The

Socrates

problem of

Leo Strauss

Socrates"

"The
the

problem

Annapolis

Professor

delivered

as a

lecture

on

April 17, 1970,

on

of St. John's College. Professor Strauss's daughter,

Clay, of the Department of Classics at the University of Vir

campus

Jenny

has generously

ginia,

Also,

was

of

made available to the editors a copy of the manuscript.

recording of the lecture in the St. John's College library in An

a tape

napolis was available to the

minutes,

with

half of the

nearly

as were copies

editors,

the tape is

Unfortunately,

tion of that tape.

of an

broken off

manuscript still

transcrip

anonymous
after about

forty-five

unread, and the transcription

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

also ends where The

editors on the

lecture

which

be

sometimes appears to

to it.

superior

Thus,

published text.

When the lecture

as

that are not in the manuscript, we

cases where the two authorities

in the lecture
cases we

those

delivered,

as

have

also

discrepancies

included it in the
in

a note.

indicates

compelled
Strauss'

clarity.

where we

text without

All italics

where

to

we

rely

have

on

the

basis for

brackets. In the

have
in

a note.

In the

manuscript

and we

are

have included

based

and after
alone.

on

cases where we

have

of

have

the oral version

the manuscript.

note

this point we are of course

We have

preserved

s punctuation to the extent that we thought possible without

In those few

case

preferred the manuscript version, we

broken off,

other

preferred the version

included it in brackets, but in these

again

brackets,

our

contains a word or words

manuscript version

have

chosen to give the re

these in

and where we

and paragraphs

the tape is

have

delivered merely

have included

differ

included the

we

the manuscript as a

corded version almost equal weight with

Professor
sacrificing
(apart

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

Finally,

deciphering
A

which appear

we are grateful to

in the

original

Greek in the

Dr. Heinrich Meier for his

generous

manu

help

in

Professor Strauss's handwriting.

of this lecture has been published previously, incorporated

different lecture and in a somewhat modified form, in The Rebirth of

small portion

within a

Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought

1995

by

The

University

interpretation,

of

Chicago. All rights

Spring 1995,

Vol.

22, No. 3

reserved.

of

Leo Strauss

322

Interpretation

(Chicago:

University

Chicago]),
[I

of Chicago

told that the local

was

Press, 1989 [ 1989 by The University of

44-46.

pp.

Socrates."

than one problem of

has

paper

This

problems of

may be

Socrates,

of no concern

after all there are so

far

as

immediately
last

him,

Socrates

him.]1

by

was coined

decadent

was a

people, to the

in

Socrates

obviously
But we

was concerned.
Socrates'

problem

lecture,

and

Socrates"

problem of

which,

by
as

is the first,

in Nietzsche's Dawn of Idols, one of his

we
hear, were decadents. More precisely,
Plato,
belonged to the lowest stratum of the common

of a section

and

who

[I quote:]

riff-raff.

"The

was

Therefore

relevant.

which concern us so much more

problem with which

revealing title

publications.

Socrates

be

answer

I remember,

"The

Socrates

with which

not

why we should be concerned with

to the man from whom I took the title of this

receive an

listening

to us, that it may

many things

urgently than the

and

tonight on

engaging printing error; for there is more

in the first place, the problem with which Socra

tes was concerned. But one could say, the problem

concerned

I lecture

announced that

was an

is exaggerated, buffo,

"Everything

caricature

everything is at the same time concealed, rich in afterthoughts, subter

The enigma of Socrates is the idiotic equation of reason, virtue and

ranean."

happiness

an equation opposed to all

Greek health

and nobility.

tics, i.e. the

quest

for,

seek

and

for

The

key

reasons.

is

The

earlier

of good manners.

Only

those

of

by

and2

to present, the reasons of their

the command either of the gods or of

other means

instincts

supplied

have

Greeks,

discovery

of

of

[the]

dialec

high-class Greeks disdained to

To

conduct.

themselves,

people

the earlier

Socrates'

abide

by

authority,

by

for them simply a matter

to dialectics who have no

was

recourse

for getting listened to and respected. It is a kind of revenge which

high-bom. "The dialectician leaves it to his adversary

the low-bom take of the

to prove that
less."

he is

not an

idiot. He

Socrates fascinated because he discovered in dialectics

agon, [of contest]; he thus

them
and

enrages and at the same time makes

Plato. In

above all

[were

reason.

an age when

disintegrating]3,

Yet the

cure

When speaking

won over

the noble

youth of

one needed a non-instinctual

belongs

as much

of the earlier

to

Athens

instincts had lost their

the

decadence

Greeks,

as

a new

help

form

of

and

among

ancient

surety,

tyrant; this

tyrant

was4

the illness.

Nietzsche thinks

also of

the

philoso

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

Platonism
age

and

hence Socratism

to face reality

without

ideas. In Thucydides the

full6

"historical

was at all

illusion

sophistic

sense."

Nietzsche's

times Thucydides who

and to

seek reason

cure

for

had the

in reality,

all

cour

and not

in

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

its

expression.

The
of

[so-called]

section on the problem of

Socrates in the Dawn of Idols is

only a relic
out of the Spirit
of Music

Nietzsche's first publication, The Birth of Tragedy

The
he disowned to

which

later on,

some extent

being that

one reason

323

of Socrates

problem

he Had

under

[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
stood

order].

In

defects Nietzsche's first

spite of this and other

future life

work with

[I

clarity.

amazing

work

delineates his

therefore say something about

will

that.]
Nietzsche

paints

cerned with

that
man

Socrates

"the

as

[Nietzsche's]8

world-history."7

future

the

single

Germany

of

turning

concern was not

hitherto is that

manner of

merely theoretical; he was con

a human future

the future of Europe

or

the highest that [has ever

must surpass

point and vortex of so-called

been

achieved]9

life that found its

before. The

expression

peak of

in Greek tragedy,

"tragic"

especially in Aeschylean tragedy. The

understanding of the world was
rejected and destroyed by Socrates, who therefore is "the most questionable
antiquity,"

a man of more than

phenomenon of

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

for

the optimist,

He is the

healing

universal

the

prototype of

power of

rationalist and

knowledge

therefore of

merely the belief that the world is the best

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

optimism

world, but

possible

in the

of nature and
light."

also

not

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
all

being

but

can even correct

myth can

be

and used

in the

replaced

is the belief that

riddles

the belief in causes

presupposes

deus

guided

egoism".10

is

initial

by

science; the

living

gods of

known

of nature as

Rationalism is optimism,

since

it

essentially beneficent or that

chains. Rationalism is optimism,

unlimited and

loosen

and

the

be

machina, i.e. the forces

ex

depends

the belief in the

ultimate consequences of

can

"higher

reason's power

science can solve all

since

by

service of

it; life

all

on the

or

belief in

ends or since rationalism

final supremacy

of

the good. The

change effected or represented

by

full

Socrates

and

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

insight into the

pacifism, and

essential

culture"

to its foundation: "the time

hope for

future beyond the

but

knowingly

Nietzsche's
liberator from
most

the demanded

have

Socratic

man

has

consequences

shaken

"Socratic

gone."

There is then

peak of pre-Socratic

culture, for

no

will11

attack on
all

dangerous

other words,

of

Both these

of science

a philosophy of
longer merely theoretical [as all philosophy hitherto was]
or on decision.
based on acts of the

future that is

the

socialism.

limitations

Socrates is

an attack on reason:

reason, the

celebrated

prejudices, proves itself to be based on a prejudice, and the

of all prejudices:

reason,

which

sacrifice

of the

the prejudice stemming from decadence. In

waxes

so

intellect,

easily
rests

and

itself

so

highly

indignant

about

on the sacrifice of the intel-

324

'Interpretation

lect.12

This

obscurantism and

One

perhaps
attempt
tes]13

referred

if

life-long fascination

exerted a

ment of this

Socrates

misunderstand the utterances of Nietzsche on

quoted or to which

Socrates

a man who stood at the opposite pole of all

fundamentalism.

therefore

would

which

by

criticism was made

fascination is the

one

on

did

not

keep

Nietzsche. The

penultimate aphorism of

in

mind

most

the

fact that

beautiful docu

Beyond Good

and

Evil,

in Nietzsche's [whole] work. I do not dare

to translate it. Nietzsche does not mention Socrates there, but [Socra
the

most

beautiful

is there. Nietzsche

passage

says

there14

that the gods too philosophize, thus obvi

Symposium15

ously contradicting Plato's

according to which the gods do not
do
not
strive
for
philosophize,
wisdom, but are wise. In other words, [the]
gods, as Nietzsche understands them, are not entia perfectissima [most perfect
beings]. I

add

rates can also

few16
points. The serious opposition of Nietzsche to Soc
only a
be expressed as follows: Nietzsche replaces eros by the will to

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

power

and

[sends]17

only borrowed light, is dependent on creative acts outside of it,

the latter is creative because it is animated by conscious will to

preceding it;
power. Nietzsche's Zarathustra is "a book for
title page]; Socrates calls

on some.

therewith

Socrates,

with

[as it

and

Nietzsche

Evil,

says as

it

taking issue

when
were

in

passing:

the

says on

add one more point of no small

tance. In the Preface to Beyond Good

and

none"

all and

impor

with

Plato

"Christianity

is Platonism for the

The

profoundest

interpreter

and at

the same time the profoundest critic of

Nietzsche is Heidegger. He is Nietzsche's

because he is his
may be indicated

profoundest critic.
as

spirit of revenge as

however in the last

the attempt to

follows. In
animating

his18

profoundest

The direction

interpreter

which

his

Zarathustra Nietzsche had

all earlier

philosophy; the spirit

analysis concerned with revenge on

[precisely]

criticism

takes

spoken of

the

of revenge

and therewith

it

is
is19

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

escape

also taught eternal

sempiternity in any relevant sense. Despite of this or rather be

Nietzsche's21
condemnation or critique of Plato as
this20, he preserved

sense or even
cause of

the originator of what came to be modem science and therewith modem tech
nology.

But through Heidegger's

radical transformation of Nietzsche, Socrates

disappeared.
I
remember
completely
only one statement of Heidegger's
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

almost

"purest"

ciently

aware of the

connection

To

between

come

there is

no

Odysseus in Socrates?
Socrates'

[Perhaps.]23

But he surely

sees the

purity and the fact that he did not write.

back to Heidegger's tacit denial of eternity, that denial
implies

way in

singular

that

which

thought can transcend time, can transcend

History-

all

The

of Socrates

problem

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

Heidegger; it

of course not peculiar to

today has become for many

people a truism.

in the 19th century and

But Heidegger has thought it

emerged
24

"historicism"

radically than anyone else. Let us call this view

follows: historicism is a view according to which

through more

define it
based

as

on absolute presuppositions which

ture to culture,
tion to which

by

down,

they belong

and which

of

barriers; for

all cultural

science, the child or stepchild

possible

by

To

(panta

[a

Jewish

simple]26

historical

and

science.

particular

[inexpressible in
philosophers

Socrates

consciousness.

transcends, or breaks
does this is modern Western
Greek

science was rendered

language;

means

original

knowledge

had to invent

and

This is the

Plato, lacked

of all

most popular and

most simple explanation of

why there is a
29This does

problem of
not mean

beings

Arabic;]27

or

^he

an artificial term

to

Greeks, and
history, the

the awareness of

least

why in particular Socrates and Plato have become

for both Nietzsche and Heidegger, and so many of

This is the

the Greek language

Hebrew

sion of

able

situa

not refuted

or prejudices which make science pos

example, science

Arabic

is

view

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

make possible

therewith in

Greek

a particular

ta onto), a thought

medieval

of

in the

questioned

This

the fact that science

language,
insights, divinations

those

give

they

be

constitute.

the science which

the Greek

[suggested]25

sible.

by

science,

to epoch, from cul

epoch

which are not questioned and cannot

"objectivity"

the

vary from

and

thought is

all

venomous expres

altogether question

our contemporaries.

why Socrates has become

problem,

Socrates.

that the anti-Socratic position

which

I have tried to

be unproblematic, if we could take for

historical consciousness, if the object of the historical

delineate is

unproblematic.30

granted the

[so-called]

It

would

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."

is.]31

Thus Xenophon

From the

begirrning

begins abruptly with the expression

indicate what the intention of this work

work

cannot

of another work of

his (the

Symposium)

we

infer32

gentlemen; hence the

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

the Hellenica is devoted to the

serious actions of

belong

excursuses.]33

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

Hellenica1*

History

also

ends, as far as

is for Xenophon

[confusion]

rules.

question

'What

is'

regarding the

a sequence of

Socrates is

different kind; his gentlemanship

possible,35

also a

Thereafters, in

gentleman, but

[raising

More

Thereafter
each of

a gentleman

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

consists

various

in

with

that

actions

and

326

Interpretation

unchangeable,]36

are

the37

recognized:

in

and

Hellenica is only

no

political

"historian"

still means

adjective, like economic, art,

[as he

new science

historian, [unless

a political

Still,

and so on]38.

history.

of

upon, philosophy
Vico's]39

way in a state of confusion. As a consequence,

history. The primacy of political history is still

Philosophy
it] is

of

called

modem

history is,

begins

history
doctrine

doctrine. However this may be, modem history [in

know it] deals with all human activities and thoughts,

the

political
we

"culture."

[what is called]
for instance arts,

are

and

There is

including

highest in

differ from
Their

nation

and

they may

cognitive status of

thought

undergo changes

but [there
arts]41

[opinions]42
[opinions]42

within nations.

things owing their

of

nomizomena,

which

the whole of

highest (the gods); these

would call "a culture". These

what we

[but

right, i.e.

the imitative

about the

to nation and

have the

objects43

in

no

is based

form in

with

[Greek]40

the art of moneymaking

[opinions,] doxai, especially

are therefore the

"culture"

or

Vico

with

of natural

add an

we

held,"

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

right

of natural

[doctrine]45

Hobbes'

state of nature
standard:

law

of reason or

is in

is the best known

no

the

moral

from [this

was

earlier]4*

Nature is here only a nega

On the basis of this, the

away.

ceased

called]

point of view as

the historical consciousness, is a

understood as one nomos

tries to understand

phds

example.

"to

(light)
in

among many

phusis as

sequence of

nomos

related, not to

has

Let

is for him

(to grow) but to

being rooted in a human
phaos-

above all man's

and

tradition.47

races, the

the surface of the earth) and

lous
out

but

size and structure of

as

languages).

[a]

abolition or

in

cf.

Every

philosopher

he

directly to

phusis49

(different

partly to

nomos

belongs essentially to this or that

transcend it
The prospect of a miracu

philosopher
must

overcoming of the essential particularism for all men was held

different ways by Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A

somewhat

miraculous

also

the issue in somewhat different terms as follows. The human

This is due partly

and

being
Heideg

nomoi, phusis

species consists phusei of ethne.

ethnos

law:

follows: History, the

phuein

grow"

tradition,

me restate

(customs

natural

absorbed phusis.

creatively transforming that

Nietzsche's Jenseits aphorism 188. 48
past,

to be

way a standard. This is the necessary, although not sufficient,

historical consciousness. The historical consciousness itself

characterized

object of

ger

law [as it

the devaluation of nature;

on

of the

condition

may be

is based

that from which one should move

tive

nature

which

non-

overcoming

was visualized

in

modem

quest of nature and the universal recognition of a

so

that only the difference of languages

as

important]. In

reaction to this

remains

levelling,

times

by

means of the con

purely50

rational nomos

[which

which seemed

to

[law]

Stalin recognized
deprive human life

even

The
of

its

depth,

instead

ral) to any universal

by
by

is

what

began to

philosophers51

probably52

the rights

of

of

prefer

the

problem

particular

of Socrates

(the local

merely accepting the particular. To

the best-known

they

example:

replaced

327

tempo

and

illustrate this

the rights of

man

Englishmen.

historicism every man belongs essentially and completely to a

historical world, [and he]53 cannot understand another historical world exactly

According

as

to

it [understood

ferently
itself is

than

it

it

understands]55

dif

understood

impossible [and only believed in by very simplistic

characterizes [all earlier philosophers] all ear

of course altogether

anthropologists].

Yet Heidegger

lier

thought

philosophic

itself

[he necessarily
itself. Understanding it better than it

understands]54

or

[understands]56

by

"oblivion

Sein,"

of

of

the ground of grounds:

[which means] in the decisive respect he claims to understand [the

better than they understood themselves.

earlier phi

losophers]57

This

is

difficulty

not peculiar

historicism. For historicism

insights,
it

it

since

to

claims

to Heidegger. It is

must assert

bring

that

it is

an

to all forms of

essential

insight surpassing

all earlier

to light the true character of all earlier insights:

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

puts them

[historicism]58

gests

longs to the

absolute

time, the

even the semblance of

this would

be tantamount to putting

(cf. Hegel, Marx,

(all

Nietzsche).60

each epoch

rational;

epochs are

this very

raising

fact,

has its

ion in

at some

which man

[That

In

an end

absolute

time,

or

History, i.e.

(Sein

to significant time

the historical

is

impossible.]

und

knowledge,
insight, if

65The

not

Ranke]

God); but historicism has brought

to light

presupposition.

61

According

Zeit 227-230;

not the

ground of all

"Sein"

is

process
of

to Heidegger there are no eternal

Einfuhrung

race]62

is

sempiternity of the
in die Metaphysik 64)60.

the eternity

or

basis,64

beings,

and

be translated in the

Is

not eternal or sempiternal.

the knowledge that the human race had an

mological

must avoid

for any time; for

remains true

Heidegger knows that [the human

this

history]; but it

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.

of course

race

to

our

presuppositions; [in the formula

verities: eternal verities would presuppose

human

for

other words:

equally immediate to
i.e. the truly absolute

The historicist insight

forgotten

[in

absolute moment
such a claim

origin,"

least basic, for Heidegger?

especially of man, is [said to

not

a cos

at

be] Sein.

than Heidegger

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
would

in English the

verbal

noun

is

case of

writer other

undistinguishable

from the

participle.

shall

into Greek,
having
Seiendes
is
etant.
Sein is
on, ens,
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

it in the

understand

For

following

instance, causality

cannot

Sein? One
Sein

manner.

be

begin [at least I

can

cannot

be

Sein takes the

be

categories cannot

explained

in the change; that

lasting

by,

the basis of, one

or on

tal change [fundamental

in different

lasting

which

is

change

change of

the

particular system of

responsible

thought] is Sein: Sein [as he

different understanding

epochs a

the

if there [were] not something

for [the] most fundamen

yet we could not speak of change

categories;

to

of

presuppositions

to epoch; this change is not progress or rational

epoch

begin]

Seiendes.

by

explained

the categories, the systems of categories, the absolute

from

can

place
causally
is
sense]. This change
necessary because

explained

in the Kantian

[surely

the categories

by

mean

of

it]

puts

Sein

and

"gives"

"sends"

or

therewith of

"every

thing."

This is misleading insofar as it suggests that Sein is inferred, only inferred.

of Sein we know through experience of Sein; that experience presupposes

But

[however]

leap;

and about

except on

it

was

due,

to Sein is

key

is

project: everyone

by

by

the

(or

what

failure to do

so).

by

his

But

who) he is

rather

determinate ideal

They

is finite: the

man

situation which

he has

experienced

is primarily the

abandonment of

understood

in

not chosen:

every thought
to

of a

the Sein of

man.

to

Man is

virtue of the exercise of

range of

The

Seiendes

paid no attention

existence, his

man

choices

is

a project which

is

through which Sein is

leap

railing,

is

his

(or his

project

his fundamental

awareness-acceptance of

contradistinction

thought only of

and about

theirs, but to Sein itself.

by

of

thrown somewhere (geworfener Entwurf)60.

be

Sein.

Sein,

one particular manner of

choice of a

ness, the

earlier philosophers and there

oblivion of

to any negligence of

not

freedom, his
limited

was not made

characterized

Seiendes. Yet they could not have thought of

the basis of some awareness of Sein. But they

this failure

The

leap

that

fore their thought is

being

thrown,

of

finite

(Existence

a support.

must

insistence.)66

Earlier philosophy and espe

Sein precisely because it was not

cially Greek philosophy was oblivious of

based on that experience. Greek philosophy

by

was guided

an

idea

of

Sein

hand,"

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

the

their successors understood the soul as substance, as a

self

based

on

that is

ideal
of

which, if truly

mere

drifting

of existence and

"respectable

is

authentic

"ideal

or shallow

[and

the]67

is

the good

not mere

thing

drifting

project as thrown.

possible without a

dedication to it. "Ideal

opinion of

or

and not as

shallow], [is

No human life

project, without

an

existence"

[this]

of

life"; but

opinion points

takes the
to

place

knowledge,

existence"

implies that in this

of

[possible] but only

what

self, if

the awareness-acceptance of

not68

whereas

what

project, decision.

is

much

higher than

respect

there is no

knowledge

knowledge, i.e. knowledge

of

The
The

beings,

ground of all

is

grounds

and

if this is so, Sein cannot be the

man, in contradistinction to the
different from Sein. [In

radically,
stand

the

other

contains

is;

anything

the time

measurable

fore

be

tions. This

being

authentic or

to,

appealed

prior to man

primary time

or made use

argument reminds of

finiteness

the

of

is

the

changeability because, time

indispensable to

case of

It

Heidegger

seems

replies

ex nihilo nihil

man and of

fit [out

nothing every being

being
doctrine of creation [out of
Creator-God. [This
through nothing,
nor

literally

would

denied

by

and can

there

philosophic considera

motion, there

cannot

it] is

have been

meaningful and

world"

creation of

the

and

in the

emergence of

Sein,

or of what

comes out].
nothing].

nihilo].77

Heidegger. But

responsible

could remind one of

come

into

being

This is [of course]

it

for

For:

But Heidegger has

must

is

out of nothing.

into being] This is apparently

omne ens qua ens fit [out of

nihilo

This

what

brings them

comes

suggest, things

ex nihilo et a

one

man."

of

as

follows75:

according to which the

God's eternity and un-

compatible with

nothing nothing
Heidegger: [he says] ex

by

as

derivative

or

of, in fundamental

"prior to the

"prior to the

to Kant's

in time; for time is or happens only

only in man; cosmic time,

thus that one cannot avoid the question as to

the emergence of

questioned

of

and arises

being dependent on

speak of

by

given or sent

particular not whether

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

even

is

medieval argument

is

world

is

comparable

in

say anything
Heidegger also

chronometers, is secondary

by

which

understanding
[in this view
and

[sempiternal].74

anything

while man

temporal

a ground

is directed

the whole effort

an

are]73

of man

of which one cannot

cannot speak of

not

require]70

the ground of the That. But

not

find that

by71

Sein

The condition[s]

Thing-in-itself,
it

words] Sein is

we shall

of

understanding

Sein.72

by

man, [would

But

emergence of

precisely the

and

causes, to its conditions,

specific

the

complete ground of man:

essence of

this ground of

sempiternal.69

not eternal or

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

That,

not the

man, is Sein

of

especially

therefore also

coeval with man and

329

of Socrates

problem

not

be

no

out of

not

the Biblical

place

nothing

literally

considered

for76

the
and

asserted

in its literal

meaning?

Kant found "nowhere

even an attempt of a proof of ex nihilo nihil

fit.78

His

but only for rendering possi

necessary
(in contradistinction to [what he called] the Thing-

own proof establishes this principle as

ble any

possible experience

he

in-itself)

gives a transcendental

transcendental deduction in its turn

[In the

same

spirit]79

legitimation [of
to

ex nihilo nihil

fit. The

the]79

primacy of practical reason.

Heidegger80: "die Freiheit ist der Ursprung des Satzes vom
points

Grunde."

Accordingly
mystery

follows
Seiendes

what

Heidegger does

speak of

is the

the reasoning

directly
cf.

status of

from these 2

causality

cannot

the origin of

premises:

be

leading

1) Sein

explained

man

he

says

that

it is

to this sensible result?

cannot

causally

2)

be
man

by
being

explained

is the

It

330

Interpretation
Sein

by

constituted

Sein.

explicability

of

tered

biology

within

Heidegger
left

seems

the unintelligibility

ists, using

of

Thing-in-itself

(Hegel).81

of nature

man participates

in the

in-

of man which was encoun

(See Portmann) was only an illustration, not a proof.

to have succeeded in getting rid of phusis without having

back door to

open a

ophy

indissolubly linked with it

The difficulty re: the origin

One

Sein.

could

say

Lukacs,

the sledgehammer

which

and without

he

that

the

being

succeeded

intelligent

most

Lenin had

in

need of a philos

in this

of the

at the price of

Western Marx

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

spoke of

Marx's (Gestell
the claim of

Ware,

him

Ding)83

who claimed

or

to

that Marx

have

surpassing by far
Brooklyn bridge. In all impor

raised a claim

sold the

tant respects Heidegger does not make things

obscurer

than

they are.
thinking is by reflecting

Heidegger tries to deepen the understanding of what

German word for thinking. To this procedure he

on the

makes

the objection

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

that a German

there remains

word

here

a problem.

means

that historicism even in its

For him

gerian

form

return

to the supra-temporal or eternal but only

contains

for him

Which

a problem.

lie in

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

meeting of the most different ways of

ing of East and West not of course of the
on

Heideg

a solution cannot

both

sides

but

of

leaders

opinion pollsters or opinion

deeply

those who, most

rooted

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

an

I began
validity,

that the worth, the

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

by

of

worth of what
was

for

which

problem of

lem. This
write

he

stood

stood.

Socrates in

problem of

85

for,

another sense of

Socrates

stems

on mediators who were at

Socrates

except

Socrates is

through reports

a restatement of what

facie

was

case

willing to be a

in favor

that "we know

of

primary,

question

what

our

knowledge

of

him, i.e.

the same time transformers. These

and

Aristotle. Aristotle did

oral or written.

Xenophon

historian,

it

leads to the

the expression, to the historical prob

for

Plato knew Socrates himself. Of these 3

that he

or

indeed from the fact that Socrates did

Aristophanes, Plato, Xenophon,

tors are

that we know already

presupposes

This second,

that we depend therefore

and

thought,

Socrates

said.

men the

was

of

not

his

media

not

know

In

fact, what he says about

Aristophanes, Xenophon and

only one who showed

Xenophon. This establishes

by

deed

a prima

Xenophon. As for Plato, I remember having heard it said

that some of his dialogues are early and hence more

today"

The
Socratic than the later
ference

which

virtue"

Socrates'

Socrates, with Nietzsche, jocularly and

opithen
te Platon, messe te Chimaira. At any
Platon,
eusunoptos

the Socrates

ourselves of

That Socrates

was

philosophers at the
gods of the

they
2

city,

manifestly guilty
time:

and

2)

1)

that

that

made

phenomena come

the 2 pursuits is not

the

and

about,

liberates from

all

make

The

rhetorike.

For he

by

engaged

which

especially
between

service of politics.

prejudices, in

particular

the belief in the

is frowned
in

upon

order to

by

in

connection

be in the

that skill also for other, in

This fact

was

Yet:

gods of

the city; the philosopher-physi

defend

himself, his

unpopular activ
skill

to

a sense

Socrates'

is

not

knowers,

and not

Adikos Logos,

by

to

another

paternal

or

at

least

that the knowers

as

have

little rights

authority
father

killing

incest,

the obligation of exogamy, calls

and

marrying

one's mother.

for the

only toward
The knower is

obligations

as madmen.

family is constitu
by the prohibition

the prohibition against incest

against

one's

and

not

knower than he is to his family. The

and

defrauding

the utmost continence

in its pure, ultimate form. This

that the tme community is the community of the

the ignoramuses have

one another:
much closer

effect

the polis,

lower purposes, like

a man of

that the Adikos Logos who appears on the

alone shows

Adikos Logos is to the

The

prohibition against

expansion of

the

family

into the

is necessary in the first place because the family is

to defend itself. But the 2 prohibitions would lack the necessary force

an expansion which

not able

if

the stronger, that

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

endurance.

polis,

there

not remind

believe in the gods, especially the

weaker argument

the compulsions

2) in

debtors. The Aristophanean Socrates is

ted

myself

do

the Adikos Logos triumph over the Dikaios Logos. Needless to say, he

can use

stage

we

to

ologist needs therefore rhetoric

ity, before

limit

shall

feasible if

clear, for the Aristophanean Socrates

immediately

the city; and this liberation

prosthe

rate, the Platonic Socrates

the Dikaios Logos.

of

altogether unpolitical and rhetoric seems

phusiologia

not

the

over

study

frivolously,

the two stock charges made against the

they did

they

1) in phusiologia,

activities:

of

to say of

Clouds.

of

the Adikos Logos triumph

made

heavenly

Aristophanes'

not

much wiser

even

than is the Xenophontic Socrates. I

fore to the Xenophontic Socrates. But this is

indif

he dedicated

and which were not: so much was

the Platonic

is less

331

the Socratic question "what is

did he forget himself. It is

so much

question;

was a matter of complete

or presuppositions of

known to Socrates

were

to

But for Plato it

ones.

implications

of Socrates

problem

there were no gods.

Socrates

subverts the polis, and yet

he

oud'

questions

could not

all

this:

lead his life

esti
without

Zeus. He thus

the

polis.

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
words of the

somewhat

Meletos,

modified

Anytos

form the 2

and

Lykon.

then, if tacitly, Aristophanes

re asebeia

By

Socrates'

points

of

refuting the

indictment

formed87

indictment, Xenophon

by

refutes

too.

no phusiologia

but only study

of

tanthropina

yet

Socrates did

332

Interpretation

study nature in his manner

( + the gods of the city)
re

diaphthora

proof of

Socrates the

was

law-abiding, he

from

and moderation

even

identified justice

bios

the xenikos

a political man

(on the basis

to the extent to

gathia

the gods

existence and providence of

perfect gentleman

kaloka'

he even taught
teia)
did not separate wisdom

the

this context, he criticized the established

it

he

egkra-

he

be taught

can

accordingly he

another

he

law-abidingness

with

not viable

which

one88

his

of

then

was

in

even taught ta politika

by lot)

(election

politeia

but this

Socrates'

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

was

tlemen as Kritias and Alcibiades

for

responsible

Xenophon's Socrates does

but in

doing

so

he became,

86E.g. his treatment

economical

kalon
86

be very

unfair

Socrates

to make

not a

take the high

road of

kalokagathia

dangerous subversion, but rather

friends are chremata ne

a philistine.

Di'

kingly

to the economic

art

art.

utilitarian,

Ultimately:

chresimon

Yet: kalokagathia has

the

not always

reducing the

than one

more

kalokagathia^ Knowledge

by

would

friendship

of

treatment

agathon

possessed

but it

their misdeeds.

of

the ti

in the

gentlemen

What did Socrates

sense.

tanthropina

esti of

such

common sense of the term.

by

understand

knowledge is

not

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

and the

kaloi kagathoi

to the full

in

extent

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
Socrates'

but in speaking
people

andreia

Xenophon does

virtue

does

not occur

conduct

speaks of

this

exemplary
justice and he does

Socrates'

under

Socrates'

prowess.

military
understanding, believed that

Bumet,
people

harming

not mention at all

in Xenophon's 2 lists

Socrates'

Xenophon
sumes

of

in

Socrates'

virtues.

of

campaigns

but he

sub

not give a single example of

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
What is?

considered the
examples

of such

which exhort

to

life

or

thought

dealing

things as mad: some

are90

infinitely

esti}9

not present

characterizes

them hold that

many beings;

very few

some of

is'

raising any 'What

Xenophon points to the

vice without

with ti

but does

of

gives us

there are many more Socratic conversations

dehort from

The Xenophontic Socrates

all

human things. Yet Xenophon

discussions;

virtue or

tion than conversations

Socrates'

of

it sufficiently

ques
core

of

or at all.

those who worry about the nature of

is only one, others that there

them hold that all things are
always in

being

The

thing

nothing is

others that

motion,

into

comes

and perishes.

being

in motion;

some of

others that

( i=

these beings

perish.

As Xenophon

other

the tribes (=

the

in

ever comes

never

many but

acquired

was

an

he too

sobria ebrietas

his friends

with them

his

or rather

example of

they found in

this blissful

activity.

tion with Glaukon as follows:

sake of

good

friends

he

acquired

the writings of the wise men of old and

them the good things

Charmides the

infinitely many
into being and

the

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

madness

which

not

never come

change,

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

his

hold that every

into being

them

entirely different context Socrates never ceased

beings is: the many eternal beings are the 'What
infinitely many perishable individuals). Socrates did

says

what each of

things)

nothing

333

sane or sober view of the nature of all

that wiser view there are

beings,

is'es,

ever

perishes,

He thus delineates the

things; according to

considering

and

of Socrates

problem

son of

how Socrates

by

studying

by

Xenophon introduces

Glaukon

of

them

selecting together with

but Xenophon does not give a single

them

Socrates

mad; but

was

one occasion on

was well

and

the next chapter reports a conversation of

Socratic

conversa

disposed to Glaukon for the

for the

sake of

Socrates

with

Plato.

Accordingly

Charmides. We

are

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

Plato. Instead the

rates with
with an

Ersatz for

Plato,

is

tion with Plato

Socrates

next chapter reports a conversation of

the philosopher Aristippos: the

peak

conversa

-the

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

pointed to

such conversations.

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

way; but the

in

one way and those who lacked

interlocutor in that Book, the chief

chief

teaching

presented

nature.

A last

led back the

by

example:

beings;

addressee of the

another

Socratic

is manifestly a youth who lacked a good

Socrates used 2 kinds of dialectics
one in which he

in this way the truth became

human

in

by Xenophon,

whole argument

through the things

good natures

most

in

this

agreement or concord.

to its hupothesin and made clear that

manifest.

In the

other

hupothesin;

kind Socrates took his way

generally agreed upon, through the opinions accepted

way he achieved, not indeed knowledge, or truth, but

In the

second

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

reading how Socrates gave good advice to a poor fellow

despair because 14 female relatives had taken refuge in his house

even when
near

about to starve

him

and themselves to

death

Xenophon's intimations, I say, can one come to

phon saw him. For Xenophon presents Socrates

only
see

by

and were

always

the true

also and

who was

remembering
Socrates as Xeno

primarily

as

innocent

334

Interpretation
helpful to the

and even

Socratic

ordinary kalokagathia

and

intimating

compatible with

^Nothing

is

kind

right

He

meanest capacities.

the difference between

conceals

or, if

law;

therefore necessary to

as much as

is

their conflict.

more characteristic of gentlemen than respect

of

i.e.

as much as possible,

wish, the wrong kind is

you

the question ti

raise

esti

for the

for the law

not

nomos; but this

law

at all.

question

is

It is
never

by Xenophon's Socrates; it is raised only by Alcibiades, a youth

extreme audacity and even hubris who by raising that question discomfited

of

raised

less

how

showed
citizen

is

Socrates'

than the great Perikles.

man

good a citizen

he

a man who obeys the

failure to

For laws depend

was.

law

independently

according to a more profound view, "good

But,

gime: a good citizen under a

chy.
law.'

democracy

will

be

on

that question

raise

the regime, but a good

of all changes of regimes.

citizen"

is

no

bad

relative

to the re

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

Socrates

at

Socratic

training.

the time

he

raised

Xenophon

it,

and the

way in

which

he handled it

Socrates

admits that

almost

reveals

his

subverted pa

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

ternal authority. As

bidden

by
by

the defective character of the offspring, good offspring coming

parents
who are both in their prime. The Socratic argument is silent
from
only
on incest between brother and sister. Above all, the punishment for incest be

punished

tween parents and children

on an oldish

Socrates

husband

comes

very

The Socrates

of

does

differ from the

not

who marries a
close to

wife.

young

the Socrates

of

the Clouds teaches the

"punishment"

On this

point

that is visited

the Xenophontic

the Clouds.

omnipotence

of

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

his

ing
Clouds)
of

also as
not

is

he liked in deeds. The

accusers.
aware of

follows. His

the others

comrade-in-arms

learn

political art with rhetoric.

was able

to rule

gentlemen

but

as

fear; he was
Gorgias. Xenophon, however, the
gentlemen and non-gentiemen;

Proxenos

naive; he was unable to instil the general

unable to inflict punishment; he was a pupil of

him

run of soldiers with

we

is Xanthippe, to say noth

the Socrates of the

the essential limitation of speech. Xenophon indicates this

who regarded

86From Aristotle

greatest example

But the Xenophontic Socrates (=

he

pupil of

Socrates,

was good at

that the sophists

Socrates,

we

doing

identified

infer,

was

able

to rule both

as well as at speaking.
or almost

was opposed

identified the

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
and

he

refers more

frequently

than to

Plato, Aristotle

and

Cicero taken together.

The
This is

of Socrates

problem

335

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
an additional reason

than one

Socrates,"

between
total

philosophic

separation:

made

historical

and

one

historical

one's mind on the

up

having

cal problem without

be avoided, but distinction is

cannot

study the philosophic problem without

cannot

made

problem and one cannot

up

implicitly

one's mind

not

having

study the histori

on

the philosophic

problem.

NOTES

1. The

concern us so much more

by listening

answer

2. Word

in the lecture

omitted

"is"

is

written

"was"

replaces

replaces

6. The
7. A

in

word

as

is

10. A

notation above

This

phrase

11. The

12. A
at the

words

is

of

14. The

is

"i.e.

manuscript:

in the lecture

not present

delivered.

as

of

on the

as

replace

line directs

us

(The

ever

been

achieved"

in the

following

written

instead

"Socrates"

"on

which

word

has been

is

in the

of

"there,"

manuscript.

phrase, which is

written at

the human race (utilitarian

delivered.
acts of

to insert here the

sentence

have

words are not

manuscript.

"has

will"

in the lecture

the

following

not present

as

delivered.

sentence, which is written

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

This

are written at

word which we

it.) These

error about

collective egoism of

will,"

"on acts,

foundation."

"he"

in the

instead

written

in

the line directs us to insert here the

notation above the

bottom

and perhaps we are

"Nietzsche's"

rests on an irrational

13.

Schopenhauer."

"anti-Hegel,

of

is

the bottom of the page in the

ism)"

in the lecture

"est"

achieved"

ever

as

manuscript.

has been crossed out.

originally "fullest";
the line directs us to insert here the following words, which

instead

written

in the

philosophers"

"anti-"

"His"

8.

far

delivered.

as

"pre-Socratic

as

9. "man has

receive an
as

Socrates.'"

disintegrating"

"were

of

is difficult to read,
in the lecture as delivered.

present

"Why

delivered.

instead

the bottom of the page in the manuscript:

interpreted

these bracketed ones:

of

to us? There are so many things that

whom

the text was

notation above

instead

relevant

urgently than the problem of Socrates. We

I took the title of my lecture and who,

and

in the lecture

"pre-Socratics"

5.

sentences

it be

should

obviously
man from

to the

"disintegrated"

4.

Why

the expression 'the problem of

coined

remember,

3.

following

manuscript contains the

be interested in it?

should we

in the lecture

as

'why

science':

it

delivered.

manuscript.

added above

line, is

the

omitted

in the lecture

as

deliv

ered.
replaces

16. The

keeping
Also,
Plato

the

and

17.

18.

"a

added above

manuscript contains

end of

the

therewith with

"points"

here the

paragraph):

in the lecture

as

delivered.

the line to replace

has been

following

"one"

which

made plural

sentence,

which

"In the Preface to Beyond Good

Socrates, Nietzsche

it

says as

were

by

has been

has been

and

"sends"

is [inadvertently] written instead of

in the lecture as delivered.
replaces

"spends"

"the"

is"

"it"

"his"

Evil,

in passing

added above
"this"

replaces

the line.

in the lecture

as

delivered.

in

crossed out.

In

the addition of the final "s".

(see, how
taking issue with

crossed out
when

'Christianity

people.'"

19. "it

20.

words

few"

with this addition, the word

ever, the

for the

"Symposium"

"Banquet'

15.

the manuscript.

is Platonism

336

Interpretation
"Nietzsche's"

21.

lecture

as

delivered, however,

22.

"the"

23.

"Probably."

is

is

is

the reading
"all"

instead

written

again
manuscript.

"Perhaps."

instead

written

in the

of

manuscript.
truism"

24. "a truism for many

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

"supplied"

"an"

26.

is

is

original

in the lecture

delivered.

as

"suggested"

instead

written

27. "inaccessible

ible in

In the

"the."

in the

of

which

replace

crossed out.

has been

"the"

line to

added above the

of

in the

to original Hebrew or

e.g.

Arabic:"

Hebrew

simple"

"a

or

only above the line.

28. The remainder of this

manuscript.
thought:"

Arabic

is

written

instead

"original"

in the

Also,

manuscript.

the

of

"inexpress

in the

word

manuscript

added

here

fifteen

paragraph

is

in the lecture

omitted

delivered. The tape contains

as

the only sound is that

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

a pause of about

29. At the

which

seconds

end of the

is

the end of sheet 10 of the manuscript, there

notation points

This

omitted

appears to

lecture
sheet

end of

however,

30. This

and thus also to

to as directed

is

here in the

continues

be

certain

(A

oral presentation.

sentence

4b,

Since the tape breaks

we cannot

Professor Strauss's

on sheet

by

further justified

omitted

before the

off

of

from the lecture

delivered

as

the fact that the

occurrence of

the second marginal

the omitted section was

indicate

subsequent note will

by

that we are presenting it (i.e. from

manner

how much, if any,

That

the omitted portion of the text.

that later notation, continues to what

the lecture. Our editorial procedure is

of the manuscript).

notation,

one,

which we will return

portion,

be the

present

delivered in Annapolis

as

back to the

4b."

notation, "Continue

another marginal

where

and replaced

included in

the tape breaks off.)

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
sentences:

following
history

of

unproblemati

'Thereafter'

31. The
cannot

sentence

indicate

what

"Xenophon's Hellenica begins abruptly with

is."
is written instead
the intention of his work

of these

thus

Xenophon

four bracketed

sen

tences in the manuscript.

32. The

Symposium)"

"(the

words

by

are also omitted and replaced

33. The

it."

"in

words

are written

"one

"belong

34. "this

35. The

written

work"

replaces

37.

of

history,"

"to

Xenophon in

in the

Also, instead

manuscript.

excursuses."

the

of

"the

Hellenica"

in the lecture

manuscript contains

of

the

delivered.

as

possible"

"as far

"considering

is

as

'Thereafter"

the 'What

omitted

is followed

is'

by

in the lecture

as

delivered.

Instead,

the phrase "within the limits of the

the

next

possible."

unch

the human things, these 'What is'es

of

is

being

these bracketed words in the manuscript.

"Xenophon's"

"the"

in the lecture

replaces

38. "(=

the words "we

and

the line.

above

phrase

instead

delivered,

excursuses"

in

occurrence of the word

36.

by

as

infer."

can

instead

the words "and are appropriately treated

words

in the lecture

are omitted

infer"

economic

historian,

historian

art

as

delivered.

is

written

instead

these bracketed

of

words

in

the manuscript.

39. "yet
40.

his"

41. "technai
words

42.

in the

written

is

instead

written

(including

of

instead

"but

is

words

In the lecture

of

45.

as

in the

in the

manuscript.

manuscript.

mimetike)"

chrematistike

written

"Their

is

and

as

instead

"opinions"

of

in

written

instead

added above the

delivered, however,

line to
"They"

the word

being
us

"They"

replace

is the

these bracketed

held"

added at

to insert this

the

phrase

which

is

written

instead

classical"

is

written

"doctrine"

of

instead

of

"this

in the

has been

crossed

one used.

bottom

here,

and

the page in the manu

it is included here in the

of

delivered.

"teaching"

46. "the

of

the manuscript.

objects"

44. "of things owing their being to

script. A notation above the line directs

lecture

Vico's"

"Greek"

manuscript.

"doxai"

43. The
out.

is

"classical"

manuscript.

earlier"

in the manuscript.

The
47. A

notation above

the line directs

to insert here the

us

following

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

in the lecture

not present

48. These last few

lecture
49.
50.

51.

as

which are written at

words,

Gemachte."

das

337

of Socrates

These

words are

delivered.

as

lines, beginning

the

with

tries,"

"Heidegger

words

are omitted

from the

delivered.

"nature"

replaces

"phusis"

"purely"

in the lecture

"philosophers"

probably"

from the lecture

omitted

we"

is

instead

written

54. "understands

he"

"and

of

understood"

is

or

55. "we necessarily

"men"

the line to replace

added above

"

delivered.

as

line.

added above the

52. "what is
53.

problem

understand"

is

in the

instead

written

written

has been

which

crossed out.

delivered.

as

manuscript.

"understood

of

instead

of

understands"

in the

or

manuscript.

understands"

in the

"he necessarily

manu

script.

56.

"understood"

57.

"them"

58.

"it"

is

is

62.

"it"

instead
is

sentence

is

begins

63. "the knowledge that the human

manuscript.

the

lecture

notation above

race

in the

of

as

periods"

times

in the

or

manuscript.

delivered.

manuscript.

race"

in the

manuscript.

origin"

had

bottom

added at the

an

the line directs us to insert this phrase

not

basis"

the

"if

replaces

65. Professor Strauss indicates

here,

the page in the

of

it is included here in

and

by

not the

basis"

in the lecture
that the

delivered.

as

following

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

includes

also occurs

"functions

of

manuscript.

manuscript.

delivered.

as

64. "is this

which

in the

"Yet"

the word

"the human

of

in the

from the lecture

omitted

with

instead

written

instead

written

is

manuscript.

philosophers"

earlier

"historicism"

periods)"

or

in the

of

"the

of

of

entire parenthesis

61. This

"understands"

instead

written

instead

written

59. "f(times

60. This

is

written

over

"The

crossed out.

a marginal notation

beings,

ground of all

and

especially

of

man, is Sein

But if

coeval with man and therefore also not eternal or sempiternal.

complete ground of man: the emergence of man

this ground of grounds is

this

is so, Sein

be the

cannot

the essence of man) requires a ground differ

(+

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.

ent

or

from Sein. Sein is

its

condition

Sein."

66. This

is

entire parenthesis

from the lecture

omitted

"insistence"

probably using the

word

here in its older,

delivered. Also, Professor Strauss is

as

and

Latinate,

"standing

sense of

or

resting

upon."

a"

67. "is resoluteness, i.e. the

in the manuscript.

is

awareness-acceptance of

instead

written

of

these bracketed

as

delivered.

words

68.

"not"

is

inadvertently

69. "sempiternal
70.
71.

"requires"

is

"by"

73.
74.

"is"

is

is

the

instead

editors

end of the

written

"aidion"

replaces

written

by

added

72. This is the

from the lecture

omitted

instead

written

replace

interpolated
of

"in this

instead

for"

76. "has

no place

77. The

symbol

this sentence in the

the words "omne

78. A

"

"

"of in the

manuscript.

manuscript and

in the lecture

in

note

by

Also,

as

delivered.

65.

are"

in the

view

in the

manuscript.
manuscript.

follows"

replies as

the line to

in the lecture

"denies"

which

replace

as

"ex

nihilo et ab nihilo omne ens

the words "qua

ens"

are

delivered.

has been

fit."

followed

manuscript.

is

crossed out.

written

instead

of

written, but then crossed out, after

ens."

notation above

the bottom

in the

section which was mentioned

"also

added above

in the lecture

require"

"sempiternal"

replaces

delivered.

or

of

reply"

75. "mentions this

"would

of

to

"eternal

as

sempiternal"

eternal"

or

of the page

words are not present

the line directs us to insert here the

in the

manuscript:

in the lecture

as

following

words,

which are written at

"Grundsatz der Beharrlichkeit der

delivered.

Substanz."

These

338

Interpretation
symbol "

79. The

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
"

80. Here is

first,

begins

which

is

written

instead

of these

the tape of the lecture

where

the

under

as

"Thing-in-itself,

word

The top line is "(Kant)

nature 'an
for Heidegger and Nietzsche: no Beyond or

lines,

consists of two

the

underneath

one

The bottom line

sich'
unknowable."

other.

appears

to be "but

Without."

(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

"for,"

have interpreted

as

(Hegel)"

group
mind

of

Anderssein."

in its

82. A
written at

if

notation above

is the

which

questionable

83. The
the

of

the line directs us to insert here the

the page in the

discovery

Heidegger

of the

claims to

life

of

have discovered is

presuppositions, than the

",Ding"

following two sentences, which are

"Heidegger has something to do with mysticism
the deity in the depths of the human heart. But the

manuscript.

meant

(with the preceding comma) is

word

to be

deeper,

and

less based

on

God."

mysteries of
written underneath

the word

"Ware"

in

manuscript.

84. A
at

bottom

the

mysticism

mystery

which

words,

notation above

the line

directs

us to

insert here the

following

sentence,

the bottom of the page in the manuscript. "In this way, and only in this way,

the universalist

85. Here,
4b,"

have

at

the trans-national or trans-cultural

following

far. At the

sentence,

tion of the

nearly the

beginning
has been

which

Socrates

worth of what

know in the first

29,

place what

same as the one

of

directs

us

this portion of the

philosophy."

for,

which

immediately

back to the

lecture,

portion of the

a new paragraph

"Continue

lecture that
begins

we

the

with

"However this may be, can one answer the ques

formulate it, if one does not

crossed out:
stood

it is for

that

and which

written
upholds

of

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

to which we referred in note

omitted so

intention

is

which

Heidegger

nay, can one properly

he

stood."

As the

precedes

reader will

notice, this sentence is

the marginal notation, "Continue

4b."

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.

87. It is
88.

possible

"one"

added

89. The

words

that Professor Strauss wrote the

by

the

"than

"are"

added

by

the

here instead

"formed."

of

editors.

conversations

manuscript.

90.

"framed"

word

editors.

dealing

with

ti estr are

added

beneath the line in the