5 Comments
User's avatar
Danny Sullivan's avatar

I love imagining what that Socrates or Nihilism class must have been like. Jaffa backing Socrates and Neumann back nihilism and just competing to win students to their side

Expand full comment
Richie Barnes's avatar

What a screed.

So many rabbit holes. So enjoyed this. Much to digest, confront, and reconcile.

The abyss itself has a different characteristic having read this.

Expand full comment
Sam Waters's avatar

The Verdun essay seems like it might have Junger vibes, too.

Expand full comment
Ethan McCoy Rogers's avatar

I really enjoyed this essay.

One question I haven’t gotten a straightforward answer to yet but that you probably know the answer to is: what exactly do Straussians mean by nihilism?

Is it just the position that there is no highest good and that, because of this, all things are of indifferent value?

Expand full comment
Gnocchic Apocryphon's avatar

Basically, it’s nihilism in the sense meant by 19th and 20th century German philosophy

Expand full comment