MODERNITY AND TYRANNY IN LEO STRAUSS’S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Öz

According to Leo Strauss, modern political science has been in serious difficulty to understand and explain the phenomenon of tyranny. To overcome thistrouble, Strauss recommends returning to the classical political philosophy. Accordingly, this return enables us to realize that far from being a phenomenon of previous ages, tyranny is a human condition that is still with us. Looking at Strauss’s views on modernity from this perspective also makes visible the subterranean links between modernity and tyranny. This study has three sections. In the first one, it will focus on the link between modernity and tyranny with the help of Strauss’s critique of modernity. In the second, it will dealt with the practical side of this link, paying special attention to the concepts of exception and emergency. In the last one, we will deal with the issue of consent of subject within the context of “end of history” and techno-scientific authority.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Authority,Classical Political Philosophy,Leo Strauss,Modernity,Tyranny

MODERNİTE VE TİRANLIK: LEO STRAUSS’UN MODERNİTE ELEŞTİRİSİNDE TİRANLIK BOYUTU

Öz

Çalışmamızda Leo Strauss’un modernite eleştirisi ile tiranlık okumalarını aynı bağlam içinde değerlendirmeyi amaçladık. Strauss’un çok boyutlu olan modernite eleştirisindeki tiranlık boyutunu göstermeye çalıştık. Strauss için, modern siyaset felsefesi, tiranlığı anlamak ve açıklamak konusunda büyük bir zafiyet içerisindedir. Bu zafiyeti aşmanın yolu, Strauss’a göre, klasik siyaset felsefesinin öğretilerini büyük bir ciddiyetle tekrardan ele almaktan geçmektedir. Bu yapıldığı takdirde, tiranlığın tarihin derinliklerinde kalmış bir vakıa ve müessese olmadığı ve modernite ile birlikte çok daha sofistike ve teknik bir hale gelmiş olduğu ortaya çıkacaktır. Dahası, modernite ile tiranlık arasındaki örtük ontolojik ve epistemolojik bağları fark edebilmek mümkün hale gelecektir. Strauss’un modernite eleştirisindeki tiranlık boyutunu ele alan çalışmamız üç kısımdan oluşmaktadır. Birinci kısımda, Strauss’un bakış açısından, modernite ve tiranlık arasındaki irtibat ortaya konulmaya çalışılacaktır. İkinci kısımda, modernite ile tiranlık arasındaki ilişki somutlaştırılmaya çalışılacak, bu doğrultuda, modernite ile olağanüstü hal ve istisna arasındaki ilişki incelenecektir. Üçüncü kısımda, özne ve rıza ilişkisi, tarihin sonu ve modern tekno-bilimsel iktidar bağlamında ele alınacaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Klasik Siyaset Felsefesi,Leo Strauss,Modernite,Otorite,Tiranlık

Kaynakça

1. AGAMBEN, Giorgio (2005). State of Exception, trans. K. Attell, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
2. AGAMBEN, Giorgio (1998). Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, trans. D. Heller-Roazen, Standford: Standford University Press.
3. ARENDT, Hannah (1998). The Human Condition, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
4. ARISTOTLE (1959). Politics, trans. by C.D.C. Reeve, Cambridge: Hacket Publishing Company.
5. BACON, Francis (2000). The New Organon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6. BEINER, Ronald (2005). “The Soul of the Tyrant, and the Souls of You and Me: Plato’s Understanding of Tyranny”, Confronting Tyranny: Ancient Lessons for Global Politics, ed. Toivo Koivukoski and D. E. Tabanick, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 181-197.
7. BENJAMIN, Walter (2007). Illuminations, trans. H. Zohn, New York: Schocken Books.
8. BLOCH, Marc (2015). The Royal Touch: Sacred Monarchy and Scrofula in England and France, trans. J.E. Anderson.

9. BOESCHE, Rober (1996). Theories of Tyranny: From Plato to Arendt, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania University Press.
10. BOYLE, Robert (1996). A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
11. DESCARTES, RENÉ (2004). The World and Other Writings, trans. S. Gaukroger, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
12. GLENN, G. D. “Speculations on Strauss’ Political Intentions Suggested by On Tyranny, History of European Ideas, 19(1-3): 171-177.HADOT, Pierre (2006). The Veil of Isis: An Essay on the History of the Idea of Nature, trans. M. Chase, Cambridge: The Belnap Press of Harvard University Press.
13. HEIDEGGER, Martin (1996). Being and Time, trans. J. Stambaugh, Albany: State University of New York Press.
14. HEIDEGGER, Martin (1977). The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, trans. W. Lovitt, New York: Garland Publishing.
15. HEIDEGGER, Martin (1961). Nietzsche, Neske.
16. HOBBES, Thomas (1998). Leviathan, trans. J.C.A. Gaskin, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
17. JOANS, Hans ( 2001). “The Practical Uses of Theory,” The Phenomenon of Life: Toward a Philosophical Biology, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 188-211.
18. JOHNSTONE, A. Mark (2014). “Tyrannized Souls: Plato’s Depiction of the Tyrannical Man, British Journal fort he History of Philosophy, 25(3), pp. 423-437.
19. KANTOROWICZ, H. Ernst (1997). The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
20. KOJEVÉ, Alexandre (1991). “Tyranny and Wisdom”, On Tyranny ed. V. Gourevitch and M. S. Roth, New York: The Free Press.
21. KOJEVÉ, Alexandre (1980). Introduction to the Reading Hegel, trans. J. H. Nichols, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
22. MACHIAVELLI, Niccoló (2008). The Prince, trans. J. B. Atkinson, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Comopany.
23. MACHIAVELLI, Niccoló (1996). Discourses on Livy, trans. H. C. Mansfield and Nathan Tarcov, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
24. NEWELL, Waller R. (2013). Tyranny: A New Interpretation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ss. 219-251.
25. NEWELL, Waller R. (200). Ruling Passion: The Erotics of Statecraft in Platonic Political Philosophy, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
26. PLATO (2008). The Symposium, trans. M.C. Howatson, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
27. PLATO (1991). Republic, trans. Allan Bloom, Basic Books.
28. ROSEN, Stanley (2006). “Leo Strauss in Chicago,” Daedalus, 135(3): 104-113.
29. ROSSITER, Clinton (2009). Constitutional Dictatorship: Crisis Government in the Modern Democracies, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
30. SINGH, Aakash (2005). Eros Turannos: Leo Strauss and Alexandre Kojeve Debate on Tyranny, London: University Press of America.
31. SMITH, B. Gregory (1994). “The Post-Modern Leo Strauss,” History of European Ideas, 19(1-3): 191-197.
32. SMITH, Steven (2006). Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
33. SOUSA, A. L. C. (2016). “Thoughts on Leo Strauss’s Interpretation of Aristotle’s Natural Teaching,” The Review of Politics, 78(3): 419-442.
34. STRAUSS, Leo (1991a). On Tyranny, New York: The Free Press.
35. STRAUSS, Leo (1991b). “Restatement”, On Tyranny, ed. V. Gourevitch and M. S. Roth, New York: The Free Press, pp. 177-213.
36. STRAUSS, Leo (1989a). “An Introduction to Heideggerian Existentialism,” The Rebirth of Classical Political Philosophy, ed. T. Pangle, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 27-46.
37. STRAUSS, Leo (1989b). “How to begin to study Medieval Philosophy”, The Rebirth of Classical Political Philosophy, ed. T. Pangle, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 207-226.
38. STRAUSS, Leo (1975). The Argument and the Action of Plato’s Laws, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
39. STRAUSS, Leo (1965). Natural Right and History, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
40. STRAUSS, Leo (1958). Thoughts on Machiavelli, Illinois: The Free Press.
41. STRAUSS, Leo (1980). Persecution and the Art of Writing, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
42. TARCOV, Nathan (2005). Confronting Tyranny: Ancient Lessons for Global Politics, ed. T. Koivukoski and D. E. Tabanick, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, ss. 123-141.
43. TOCQUEVILLE, A. (2000). Democracy in America, trans. H. C. Mansfield and D. Winthrop, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
44. XENOPHON (1991). Hiero or Tyrannicus, trans. Leo Strauss, New York: The Free Press.
45. ZUKERT, Catherine ve ZUCKERT Michael (2008). The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.