Prof. Chandler doesn't mention Mr. Strauss, though he was a magical teacher whose writings place him among the leading philosophers of the 20th century. Of course, there's much ado about his student Allan Bloom, but nary a word about the principles Strauss taught us in a valiant effort to keep alive the art of serious reading. Mr. Strauss showed his students that reading and teaching serious books was a great responsibility. Socratic ignorance was the foundation of Western science and philosophy as we know it. Alas, Professor Chandler's article represents the pervasive rebellion of contemporary opinion against the principles I learned as a graduate student.
Name dropping and debating which books to assign are trivial.
Trained by Mr. Strauss, I now study how toxic chemicals influence behaviors including crime and hyperactivity. But it is still strange. I never met Leo Strauss, though in graduate school I did sit in on a course in Hobbes from Joseph Cropsey and enjoyed it. Whether Strauss ranks among the greatest of the 20th-century philosophers is not a matter that I'll comment on. Whatever Strauss's charismatic talents as a teacher, and I understand that they were considerable, his doctrine and methods are open to serious debate, even on Professor Masters' own account.