Christian Origins of Modern Political Anthropology: Alexandre Kojève’s Position on Leo Strauss’s Problem
Wybierz format
RIS BIB ENDNOTEData publikacji: 19.09.2025
Teoria Polityki, 2025, Nr 11/2025, s. 151-168
https://doi.org/10.4467/25440845TP.25.009.21646Autorzy
Christian Origins of Modern Political Anthropology: Alexandre Kojève’s Position on Leo Strauss’s Problem
The paper presents an attempt to solve the problem of Leo Strauss’s statements about the role of Christianity and the category of individuality in la querelle des Anciens et des Modernes by looking at it from Alexandre Kojève’s point of view. His interpretation, which was developed in a close cooperation with Strauss, allows us to gain a better understanding of the relationship between Christianity and the anthropology of the moderns. According to Kojève’s reconstruction of the history of philosophy, Christian understanding of humanity establishes the indivisible unity of the three fundamental anthropological categories – individuality, historicity and freedom. It marks a rejection of the ancient idea of law and provides the anthropological framework for the development of modern political theory. Kojève’s interpretation shows that the two different meanings of Strauss’s statement about the category of individuality are in fact inseparable – thinking in terms of unique and unrepeatable events emerges with Christianity, and moral individualism, the belief in the absolute value of each individual human being, is also of Christian origin.
Berg, H. de (2007). Das Ende der Geschichte und der bürgerliche Rechtsstaat: Hegel – Kojève – Fukuyama. Tübingen: A. Francke Verlag.
Bluhm, H. (2002). Die Ordnung der Ordnung. Das politische Philosophieren von Leo Strauss. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Coulanges, F. (1956). The Ancient City: A Study on the Religion, Laws and Institutions of Greece and Rome. Transl. W. Small. Garden City–New York: Doubleday Anchor Books.
Devlin, R.F. (2004). Alexandre Kojève and the Outcome of Modern Thought. Lanham: University Press of America.
Drury, S. (1994). Alexandre Kojève: The Roots of Postmodern Politics. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Fortin, E. (1996). “The Political Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.” In: J.B. Benestad (ed.). Classical Christianity and the Political Order: Reflections on the Theologico-Political Problem. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Geroulanos, S. (2010). An Atheism That Is Not Humanist Emerges in French Thought. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Guerra, M.D. (2018). “Modernity, Creation and Catholicism: Leo Strauss and Benedict XVI.” In: G.M. Vaughan (ed.). Leo Strauss and his Catholic Readers. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.
Hancock, R. (2018). “Leo Strauss’s Profound and Fragile Critique of Christianity.” In: G.M. Vaughan (ed.). Leo Strauss and his Catholic Readers. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.
Heidegger, M. (2004). “Letter to Hannah Arendt, 1967.09.29.” In: U. Ludz (ed.). Letters: 1925–1975. Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. Transl. A. Shields. New York: Harcourt.
Kennington, R. (1981). “Strauss’s Natural Right and History.” The Review of Metaphysics, 35, pp. 57–86.
Klein, J. (2006). “Letter to Gerhard Krüger, 1930.03.14.” The New Yearbook of Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy, 6.
Kojève, A. (1970). “Hegel, Marx and Christianity.” Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, 1, pp. 21–42.
Kojève, A. (1973). “The Idea of Death in the Philosophy of Hegel.” Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, 3, pp. 114–156.
Kojève, A. (1980). Introduction to the Reading of Hegel. Transl. J.H. Nichols. Ithaca–London: Cornell University Press.
Kojève, A. (1984). “Christian Origins of Modern Science.” The St. John’s Review, 25, pp. 22–26.
Kojève, A. (1992). “Excerpt from a Letter from Kojevnikoff to Gaston Fessard, June 21, 1936.” Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, 19(2).
Kojève, A. (1998). “Brief an Schmitt, 1955.05.16.” In: P. Tommissen (ed.). Schmittiana. Band VI. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Kojève, A. (2013a). “Letter to Straus. 1953.10. 29.” In: V. Gourevitch, M.S. Roth (eds.). On Tyranny: Corrected and Expanded Edition, Including the Strauss–Kojève Correspondence. Chicago–London: The University of Chicago Press.
Kojève, A. (2013b). “Tyranny and Wisdom.” In: V. Gourevitch, M.S. Roth (eds.). On Tyranny: Corrected and Expanded Edition, Including the Strauss–Kojève Correspondence. Chicago–London: The University of Chicago Press.
Kojève, A. (2014). “Interpretation of the General Introduction to Chapter VII (The Religion Chapter of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit).” Parrhesia, 20, pp. 15–39.
Kojève, A. (2019). The Concept, Time, and Discourse. Transl. R.B. Williamson. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press.
Kuhn, H. (2022). “Naturrecht und Historismus.” In: H. Meier (ed.). Gesammelte Schriften. Band 4: Naturrecht und Geschichte. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag.
Leupin, A. (2003). Fiction And Incarnation: Rhetoric, Theology, and Literature in the Middle Ages. Transl. D. Laatsch. Minneapolis–London: University of Minnesota Press.
Löwith, K. (1949). Meaning in History: The Theological Implications of the Philosophy of History. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Meier, H. (2022). “Philosophie und Geschichte.” In: H. Meier (ed.). Gesammelte Schriften. Band 4: Naturrecht und Geschichte. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag.
Meyer, M. (1993). Ende der Geschichte? München–Wien: Carl Hanser Verlag.
Nichols, J.H. (2007). Alexandre Kojève: Wisdom at the End of History. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Pelluchon, C. (2006). “Strauss and Christianity.” Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, 33, pp. 185–203.
Rosen, S. (1963). “Ideas.” The Review of Metaphysics, 16(3), pp. 407–441.
Roth, S.M. (1988). Knowing and History: Appropriations of Hegel in Twentieth-Century France. Ithaca–London: Cornell University Press.
Schkade, D. (2021). Die Logik des Politischen: Kojèves politische Philosophie zwischen Phänomenologie und Propaganda. Frankfurt: Campus Press.
Schmitt, C. (1998). “Brief an Kojève. 1955.05.09.” In: P. Tommissen (ed.). Schmittiana. Band VI. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Schmitt, C. (2009). “Three Possibilities for a Christian Conception of History.” Telos, 147, pp. 167–170.
Spaemann, R. (2010). Essays in Anthropology: Variations on a Theme. Transl. G. de Graaff, J. Mumford. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books.
Spaemann, R. (2017). Persons: The Difference between ‘Someone’ and ‘Something.’ Transl. O. O’Donovan. New York: Oxford University Press.
Stanciu, O. (2024). “Kojève‘s Concept of Recognition.” In: M. Filoni, M. Palma (eds.). Tyrants at Work: Philosophy and Politics in Alexandre Kojève. Pisa: Edizioni ETS.
Strauss, L. (1963). The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis. Transl. E.M. Sinclair. Chicago–London: The University of Chicago Press.
Strauss, L. (1981). “Progress or Return? The Contemporary Crisis in Western Civilization.” Modern Judaism, 1, pp. 17–45.
Strauss, L. (1988). Persecution and the Art of Writing. Chicago–London: The University of Chicago Press.
Strauss, L. (1995). Philosophy and Law: Contributions to the Understanding of Maimonides and His Predecessors. Transl. E. Adler. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Strauss, L. (1997). “Cohen und Maimuni.” In: H. Meier (ed.). Gesammelte Schriften. Band 2: Philosophie und Gesetz. Frühe Schriften. Stuttgart–Weimar: J.B. Metzler Verlag.
Strauss, L. (1999). Natural Right and History. Chicago–London: The University of Chicago Press.
Strauss, L. (2006). “The Issues of German Postwar Philosophy.” In: H. Meier (ed.). Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem. Transl. M. Brainard. Cambridge–New York: Cambridge University Press.
Strauss, L. (2007). “Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political.” In: C. Schmitt, The Concept of the Political. Transl. G. Schwab. Chicago–London: The University of Chicago Press.
Strauss, L. (2008). “Brief an Karl Löwith. 1935.07.17.” In: H. Meier (ed.). Gesammelte Schriften. Band 3: Hobbes’ politische Wissenschaft und zugehörige Schriften – Briefe. Stuttgart–Weimar: J.B. Metzler Verlag.
Strauss, L. (2013a). “Letter to Kojève. 1949.09.04.” In: V. Gourevitch, M.S. Roth (eds.). On Tyranny: Corrected and Expanded Edition, Including the Strauss–Kojève Correspondence. Chicago–London: The University of Chicago Press.
Strauss, L. (2013b). “Restatement on Xenophon’s Hiero.” In: V. Gourevitch, M.S. Roth (eds.). On Tyranny: Corrected and Expanded Edition, Including the Strauss–Kojève Correspondence. Chicago–London: The University of Chicago Press.
Strauss, L. (2022). “Brief an Helmut Kuhn.” In: H. Meier (ed.). Gesammelte Schriften. Band 4: Naturrecht und Geschichte. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag.
Tanguay, D. (2007). Leo Strauss: An Intellectual Biography. Transl. Ch. Nadon. New Haven–London: Yale University Press.
Taubes, J. (2009). Occidental Eschatology. Transl. D. Ratmoko. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Velkley, R. (2011). Heidegger, Strauss and the Hidden Premises of Philosophy. On Original Forgetting. Chicago–London: The University of Chicago Press.
Informacje: Teoria Polityki, 2025, Nr 11/2025, s. 151-168
Typ artykułu: Oryginalny artykuł naukowy
Publikacja: 19.09.2025
Status artykułu: Otwarte
Licencja: CC BY 4.0
Udział procentowy autorów:
Informacje o autorze:
Korekty artykułu:
-Języki publikacji:
AngielskiLiczba wyświetleń: 1141
Liczba pobrań: 668