Abstract

Author: Mordarski Ryszard Title: THE LAST ESOTERIC THINKER. LEO STRAUSS’S REMARKS ON THE ESOTERIC CHARACTER OF GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING’S WORKS (Ostatni ezoterysta. Uwagi Lea Straussa o ezoterycznym charakterze twórczości Gottholda Ephraima Lessinga) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2006, vol:.6, number: 2006/1, pages: 135-152 Keywords: LEO STRAUSS, LESSING, ESOTERIC CHARACTER, MAIMONIDES Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:According to Leo Strauss, the great thinkers of the political philosophy from Plato, through al-Farabi and Maimonides, to Hobbes, Locke, and J.J. Rousseau distinguished between exoteric, or public, writing and esoteric, or private, writing. The last thinker who was well aware of that distinction and applied it to express his own thought was G.E. Lessing. In the article the author discusses Strauss’s thesis concerning esoteric writing and presents the reasons why Lessing might be regarded as the last esoteric thinker. Finally, the author attempts to interpret Lessing’s last writings, especially his play Nathan the Wise, in the light of Strauss’s thesis