If one is to win an argument, one must be able to think clearly and sensibly. In many ways, it appears that this is why Glenn Ellmers wrote his new book, “The Soul of Politics: Harry V. Jaffa and the Fight for America.”
Yes, the book is about Harry Jaffa, the conservative professor, thinker, and political philosopher of the mid- to late-20th century, but it’s hardly a biography. The book does touch slightly on his personal life, but it’s primarily an exposition on how Jaffa thought or how he came to think the way he did and how that thinking has influenced so many now.
Classical Philosophy Versus Modern Philosophy
Jaffa, along with his predecessor and teacher Leo Strauss, worked to bring back classical political philosophy to the forefront, where modern political philosophy had reigned for decades, if not centuries. Ellmers identified early in the book a significant moment in Jaffa’s education when he ran across the Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debates in a used bookstore. During this time, in 1946, he had been learning about the debate between Socrates and Thrasymachus and made a direct parallel between the two debates, despite being separated by more than 2,000 years. It was this moment that truly connected the universality of classical political philosophy for Jaffa.
