

Socrates

was

may be

of no concern

to us, that it may

not

be

relevant.

Therefore obviously But we

after all there are so and

many things

which concern us so much more

urgently than the

answer

problem with which

Socrates

was concerned.
Socrates'

receive an

listening
far last
as

why we should be concerned with to the man from whom I took the title of this
was coined

problem

by
as

lecture,

and

which,

I remember,

by

him.]1

"The

Socrates"

problem of

is the first,

immediately
Socrates
in

revealing title

of a section

publications.
was a

Socrates

and

decadent

who

in Nietzsche's Dawn of Idols, one of his we hear, were decadents. More precisely, Plato, belonged to the lowest stratum of the common

people, to the

riff-raff.

[I quote:]

"Everything

is exaggerated, buffo,

caricature

him,

ranean."

everything is at the same time concealed, rich in afterthoughts, subter The enigma of Socrates is the idiotic equation of reason, virtue and
an equation opposed to all
and nobility. quest

happiness

instincts
and2

of

the earlier

Greeks,

of

[the]

Greek health

The

key

is

supplied

by

Socrates'

discovery
by

of

dialec

tics, i.e. the

seek

for

reasons.

The

earlier

high-class Greeks disdained to To

abide

for,

and

to present, the reasons of their

conduct. was

authority,

by

the command either of the gods or of

of good manners.
other means

themselves,
have

Only

those

people

recourse

for them simply a matter to dialectics who have no

the low-bom take of the to prove that

less."

for getting listened to and respected. It is a kind of revenge which high-bom. "The dialectician leaves it to his adversary he is
not an

idiot. He

enrages and at the same time makes

a new

help
of

Socrates fascinated because he discovered in dialectics

won over

form

agon, [of contest]; he thus them

and above all

the noble

youth of

Athens

and

among
surety,
was4

Plato. In

an age when

the

instincts had lost their decadence

ancient

[were

disintegrating]3,
cure

one needed a non-instinctual as much

tyrant; this
also of

tyrant

reason.

Yet the

belongs

to

as

the illness. the

philoso

When speaking

of the earlier

Greeks,

Nietzsche thinks

phers, the pre-Socratic philosophers5, especially Heraclitus. This does not mean that he agreed with Heraclitus. One reason why he did not was that he, like all

philosophers, lacked the

[so-called]
illusion

"historical

sense."

Nietzsche's
in reality,

cure

for

all

Platonism
age

and

hence Socratism
without

was at all

times Thucydides who

seek reason

had the

cour

to face reality

and to

and not

in its

ideas. In Thucydides the

full6

sophistic

culture, i.e. the realistic culture, comes to

expression.

The
of

section on the problem of

Nietzsche's first publication, The Birth of Tragedy

Socrates in the Dawn of Idols is only a relic out of the Spirit of Music

The
which stood

problem

of Socrates
he Had

323
under

he disowned to

some extent

later on,

one reason

being that

[in that early work] Greek tragedy in the light or the darkness of Wag nerian music, and he had come to see that Wagner was a decadent [of the first
order].

In

spite of this and other

work with

defects Nietzsche's first [I

will

work

delineates his

future life

amazing
as

clarity.

therefore say something about

that.]
Nietzsche
paints

Socrates

"the

single

turning

point and vortex of so-called

world-history."7

[Nietzsche's]8

concern was not

or

cerned with

the

future

of

Germany

the future of Europe

merely theoretical; he was con a human future

achieved]9

that
man

must surpass

the highest that [has ever

manner of

been

before. The

peak of

hitherto is that

life that found its

"tragic"

expression

in Greek tragedy,

especially in Aeschylean tragedy. The understanding of the world was rejected and destroyed by Socrates, who therefore is "the most questionable
antiquity,"

phenomenon of

a man of more than

human

size: a

demigod. Socra

brief] is the first theoretical man, the incarnation of the spirit of science, radically un-artistic and a-music. "In the person of Socrates the belief in the
tes [in

comprehensibility has first come to

the optimist,
possible all

of nature and
light."

in the

universal

healing

power of

knowledge

He is the is
not

prototype of

the

rationalist and

therefore of

for

optimism also

world, but

merely the belief that the world is the best the belief that the world can be made into the best of

imaginable worlds, or that the evils which belong to the best possible world can be rendered harmless by knowledge: thinking can not only fully understand

being

but

can even correct

it; life
deus

can

be

guided

by

science; the

living

gods of

myth can

be

replaced

by

ex

machina, i.e. the forces

egoism".10

of nature as

known
since

and used

in the

service of

"higher

Rationalism is optimism,

it

is the belief that

reason's power

is

unlimited and all

science can solve all since

riddles

and

loosen

essentially beneficent or that chains. Rationalism is optimism,

ends or since rationalism of

the belief in causes

depends initial

on the

belief in

presupposes

the belief in the

or

final supremacy

the good. The

full

and

ultimate consequences of

the

change effected or represented

by

Socrates

appear

only in the contemporary West: in the belief in universal enlightenment and therewith in the earthly happiness of all within a universal society, in utilitarian

ism, liberalism, democracy,

and the

pacifism, and

socialism.

Both these

consequences

insight into the

essential

limitations
of

of science
man

have

shaken

"Socratic

culture"

to its foundation: "the time

a

Socratic

has

gone."

There is then

hope for
the

future beyond the

no

future that is

but

knowingly

a philosophy of longer merely theoretical [as all philosophy hitherto was] or on decision. based on acts of the
peak of pre-Socratic
,
will11

culture, for

Nietzsche's liberator from

most

attack on all

Socrates is

an attack on reason:

reason, the

celebrated

prejudices, proves itself to be based on a prejudice, and the the prejudice stemming from decadence. In
so

dangerous

of all prejudices:
which

other words,

reason,

waxes

easily
rests

and

so

highly

indignant

about

the demanded

sacrifice

of the

intellect,

itself

on the sacrifice of the intel-

324

'Interpretation

lect.12

This

criticism was made

by

a man who stood at the opposite pole of all

obscurantism and

fundamentalism.
misunderstand the utterances of Nietzsche on

One
which

would

therefore

Socrates

quoted or to which exerted a

referred

if

one

did

not

keep

in

mind

the

fact that

Socrates
perhaps attempt
tes]13

life-long fascination
passage

on

Nietzsche. The

most

beautiful docu
and

ment of this

fascination is the
most

penultimate aphorism of

Beyond Good

Evil,

in Nietzsche's [whole] work. I do not dare to translate it. Nietzsche does not mention Socrates there, but [Socra
the

beautiful

is there. Nietzsche

says

there14

that the gods too philosophize, thus obvi

ously contradicting Plato's according to which the gods do not do not strive for wisdom, but are wise. In other words, [the] philosophize, gods, as Nietzsche understands them, are not entia perfectissima [most perfect beings]. I
add
rates can also power
few16 points. The serious opposition of Nietzsche to Soc only a be expressed as follows: Nietzsche replaces eros by the will to

Symposium15

striving which has a goal beyond striving by a striving which has no such goal. In other words, philosophy as it was hitherto is likened to the moon and philosophy of the future is like the sun; the former is contemplative
a and
[sends]17

preceding it; power. Nietzsche's Zarathustra is "a book for

title page]; Socrates calls
on some.

only borrowed light, is dependent on creative acts outside of it, the latter is creative because it is animated by conscious will to
none"

all and

[as it

says on

the

add one more point of no small

and

impor Plato

tance. In the Preface to Beyond Good

and

Evil,
it

when
were

taking issue
in
passing:

with

therewith

with

Socrates,

Nietzsche

says as

"Christianity

is Platonism for the

The
profoundest

interpreter

and at

the same time the profoundest critic of

profoundest

Nietzsche is Heidegger. He is Nietzsche's

interpreter

[precisely]
takes

because he is his
may be indicated

profoundest critic.
as

The direction

which

his

criticism

follows. In
animating

his18

Zarathustra Nietzsche had

philosophy; the spirit

spoken of

the

spirit of revenge as

all earlier

of revenge

is
is19

however in the last

the attempt to
also taught eternal sense or even cause of

analysis concerned with revenge on

escape

time, from time to eternity, to an eternal being. Yet Nietzsche return. For Heidegger there is no longer eternity in any

and therewith

it

sempiternity in any relevant sense. Despite of this or rather be Nietzsche's21 condemnation or critique of Plato as this20, he preserved

the originator of what came to be modem science and therewith modem tech
radical transformation of Nietzsche, Socrates disappeared. I remember only one statement of Heidegger's completely on Socrates: he calls him the purest of [all]22 Western thinkers, while making it clear that is something very different from "greatest." Is he insuffi nology.

But through Heidegger's

almost

"purest"

ciently
To

aware of the

Odysseus in Socrates?
Socrates'

[Perhaps.]23

But he surely

sees the

connection

between
way in

come
no

purity and the fact that he did not write. back to Heidegger's tacit denial of eternity, that denial implies
singular
which

that
all

there is

thought can transcend time, can transcend

History-

The

problem

of Socrates

325

thought belongs to, depends on, something more fundamental which thought cannot master; all thought belongs radically to an epoch, a culture, a folk. This
view

is

of course not peculiar to

Heidegger; it

emerged
24

today has become for many

through more

people a truism.

in the 19th century and But Heidegger has thought it

"historicism"

define it based

as

radically than anyone else. Let us call this view follows: historicism is a view according to which vary from
epoch
which are not questioned and cannot

and all

thought is

on absolute presuppositions which

to epoch, from cul

ture to culture, tion to which

be

questioned view

in the

situa

they belong
of

and which

they

constitute.

This

is

not refuted

by

the

"objectivity"

science,

by

the fact that science

down,

all cultural

barriers; for

the science which

of

transcends, or breaks does this is modern Western

Greek
science was rendered

science, the child or stepchild

possible

Greek

science.

by

the Greek those

[suggested]25

language, insights, divinations

a particular

language;

the Greek language

or prejudices which make science pos means

sible.

To

give

[a

simple]26

example, science

knowledge Hebrew
or

of all

beings

(panta

ta onto), a thought

[inexpressible in
philosophers

original

Arabic;]27

^he
to

medieval

Jewish

and

Arabic

had to invent

an artificial term

make possible

the entrance of Greek science, i.e. of science. The

therewith in

particular

Socrates

and

Plato, lacked

the awareness of

Greeks, and history, the

historical
sion of

consciousness.

This is the

most popular and

least

venomous expres

able

why in particular Socrates and Plato have become for both Nietzsche and Heidegger, and so many of
most simple explanation of

altogether question

our contemporaries.

This is the

why Socrates has become

which

problem,

why there is a 29This does delineate is

granted the

problem of not mean

Socrates. I have tried to

It

that the anti-Socratic position

would

unproblematic.30

[so-called]

be unproblematic, if we could take for historical consciousness, if the object of the historical

History [with a capital H], had simply been discovered. But History is a problematic interpretation of phenomena which could be interpreted differently, which were interpreted differently in former times and especially by Socrates and his descendants. [I will illustrate the fact starting from a simple example. Xenophon, a pupil of Socrates, wrote a history called
consciousness,
perhaps

Hellenica, Greek history. This

"Thereafter."

work

Thus Xenophon

cannot

begins abruptly with the expression indicate what the intention of this work his (the

is.]31

From the

begirrning

of another work of

Symposium)

we

infer32

that

the Hellenica is devoted to the

gentlemen; hence the the tyrants, do not strictly speaking of those notorious non-gentlemen, [to history, and are appropriately treated by Xenophon in
serious actions of

actions

belong
More

excursuses.]33

important[ly]: the
what we call which tarache of a

Hellenica1*

also

ends, as far as

possible,35

with

Thereafter
each of

History

is for Xenophon
rules.

a sequence of also a

Thereafters, in
and

[confusion]
is'

Socrates is

gentleman, but

a gentleman

different kind; his gentlemanship

'What regarding the

consists

question

various

answering the human things. But these 'What is'es

in

[raising

326
are

Interpretation
and

unchangeable,]36

in

no

the37

Hellenica is only
a

political

way in a state of confusion. As a consequence, history. The primacy of political history is still
a political

recognized:

"historian"

still means

historian, [unless
modem

we
or

add an

adjective, like economic, art, upon, philosophy

Vico's]39

and so on]38.

Still,
of a

history is,
with

is based

of

history. [as he

new science

called

Philosophy it] is

history
doctrine

begins

Vico

[but
a

of natural

right, i.e.

political we

doctrine. However this may be, modem history [in know it] deals with all human activities and thoughts,
"culture."

the

form in

which

with

the whole of

are

[what is called] for instance arts,

There is

"culture"

no

in

[Greek]40

thought

but [there
arts]41

including

the art of moneymaking

about the

and

the imitative

and

[opinions,] doxai, especially

highest in
nation

are therefore the

what we

highest (the gods); these would call "a culture". These

undergo changes

[opinions]42 [opinions]42

differ from
Their

to nation and

they may

within nations.

objects43

have the
held,"

cognitive status of

nomizomena,

of

things owing their

frozen results of abortive reasonings which are declared being to be sacred. They are [to borrow from a Platonic simile] the ceilings of caves. What we call History would be the succession or simultaneity of caves. The [caves, the] ceilings are nomoi [by convention] which is understood in contra distinction to phusei [by nature] In the modem centuries there emerged a new

being

to

kind
tive

of natural

right

[doctrine]45

which

is based

on

the devaluation of nature;

Hobbes'

state of nature
standard:

is the best known

law [as it

example.

that from which one should move the

moral was

away.

Nature is here only a nega On the basis of this, the

ceased

law

of reason or

called]

to be

natural

law:

nature

is in

no

condition

of the

way a standard. This is the necessary, although not sufficient, historical consciousness. The historical consciousness itself

may be

characterized

from [this

earlier]4*

point of view as sequence of

follows: History, the

nomoi, phusis

object of

the historical consciousness, is a

understood as one nomos ger

among many

nomos

has

absorbed phusis.

being Heideg
phaos-

tries to understand

phusis as

related, not to

phuein

phds

(light)
in
a

"to

grow"

is for him

above all man's

(to grow) but to being rooted in a human

tradition.47

creatively transforming that Nietzsche's Jenseits aphorism 188. 48

past,

tradition,

and

cf.

also

Let

me restate

the issue in somewhat different terms as follows. The human

species consists phusei of ethne.

This is due partly

philosopher
must

directly to

phusis49

(different
nomos

races, the

size and structure of

the surface of the earth) and

partly to

(customs
ethnos

and

languages).

Every
he

but

as

[a]

philosopher

belongs essentially to this or that transcend it The prospect of a miracu

.

lous
out

abolition or

in

somewhat

overcoming of the essential particularism for all men was held different ways by Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A
was visualized

non-

miraculous

overcoming

in

modem

times

by

means of the con

quest of nature and the universal recognition of a

so as

purely50

rational nomos

[law]

that only the difference of languages

remains

[which

even

important]. In

reaction to this

levelling,

which seemed

to

Stalin recognized deprive human life

The
of

problem

of Socrates
and

327

its

depth,
is

philosophers51

began to
of

prefer

the

particular

(the local

tempo

ral) to any universal

instead

merely accepting the particular. To

example:

illustrate this
man

by by

what

probably52

the best-known

they

replaced

the rights of

the rights

of

Englishmen.

historicism every man belongs essentially and completely to a historical world, [and he]53 cannot understand another historical world exactly

According

to

as

it [understood
than

or

understands]54

ferently
itself is lier

it

[understands]56

[he necessarily itself. Understanding it better than it

itself

understands]55

it

dif

understood

of course altogether

anthropologists].
philosophic

Yet Heidegger
thought

impossible [and only believed in by very simplistic characterizes [all earlier philosophers] all ear
"oblivion
Sein,"

by

of

of

the ground of grounds:

earlier phi

losophers]57

[which means] in the decisive respect he claims to understand [the better than they understood themselves. This

difficulty
since

is

not peculiar

to Heidegger. It is
that

essential

to all forms of
all earlier

historicism. For historicism

must assert

it is

an

insight surpassing

insights,
it

it

claims

to

bring

to light the true character of all earlier insights:

puts them

[historicism]58

gests

in their place, if one may put it so crudely. At the same time asserts that insights are [functions of times or periods]59; it sug therefore implicitly that the absolute insight the historicist insight be
absolute

longs to the
this would

time, the
raising

absolute moment such a claim an end

[in
our

history]; but it
time,
or

must avoid

even the semblance of

for
to

for any time; for

process of

be tantamount to putting
Nietzsche).60

History, i.e.

to significant time

(cf. Hegel, Marx,

rational;

In

other words:

the historical

is

not

each epoch

has its

absolute

presuppositions; [in the formula

Ranke]
to light

(all

epochs are

this very

fact,

equally immediate to i.e. the truly absolute

God); but historicism has brought

presupposition.

The historicist insight

forgotten ion in
[That

at some

which man of course

for all times, for if that insight were future time, this would merely mean a relapse into an obliv has always lived in the past. Historicism is an eternal verity.
remains true

is

impossible.]

61

According

to Heidegger there are no eternal

verities: eternal verities would presuppose

the eternity

human
this

race

(Sein

und

Zeit 227-230;

Einfuhrung
is

sempiternity of the in die Metaphysik 64)60.

or

Heidegger knows that [the human

race]62

not eternal or sempiternal.

origin,"

Is

not

mological

knowledge, insight, if
would

the knowledge that the human race had an

not the
basis,64

a cos

at

65The
"Sein"

ground of all

beings,

and

least basic, for Heidegger? especially of man, is [said to

writer other

be] Sein.

every by "being"; but for Heidegger everything depends on the radical difference be tween being understood as verbal noun and being understood as participle, and
case of

be translated in the

than Heidegger

in English the

verbal

noun

is

undistinguishable

from the

participle.

shall

into Greek, having Seiendes is on, ens, etant. Sein is Latin and French: Sein is einai, esse, etre; not Seiendes; but in every understanding of Seiendes we tacitly presuppose that
therefore use the German terms after translated them once

328

Interpretation

Sein. One is tempted to say in Platonic language that Seiendes is be a only by participating in Sein but in that Platonic understanding Sein would Seiendes.
we understand

What does Heidegger

understand

mean

by
be

Sein? One Sein

can

begin [at least I be

*

can

begin]

to

it in the

following
cannot

manner.

cannot

explained

by

Seiendes.
of

For

instance, causality

explained

the categories

[surely

in the Kantian

place causally is necessary because sense]. This change

presuppositions

Sein takes the

the categories, the systems of categories, the absolute

change

from

epoch

to epoch; this change is not progress or rational

the

change of

the

categories cannot

be

explained

by,

or on

the basis of, one

particular system of

categories;

yet we could not speak of change

lasting

in the change; that

lasting

which

is

responsible

if there [were] not something for [the] most fundamen

puts and

tal change [fundamental

thought] is Sein: Sein [as he

of

it]

"gives"

"sends"

or

in different
thing."

epochs a

different understanding

Sein

therewith of

"every

But

This is misleading insofar as it suggests that Sein is inferred, only inferred. of Sein we know through experience of Sein; that experience presupposes
a

[however]
and about

leap;

that

leap

was not made

by

the

earlier philosophers and there

fore their thought is

characterized

by

oblivion of

Sein.

They

thought only of

except on

Seiendes. Yet they could not have thought of the basis of some awareness of Sein. But they
was

and about

Seiendes
to

paid no attention

it

this failure

due,

not

to any negligence of

theirs, but to Sein itself.

the Sein of
man.

The

key

to Sein is

one particular manner of

Sein,

Man is his
(or his

project: everyone

is

what

(or

rather

who) he is

by

virtue of the exercise of

project

freedom, his
failure to do limited

choice of a
so).

determinate ideal is finite: the

he has

of

existence, his

But

man

range of

his fundamental
man

choices

is is

by

his

situation which

not chosen:

is

a project which

thrown somewhere (geworfener Entwurf)60.

experienced

The

leap

through which Sein is

is primarily the
in

awareness-acceptance of
of a

being

thrown,

of

finite
must

ness, the

abandonment of

every thought
to

railing,

a support.

(Existence

be

understood

contradistinction

insistence.)66

cially Greek philosophy was oblivious of based on that experience. Greek philosophy

Earlier philosophy and espe Sein precisely because it was not

was guided

by

an

idea

of

Sein

to be present, and therefore according to which Sein means to be "at Sein in the highest sense to be always present, to be always. Accordingly they
and

hand,"

their successors understood the soul as substance, as a

self

thing
or

and not as

the

which, if truly

self, if

authentic

[and

not mere

drifting

shallow], [is

based
that is

on

the awareness-acceptance of
mere

the]67

project as thrown.

No human life
an

not68

drifting

or shallow

is

possible without a
of

project, without
takes the
to

ideal
of

of existence and

dedication to it. "Ideal

the good

existence"

[this]

place

"respectable
"ideal

opinion of
of what

life"; but

opinion points respect

knowledge,
knowledge
of

existence"

whereas

implies that in this

much

there is no

[possible] but only

what

is

higher than

knowledge, i.e. knowledge

is

project, decision.

The
The
grounds ground of all

problem

of Socrates

329

beings,

and

especially

of

man, is Sein

this ground of

is

coeval with man and

therefore also

not eternal or

sempiternal.69

But

if this is so, Sein cannot be the man, in contradistinction to the

different from Sein. [In
not the other

complete ground of man:

essence of

the

emergence of

man, [would
not

require]70

a ground

words] Sein is

the ground of the That. But

is

That,

radically,
stand

the

That, Sein? If we try to understand anything we come up against facticity, irreducible facticity. If we try to under That of man, the fact that the human race is, by tracing it to its
and

precisely the

causes, to its conditions,

specific

we shall

find that
an

the whole effort

which

is directed is

by

understanding

of

Sein

by71

by
it

Sein.72

The condition[s]
anything

of man

understanding [in this view say anything Heidegger also

and

given or sent

are]73

comparable

to Kant's

Thing-in-itself,
contains cannot speak of while man

of which one cannot

[sempiternal].74

in

particular not whether

replies

as

follows75:

one

anything

being

prior to man

is;

authentic or

primary time

is

and arises

in time; for time is or happens only only in man; cosmic time,

or

the time

measurable

by
to,
of

chronometers, is secondary
or made use

derivative

and can

there

fore

not

be

appealed

of, in fundamental

philosophic considera

tions. This
temporal

argument reminds of

the

medieval argument

finiteness

the

world

is

compatible with

according to which the God's eternity and uncannot

changeability because, time

even

being dependent on
"prior to the

motion, there

have been in the

time when there was no motion. But yet it [seems that

it] is
the

meaningful and and

indispensable to Heidegger
of

world"

speak of

creation of

case of

"prior to the

man."

emergence of
what

It

seems

thus that one cannot avoid the question as to

man and of

is

responsible

for

the emergence of
ex nihilo nihil

Sein,

or of what

brings them

out of nothing.
.

For:

fit [out

questioned

by

nothing nothing Heidegger: [he says] ex

as

of

comes nihilo

into being] This is apparently omne ens qua ens fit [out of
the Biblical
for76

nothing every being being doctrine of creation [out of Creator-God. [This

through nothing,
nor would

comes out].
nothing].

This

could remind one of no

But Heidegger has

come

place

the
and

suggest, things
nihilo].77

into

being

out of

nothing

ex nihilo et a

This is [of course]

must

not

literally

asserted

literally

denied

by

Heidegger. But

it

not

be

considered

in its literal
fit.78

meaning?

Kant found "nowhere ble any

even an attempt of a proof of ex nihilo nihil

His

own proof establishes this principle as possible experience

but only for rendering possi necessary (in contradistinction to [what he called] the Thinglegitimation [of
to
the]79

in-itself)
[In the

he

gives a transcendental

ex nihilo nihil

fit. The

transcendental deduction in its turn

same
spirit]79

primacy of practical reason. Heidegger80: "die Freiheit ist der Ursprung des Satzes vom
points
speak of

Grunde."

Accordingly
mystery

Heidegger does

the origin of

man

he be

says

that

it is

what

is the

status of

the reasoning
premises:

leading

to this sensible result?

cannot

It

follows
Seiendes

directly
cf.

from these 2
cannot

1) Sein

explained

causality

be

explained

causally

2)

man

is the

by being

330

Interpretation

constituted

by

Sein Sein.

explicability
tered
within

of

indissolubly linked with it The difficulty re: the origin

man participates

in the

in-

of man which was encoun

biology
seems

Heidegger left
open a

(See Portmann) was only an illustration, not a proof. to have succeeded in getting rid of phusis without having
a

back door to

Thing-in-itself
could

and without

being

in

need of a philos

ophy

of nature

(Hegel).81

One

say

that

he

succeeded

in this

at the price of

the unintelligibility

of

Sein.

Lukacs,
which

the

most

intelligent

of the

Western Marx

ists, using
spoke of

the sledgehammer

Lenin had

used against empirio-criticism,

Lukacs only harmed himself by not learning from Heidegger. He prevented himself from seeing that Heidegger's understanding of the contemporary world is more comprehensive and more profound than
mystification.82

Marx's (Gestell
the claim of

Ware,

Ding)83

or

that Marx

raised a claim

him

who claimed

to

have

sold the

surpassing by far Brooklyn bridge. In all impor

than

tant respects Heidegger does not make things

obscurer

on the

Heidegger tries to deepen the understanding of what German word for thinking. To this procedure he
word

they are. thinking is by reflecting

makes

the objection

that a German

obviously belongs to a particular language, and thinking is something universal; hence one cannot bring to light what drinking is by re flecting on one word of a particular language. He draws the conclusion that
there remains
gerian return

here

a problem.

Which

means

that historicism even in its

a solution cannot

Heideg
lie in
a

form

contains

for him

a problem.

For him

to the supra-temporal or eternal but only

meeting of the most different ways of ing of East and West not of course of the
on

in something historical: in a understanding life and the world, a meet

opinion pollsters or opinion rooted

leaders

both

sides
an

but

of

those who, most

deeply

in their past,

reach out

If this is reasonable, our first task apparently unbridgeable the task of understanding would be the one in which we are already engaged the Great Western Books.

beyond

gulf.84

I began
validity,

by

of

that the worth, the saying that Socrates has become a problem problem. But the question of the what he stood for has become a

worth of what was

Socrates he

stood
85

for,

presupposes or

that we know already

what

it

for

which

stood.

This second,
stems

primary,

question

leads to the

problem of

Socrates in

another sense of

the expression, to the historical prob

not

lem. This
write and

problem of

Socrates

indeed from the fact that Socrates did

for
our

that we depend therefore

knowledge

of

him, i.e.
not

of

his

thought,
tors are

on mediators who were at

the same time transformers. These

and

media

Aristophanes, Plato, Xenophon,

except

Aristotle. Aristotle did

In

know

Socrates

through reports

oral or written.

Socrates is
that he
was

a restatement of what

Xenophon

said.

fact, what he says about Aristophanes, Xenophon and

Plato knew Socrates himself. Of these 3

willing to be a
of
today"

men the

historian,

was

only one who showed Xenophon. This establishes

by

deed

a prima

facie

case

in favor

that "we know

Xenophon. As for Plato, I remember having heard it said that some of his dialogues are early and hence more

The
Socratic than the later ference
virtue"

problem

of Socrates

331
indif

ones.

But for Plato it

was a matter of complete

which were

implications

or presuppositions of

the Socratic question "what is

known to Socrates
question;
so much

and which were not: so much was

he dedicated
to say of
prosthe

to

Socrates'

did he forget himself. It is

much wiser

Socrates, with Nietzsche, jocularly and opithen te Platon, messe te Chimaira. At Platon, any
is less
eusunoptos

the Platonic

even

frivolously,
limit
we

rate, the Platonic Socrates

shall myself

than is the Xenophontic Socrates. I

not
Aristophanes'

there

fore to the Xenophontic Socrates. But this is

ourselves of

feasible if

do

not remind

the Socrates
was

of of

Clouds. believe in the gods, especially the

the stronger, that

That Socrates
gods of the

manifestly guilty
time:

the two stock charges made against the

not

philosophers at the

1)

that

they did
made
over

city,

and

2)

that

they
the

the

weaker argument

they
2

made

the Adikos Logos triumph

the Dikaios Logos. the compulsions

rhetorike.

For he

engaged

in

activities:

1) in phusiologia,

study
and

of

by

which

heavenly

phenomena come

about,

2) in
to

The

connection

especially between
was

the 2 pursuits is not

immediately
all

clear, for the Aristophanean Socrates

altogether unpolitical and rhetoric seems

phusiologia

be in the
particular

service of politics.

Yet:

liberates from

prejudices, in
upon

the belief in the

gods of

the city; and this liberation

is frowned
in

by

the city; the philosopher-physi

ologist needs therefore rhetoric

order to

defend

himself, his

unpopular activ skill

ity, before
make can use

the law courts; his defense is the highest achievement of his

to

the Adikos Logos triumph over the Dikaios Logos. Needless to say, he that skill also for other, in
a sense

lower purposes, like

defrauding
and

debtors. The Aristophanean Socrates is

endurance. stage

a man of

the utmost continence

This fact
Socrates'

alone shows

that the Adikos Logos who appears on the

at

is

not

Adikos Logos,
effect or

Adikos Logos is to the

in its pure, ultimate form. This that the tme community is the community of the
not

least

knowers,

and not

the polis,

that the knowers

as

have

obligations

one another: much closer

the ignoramuses have to

another

little rights

as madmen.

only toward The knower is

knower than he is to his family. The

and

ted

by

paternal

against

killing

one's

authority father

the prohibition against incest

family is constitu by the prohibition

prohibition against

and

marrying

one's mother.

The

incest,
polis,

the obligation of exogamy, calls

an expansion which

for the

expansion of

the

family

into the

not able

is necessary in the first place because the family is to defend itself. But the 2 prohibitions would lack the necessary force
Socrates he
oud'

if

there were no gods.

questions

all

this:

esti without

Zeus. He thus
polis.

subverts the polis, and yet

words of the

could not

lead his life

the

In the

Xenophon does not reply to Dikaios Logos, the polis feeds him. Aristophanes directly. But the 2 main points made by Aristophanes became in a
somewhat
modified

form the 2
Lykon.

Socrates'

points

of

indictment

formed87

by

Meletos,

Anytos

and

By

refuting the
of

indictment, Xenophon
tanthropina
yet

refutes

then, if tacitly, Aristophanes

re asebeia

too.

no phusiologia

but only study

Socrates did

332

Interpretation
proof of

study nature in his manner ( + the gods of the city)

re

the

existence and providence of

the gods

diaphthora

Socrates the
kaloka'

perfect gentleman

(on the basis

which

of

his

egkra-

he even taught teia) did not separate wisdom

was

gathia

to the extent to

it

can

be taught

he
then

and moderation

from
with

one88

another

accordingly he

law-abiding, he

even

identified justice

law-abidingness

he

was

a political man

the xenikos

bios

not viable

he

even taught ta politika

in

this context, he criticized the established

was a

politeia

(election

by lot)
Socrates'

but this

alleged gentlemanly view to take. Yet we are reminded of ton hetto logon kreitto poiein by the fact that he could handle everyone ability in speeches in any way he liked therefore he attracted such questionable gen

tlemen as Kritias and Alcibiades

responsible

but it

would

be very

unfair

to make

Socrates

for

their misdeeds.
not always

Xenophon's Socrates does

take the high

road of

kalokagathia
a philistine.

but in

doing

so

he became,
of

not a

86E.g. his treatment

economical

friendship

dangerous subversion, but rather friends are chremata ne

Di'

utilitarian,

treatment
=

reducing the
chresimon more of

kingly

art

to the economic

art.

Ultimately:

kalon
86

agathon

Yet: kalokagathia has

than one
the ti

sense.

What did Socrates

such

understand

by
not

kalokagathia^ Knowledge
possessed

esti of

tanthropina

knowledge is

by

the

gentlemen

in the

common sense of the term.

Xenophon dis

pels any possible confusion on this point by presenting to us one explicit con frontation of Socrates with a kalos kagathos (Oeconomicus 11 nothing of this

kind in Plato). This between Socrates

makes us wonder as

to the full

extent

and the

kaloi kagathoi

in

chapter of

of the difference the Memorabilia

devoted to gentlemanship (II 6.35) Xenophon's Socrates tells us what the arete andros is: surpassing friends in helping them and enemies in harming them

but in speaking
people

Socrates'

of

virtue

Xenophon does

not mention at all

Socrates'

harming
virtues.

andreia

does

not occur

in Xenophon's 2 lists
conduct

of

Xenophon
sumes

Socrates'

speaks of
Socrates'

this

under prowess.

exemplary justice and he does

in

campaigns

but he

sub

not give a single example of

Socrates'

military understanding, believed that

Bumet,
people

very low view of Xenophon's like Xenophon and Meno were attracted to
who

had

Socrates by his military reputation while all we know of that reputation we know through Plato. Socrates was then a gentleman in the sense that he always
considered the examples

What is?

of

human things. Yet Xenophon

gives us

very few
is'

of such

discussions;

there are many more Socratic conversations

vice without
esti}9

which exhort

to

virtue or

dehort from

tion than conversations

Socrates'

dealing

with ti

raising any 'What Xenophon points to the

or at all.

ques
core

of

life

or

thought

but does

not present

it sufficiently

The Xenophontic Socrates

all

characterizes

those who worry about the nature of

things as mad: some

of

them hold that

some of

are90

infinitely

many beings;

is only one, others that there them hold that all things are always in

being

The
motion,
others that

problem

of Socrates

333

nothing is
and

ever

in motion;

some of

them

thing

comes

into

being

perishes,

others that

nothing

ever comes

hold that every into being

and perishes.

He thus delineates the

sane or sober view of the nature of all

things; according to

that wiser view there are

many but

not

beings,
perish.

these beings

( i=

other

things)

never

change,

never come

infinitely many into being and

As Xenophon

says

considering

what each of

is'es,
his

the tribes (=

the

entirely different context Socrates never ceased beings is: the many eternal beings are the 'What infinitely many perishable individuals). Socrates did
an

in

the

then worry about the nature of all things and to that extent
madness

he too

was

mad; but

which

There is only sobriety Xenophon calls Socrates "blessed": when he speaks

was sobria ebrietas

one occasion on
of

how Socrates

acquired

his friends

or rather

his

good

friends

he

acquired

them

by

studying

with them

the writings of the wise men of old and

them the good things

example of

they found in
activity.

them

selecting together with but Xenophon does not give a single

a

by

this blissful

Xenophon introduces
was well

Socratic
Plato.

conversa

tion with Glaukon as follows:

sake of

Socrates
Glaukon

disposed to Glaukon for the

sake of with

Charmides the

son of

and

for the

Accordingly
are

the next chapter reports a conversation of

Socrates

Charmides. We

thus induced to suspect that the next chapter will report a conversation of Soc
rates with with an

Plato. Instead the

next chapter reports a conversation of peak

-the

Socrates

Ersatz for

Plato,

the philosopher Aristippos: the

conversa

tion with Plato

is

pointed to

such conversations.

but missing and not because there were no That Book of the Memorabilia which comes closest to

presenting the Socratic teaching as such, is introduced by the remark that Soc rates did not approach all men in the same manner: he approached those who had
good natures

in

way; but the

chief

one way and those who lacked interlocutor in that Book, the chief

good natures

in

another

addressee of the

Socratic

teaching
nature.

presented

by Xenophon,

A last

example:

is manifestly a youth who lacked a good Socrates used 2 kinds of dialectics one in which he
to its hupothesin and made clear that
manifest.

led back the

whole argument

hupothesin;

in this way the truth became

through the things
most

In the

other

kind Socrates took his way

by

human

beings;

in

this

generally agreed upon, through the opinions accepted way he achieved, not indeed knowledge, or truth, but
second

agreement or concord.

In the

kind

of speech

Odysseus excelled; and,

as

frequently cited the verses from the Iliad in which Odysseus is presented as speaking differently to men of worth and to worthless people. Only by following these intimations, by linking them with one another, by thinking them through and by always remembering them
the accuser of Socrates said, Socrates
even when near

reading how Socrates gave good advice to a poor fellow despair because 14 female relatives had taken refuge in his house

who was
and were

about to starve

him

and themselves to

death

only
see

by

always

Xenophon's intimations, I say, can one come to phon saw him. For Xenophon presents Socrates

the true

remembering Socrates as Xeno

as

also and

primarily

innocent

334

Interpretation
helpful to the
and meanest capacities.

and even

He

conceals

the difference between

Socratic

ordinary kalokagathia

as much as possible,

i.e.

as much as

is

compatible with

intimating
or, if

their conflict.

^Nothing
right

is

more characteristic of gentlemen than respect

for the law

not

for the
It is
never of no

kind

of

law;

you

wish, the wrong kind is

esti

law

at all.

therefore necessary to
raised

raise

the question ti

nomos; but this

question

is

by Xenophon's Socrates; it is raised only by Alcibiades, a youth extreme audacity and even hubris who by raising that question discomfited
less
a
man

than the great Perikles.

good a citizen

Socrates'

failure to
on

raise

that question

showed
citizen

how is

he

was.

For laws depend

the regime, but a good

a man who obeys the

law

independently
will

of all changes of regimes.

But,
chy.
law.'

according to a more profound view, "good

citizen"

is

relative

to the re

gime: a good citizen under a

democracy

be

bad

citizen under an oligar

Given this complication, it is prudent not to raise the question 'what is But, alas, Alcibiades who did raise that question was a companion of
at

Socrates

the time

he

raised

it,

and the

way in

which

he handled it

reveals

his

Socratic bidden

training.

ternal authority. As

punished

the defective character of the offspring, good offspring coming from parents who are both in their prime. The Socratic argument is silent only on incest between brother and sister. Above all, the punishment for incest be tween parents and children
on an oldish

by by

openly for incest, Xenophon's Socrates asserts that incest is for divine law, for incest between parents and children is automatically

Xenophon

almost

admits that

Socrates

subverted pa

does

not

differ from the young

wife.

"punishment"

that is visited

husband very
of

who marries a close to

On this

point

the Xenophontic

Socrates

comes

the Socrates

of

the Clouds.
of

The Socrates

the Clouds teaches the

omnipotence

rhetoric, but this

teaching is refuted by the action of the play. The Xenophontic Socrates could this means that he could not handle handle everyone as he liked in speeches
everyone as

he liked in deeds. The

greatest example

ing Clouds)
of also as
not

his
is

accusers. aware of

But the Xenophontic Socrates (=

is Xanthippe, to say noth the Socrates of the

the essential limitation of speech. Xenophon indicates this

comrade-in-arms

follows. His

Proxenos

was able

to rule

gentlemen

but

the others

who regarded

him

fear; he was Gorgias. Xenophon, however, the

run of soldiers with

naive; he was unable to instil the general unable to inflict punishment; he was a pupil of
as pupil of

Socrates,

was

able

to rule both

gentlemen and non-gentiemen;

he

was good at

doing

as well as at speaking.
or almost

86From Aristotle
and

we

learn

that the sophists

identified

identified the

political art with rhetoric.

Socrates,

we

infer,

was opposed

to the sophists also

especially because he was aware of the essential limitations of rhetoric. In this important respect, incidentally, Machiavelli had nothing in common with the sophists but agreed with Socrates; he continued, modified, corrupted the Socratic tradition; he was linked to that tradition through Xenophon to whom
he
refers more

frequently

than to

Plato, Aristotle

and

Cicero taken together.

The
This is
an additional reason

problem

of Socrates

335

than one

why one should pay greater attention to Xenophon ordinarily does. This lecture consists of 2 heterogenous parts they are held together appar the title "The problem of which is necessarily ambig ently only by uous: the problem of Socrates is philosophic and it is historical. The distinction
Socrates,"

between
total
made

philosophic one

and

historical

cannot

be avoided, but distinction is

not

separation:

cannot

study the philosophic problem without

problem and one cannot

having

up

one's mind on the

historical
made

study the histori

the philosophic

cal problem without problem.

having

up

one's mind

implicitly

on

NOTES

1. The
should we

manuscript contains the

following
should and

sentences

instead

of

these bracketed ones:

"Why

be interested in it?
to the

Why

it be

relevant

to us? There are so many things that

receive an as

concern us so much more

answer

by listening
coined omitted

obviously man from

whom

urgently than the problem of Socrates. We I took the title of my lecture and who,
Socrates.'"

far

as

remember,

the expression 'the problem of

2. Word

in the lecture is
written

as

delivered.
of as

3.
4. 5.

"disintegrated"

instead

"were

disintegrating"

in the

manuscript.

"is"

"was"

replaces
"pre-Socratics"

in the lecture

delivered.
philosophers"

replaces

"pre-Socratic

in the lecture

as

delivered.

6. The 7. A

word

in

the text was

notation above

has been crossed out. originally "fullest"; the line directs us to insert here the following words, which

"est"

are written at

the bottom of the page in the manuscript:

"anti-Hegel,

Schopenhauer."

(The

word which we

have

interpreted
present

is difficult to read, in the lecture as delivered.

as

"anti-"

and perhaps we are

in

error about

it.) These

words are not

8.

"His"

is

written

instead

"Nietzsche's"

of

in the
of

manuscript. ever

9. "man has 10. A

ism)"

achieved"

ever

is

written

instead "i.e.

"has

been

achieved"

in the

manuscript. written at

notation above

the line directs us to insert here the

manuscript:

following

phrase, which is

the bottom of the page in the

collective egoism of

the human race (utilitarian

This

phrase words

is

not present

in the lecture

as

delivered.

11. The

"on acts,

will,"

on the

replace us

"on

acts of

the

will"

in the lecture

as

delivered. it

12. A
at the

notation above the of

line directs
This

to insert here the

following

sentence, which is written

bottom
"he"

the page in the manuscript. "Science cannot answer the question

foundation."

'why

science':

rests on an irrational

sentence

is

not present
manuscript.

in the lecture
omitted

as

delivered.
deliv

13.

is

written

instead

"Socrates"

of

in the

14. The
ered.

"there,"

word

which

has been

added above

the

line, is

in the lecture

as

15.

"Banquet'

"Symposium"

replaces words

in the lecture

as

delivered.
"one"

16. The

"a

few"

added above

the line to replace

which

has been

crossed out.

In

keeping
Also,
Plato

with this addition, the word

manuscript contains

"points"

has been

made plural
which

by

the addition of the final "s".

crossed out
when

the

here the

following

sentence,

has been

ever, the
and

end of

the

paragraph):

"In the Preface to Beyond Good

says as

and

Evil,

(see, how taking issue with

is Platonism

therewith with

Socrates, Nietzsche

it

were

in passing in

'Christianity

for the
17.

people.'"

"spends"

18. 20.

"the"

is [inadvertently] written instead of in the lecture as delivered. replaces

"his"

"sends"

the manuscript.

19. "it

is"

added above
"this"

the line.

"it"

replaces

in the lecture

as

delivered.

336
21.

Interpretation
"Nietzsche's"

added above the

line to

"the"

replace
"the."

which

has been

crossed out.

In the

lecture
22.

as

delivered, however,
is
written

the reading
"all"

is

again manuscript.

"the"

instead

of

in the

23.

"Probably."

is

written

instead

"Perhaps."

of

in the

manuscript.
truism"

24. "a truism for many replaces "for many people a 25. is written instead of in the manuscript.
people"

in the lecture

as

delivered.

"supplied"

"suggested"

26.

"an"

is

written

instead

of

"a

simple"

in the

manuscript.
thought:"

27. "inaccessible

e.g.

to original Hebrew or
Arabic:"

Arabic

is

written

instead

of

"inexpress
manuscript

ible in is

"original"

original

Hebrew

or

in the

manuscript.

Also,

the

word

in the

added

only above the line. 28. The remainder of this

a pause of about

paragraph

is

omitted which

in the lecture

as

delivered. The tape contains

here

of shuffling pages. during preceding paragraph, the manuscript has the marginal notation "turn to 8" sheet (in Professor Strauss's own hand). Accordingly, the editors have chosen to omit, for the time being, a large portion of the lecture and to continue instead from the beginning of sheet 8. At

fifteen

seconds

the only sound is that

29. At the

end of the

the end of sheet 10 of the manuscript, there

notation points

is

another marginal and thus also to

notation, "Continue

4b."

That

back to the

present

one,

on sheet

4b,

the omitted portion of the text.

This

omitted

portion,

which we will return

to as directed

by

that later notation, continues to what

appears to

be the

end of

the lecture. Our editorial procedure is

continues

further justified
occurrence of

by

the fact that the

lecture
sheet

as

delivered in Annapolis

here in the
off

manner

that we are presenting it (i.e. from the second marginal the omitted section was
where

of the manuscript).

Since the tape breaks be

certain

before the
of

notation,

however,

we cannot

how much, if any,

as

included in

Professor Strauss's 30. This

sentences:

oral presentation.

(A

subsequent note will

indicate

the tape breaks off.)

sentence

is

omitted

from the lecture

delivered

and replaced

by

the two

"We have to pay some attention to this question of historicism, that is to say in the first place. The anti-Socratic position, which I have tried to delineate, is not

of

following history

unproblemati

31. The
cannot

sentence what

indicate

"Xenophon's Hellenica begins abruptly with is." is written instead the intention of his work
Symposium)"

'Thereafter'

thus

Xenophon
sen

of these

four bracketed

tences in the manuscript.

32. The
infer"

words

"(the "in

are omitted

in the lecture
history,"

as

delivered,

and

the words "we

are also omitted and replaced

by

"one

infer."

can of

33. The

it."

words

are written

instead

"to

in the

manuscript.

Also, instead

of

the words "and are appropriately treated

words

by

Xenophon in

excursuses."

the

manuscript contains

the

"belong

in

excursuses"

above replaces

the line.

34. "this

work"

"the
as

Hellenica"

in the lecture

as

delivered.
as

35. The 36.

written

phrase

"as far

possible"

is

omitted

in the lecture

delivered.

Instead,

the

next

occurrence of the word

'Thereafter"

is followed

by

the phrase "within the limits of the

possible."

"considering
instead
of

the 'What

is'

unch

of

the human things, these 'What is'es

being

is

these bracketed words in the manuscript.

"the"

37.

"Xenophon's"

replaces
economic

in the lecture
historian "but
.

as

delivered.
written

38. "(=

historian,

art

is

instead

of

these bracketed

words

in

the manuscript.

39. "yet
40.

his"

is

written

instead

Vico's"

of

in the

manuscript.

"classical"

is

written

instead

"Greek"

of
and

in the

manuscript.

41. "technai
words

(including
is
written

mimetike)"

chrematistike

is

written

instead

of

these bracketed

in the

manuscript.

42.

"doxai"

instead

"opinions"

of

in

the manuscript.

43. The
out.

words

"Their
as

objects"

added above the

line to
"They"

"They"

replace

which

has been

crossed

In the lecture

delivered, however,

the word
held"

is the
the

one used.

44. "of things owing their being to script. A notation above the line directs

being
us

added at

bottom
and

of

to insert this

phrase

here,

the page in the manu it is included here in the

lecture
45.

as

delivered.

"teaching"

is

written

instead

"doctrine"

of of

in the

manuscript.

46. "the

classical"

is

written

instead

"this

earlier"

in the manuscript.

The
47. A
notation above

problem

of Socrates

337

the line directs

us

to insert here the

following
=

words,

which are written at

the bottom of the page in the manuscript: "das Gewachsene

not present

das

Gemachte."

These

words are

in the lecture

as

delivered.
with

48. These last few lecture 49.

50.
as

lines, beginning
"phusis"

the

words

"Heidegger

tries,"

are omitted

from the

delivered.
replaces

"nature"

in the lecture line.

as

delivered.
"men"

"purely"

added above the

"philosophers"

51.
53.

added above
probably"

the line to replace

which

has been

crossed out.

52. "what is
"

omitted

from the lecture "and

he"

as

delivered.
understands"

we"

is

written

instead

of

in the
of

manuscript.

54. "understands

understood"

or

is

written

instead

"understood
of

or

in the

manuscript.
manu

55. "we necessarily

script.

understand"

is

written

instead

"he necessarily in the

understands"

in the

56.
57.

"understood"

is

written

instead
of

"understands"

of earlier

manuscript.

"them"

is

written

instead
of

"the

philosophers"

in the
times

manuscript.

58.

"it"

is

written

instead

"historicism"

in the
of

manuscript.
periods"

59. "f(times

periods)"

or

is

written

instead

"functions

of

or

in the

manuscript.

60. This
61. This 62.
"it"

entire parenthesis sentence

is

omitted

from the lecture

"Yet"

as

delivered.

begins instead

with of

the word

in the in the

manuscript.
manuscript.

is A

written

"the human
race

race"

63. "the knowledge that the human

manuscript. notation above

had

origin"

an

added at the

bottom
and

of

the page in the

the line directs us to insert this phrase

basis"

here,
as

it is included here in

the

lecture

as

delivered.
not

64. "is this includes

the

basis"

replaces

"if

not the

in the lecture
that the

delivered.

65. Professor Strauss indicates

which over

also occurs
crossed out.

section of the text, four paragraphs, written on two separate sheets, belongs here. This section here in the lecture as delivered. It replaces the following sentences, which have been
a marginal notation

by

following

"The

ground of all

beings,

and

especially

of

man, is Sein

this ground of grounds is

coeval with man and therefore also not eternal or sempiternal.

But if

this

is so, Sein

cannot

be the

complete ground of man: the emergence of man

ent

(+

the essence of man) requires a ground differ

or

not the ground of the That. To this one can reply as follows: the That of man is necessarily interpreted in the light of a specific understanding of Sein of A subsequent note will indicate the end of this understanding which is given or sent by interpolated section.

from Sein. Sein is

condition

its

Sein."

66. This

entire parenthesis
word

is

omitted

from the lecture

as

delivered. Also, Professor Strauss is

sense of

"insistence"

probably using the

upon."

here in its older,

and

Latinate,
is

"standing
of

or

resting

words

67. "is resoluteness, i.e. the in the manuscript.

"not"

a"

awareness-acceptance of

written

instead

these bracketed

68. 70.
71.

is

inadvertently
or written

omitted

from the lecture

"eternal
or

as

delivered.

69. "sempiternal
"requires"

eternal"

sempiternal"

replaces

in the lecture

as

delivered. delivered.

is

instead
to

of

"would

require"

in the

manuscript.

"by"

added

by

the

editors

replace

"of in the
are"

manuscript and

in the lecture

as

72. This is the 73.

74.
"is"

end of the

interpolated
of

section which was mentioned

in

note

65.

is

written

instead

"in this
of

view

in the in the

manuscript. manuscript.

"aidion"

is

written

instead

"sempiternal"

reply"

75. "mentions this 76. "has

for"

replaces

"also
"ex

follows"

replies as replace

in the lecture
which
fit."

as

delivered.
crossed out.

no place
symbol
"
"

added above

the line to

"denies"

has been
is

77. The

followed

by

nihilo et ab nihilo omne ens

ens"

written

instead

of

this sentence in the the words "omne

manuscript.

Also,

the words "qua

are

written, but then crossed out, after

ens."

78. A

notation above

the line directs us to insert here the

following

words,

which are written at

Substanz."

the bottom

of the page

in the

manuscript:

"Grundsatz der Beharrlichkeit der

These

words are not present

in the lecture

as

delivered.

338

Interpretation
symbol " where
"

bracketed words in the manuscript. delivered in Annapolis breaks off (cf. note 29). Accordingly, we have only Professor Strauss's manuscript of the remainder of the lecture. 81. Beneath the line here there are added two distinct groups of words in the manuscript. The

79. The

is

written

instead

of these
as

80. Here is

the tape of the lecture

first,
other.

which

begins

under

the

word

"Thing-in-itself,
Without."

consists of two

lines,

one

underneath

the

The top line is "(Kant) nature 'an for Heidegger and Nietzsche: no Beyond or
"for,"

sich' unknowable."

The bottom line

appears

to be "but

have interpreted

as
which

group
mind

of

words,

(This line, and especially the word which we is difficult to read, and perhaps we are in error about it.) The second is "nature as is found underneath the words "philosophy of nature
(Hegel)"

in its

Anderssein."

82. A
written at

notation above

the line directs us to insert here the

manuscript.

the

bottom is the

of

the page in the

of the

if

mysticism

discovery

life

of

following two sentences, which are "Heidegger has something to do with mysticism the deity in the depths of the human heart. But the
meant

mystery

which

Heidegger
",Ding"

claims to

have discovered is
God."

to be

deeper,

and

less based
"Ware"

on

questionable

presuppositions, than the

word

mysteries of written underneath

83. The
the

(with the preceding comma) is

the word

in

manuscript.

84. A
at

notation above

the line

directs

us to

insert here the

following
of

sentence,

which

is

written upholds

the bottom of the page in the manuscript. "In this way, and only in this way, the trans-national or trans-cultural

Heidegger

the universalist

intention

philosophy."

85. Here,
4b,"

at

the end of Professor Strauss's manuscript, occurs the marginal notation

"Continue
we with

to which we referred in note

omitted so

29,

and which of

directs

us

back to the

portion of the

lecture that begins

have

far. At the
which

beginning
has been

this portion of the

lecture,

a new paragraph

the

following

sentence,

crossed out: stood

tion of the

worth of what

Socrates
that

for,

nay, can one properly

stood."

"However this may be, can one answer the ques formulate it, if one does not
As the
reader will

know in the first nearly the

place what

it is for

which

he

notice, this sentence is

4b."

same as the one

immediately

precedes

the marginal notation, "Continue

Ac

cordingly, in turning now to this omitted section, we have chosen not to begin a new paragraph. 86. No indention in the manuscript, although the previous line appears to be the end of
paragraph.
"framed"

87. It is
88. 89. The
manuscript.

possible
added

that Professor Strauss wrote the

word

here instead

"formed."

of

"one"

by

the

editors.

words

"than

conversations

dealing

with

ti estr are

added

beneath the line in the

90.

"are"

added

by

the

editors.