The Law and the Philosopher. On Leo Strauss' "The Law of Reason in the Kuzari"

Abstract

This paper presents an interpretation of Leo Strauss' essay on Yehuda Halevi's Kuzari that focuses on reading it as a philosophic text in its own right. It argues that Leo Strauss uses the Kuzari to show the central importance the question of a fully rational law has for an adequate understanding of the relationship between philosophy and society. Strauss presents the philosophic view as ultimately denying any absolute obligations based on moral laws and puts it in opposition to a position that claims the law to be obligatory not as rational, but as divinely revealed.