Eric Voegelin, Leo Strauss, och Moderniteten

Sammanfattning: Eric Voegelin and Leo Strauss are two prominent critics of modernity. In this paper I inquire into whether or not these two thinkers share a core understanding of modernity, what that would be, and what kind of relevance that would have. I find that they do indeed share a core understanding of modernity, and that this understanding is characterized by modernity as an artificial limitation of the human existence. They both see this artificial limitation as being motivated by an underlying want to find security in an inherently insecure world, and they also see the conquering of nature and human nature as an intrinsic aspect of the modern. I also find that their understanding of modernity has a significant relevance for anyone who, like Strauss and Voegelin, see man being reduced to a tool, see political science reduced to a sate unable to say anything, that is not redundant, about values, and see the human conquering of nature, all as something problematic and in need of serious engagement.