On Tuesday, 10 March, the presentation of the book APRENDER LEYENDO. Filosofía, educación liberal y moderación política en el pensamiento de Leo Strauss (Ed. Sindéresis) will take place in the Sala de Graus at La Salle Campus Barcelona. The author and professor at the Faculty of Philosophy La Salle-URL, Dr Jordi Feixas, will be in conversation with Dr Armando Pego, Full Professor of Humanities at La Salle-URL, and Dr Gregorio Luri, philosopher and educator.
The event, organised by the FiloCultura research line of the Smart Society group, is open to the public.
About APRENDER LEYENDO. Filosofía, educación liberal y moderación política en el pensamiento de Leo Strauss
In a world shaped by technology, speed and a growing distrust in reason when addressing fundamental human problems, this book asks what we can expect from reading the great books of the past. It does so through a study and commentary on the work of Leo Strauss (1899–1973), one of the political philosophers who most seriously reflected on this question.
Throughout the study, Strauss’s contribution is presented as an attempt to recover Socratic political philosophy in the face of the crisis brought about by positivism and contemporary historicism. An attempt that, given the conditions of our time, requires the reading of the great works of our tradition. The commentary on Strauss’s work also highlights the value of a liberal education grounded in the great books, whose main practical lesson would be the rhetorical moderation of the philosopher and the political moderation of the good citizen.
Finally, this study reflects on how Straussian philosophy calls for the recovery of an almost forgotten way of reading the works of past philosophers, inseparable from a particular understanding of the relationship between philosophical life and political life. Starting from the literal meaning of Strauss’s texts, and always in dialogue with his main interpreters, this commentary argues that reading the texts of the past and reading Strauss’s work share the same virtue: enabling the contemplation of possibilities once considered outdated or simply forgotten. Thus, today, reading the great books of the past constitutes a genuinely liberating activity, which justifies continuing to uphold the value of learning through reading.