[nicollo]

Thanks for the link to the article on Strauss. I'm not so sure I like what I read. Seems to me that Strauss' complaint about Machiavelli ought better have been laid upon Aristotle. I just don't know enough about it. Besides, like Niccolo, I like Livy and his judgemental histories. I get the same from Burke.

I don't need philosophy to back my politics. Strauss gave it, and I suppose Burke has been labeled a philosopher. I think that's a wrong. Burke may have spoken a philosophy, but he more exactly spoke a political reality. The great thing about Burke is that he doesn't need explaining.

But I'm just simplistic. I so hate to taint my politics with meaning.

[KC Burke]

since we have mentioned Pragmatism and Charles Peirce here and we have recently been talking about Strauss elsewhere, I thought it best to recommend you look up an article by Thomas Short in the Fall 2001 edition of Modern Age. It is entitled "The Conservative Pragmatism of Charles Peirce" and is a great antidote to The Metaphysical Club.

And, nicollo, if your dad has been on a Peirce "kick", then, I think Short is the man for him.