Four mirrors for the prince. Leo strauss or the first étude in the methodological poliphony

Abstract

the first in a series of four articles on the relation between history of political ideas’ methodology and interpretation, discussed on the example of Machiavelli’s The Prince, deals with Leo Strauss. Both his method and reading of Machiavelli proved to have a deep impact on the discussion of those themes in the second half of the twentieth century. The aim of the article is to show the connection between Strauss’ methodological standpoint and interpretation based on it. In the introductory part of the article I will discuss Strauss’ methodological point of view: first in respect of its more abstract version expounded in Persecution and the Art of Writing and then regarding its more specific form developed in his study devoted to Machiavelli himself, Thoughts on Machiavelli. The central part deals with Strauss’ interpretation of The Prince. Finally, in the last part Strauss’ methodology and his interpretation is confronted with critiques that were formulated by Quentin Skinner, J. G. A. Pocock and Claude Lefort, the three authors with whose methodological standpoints and interpretations of The Prince we will engage in the following articles.