2006 Leo Strauss Award

For the best dissertation completed and accepted during 2004 or 2005 in the field of political philosophy.

Award Committee: Ruth Grant, Duke University, Chair; Aurelian Craiutu, University of Indiana; Donald Moon, Wesleyan University

Recipient: Xavier Marquez, University of Notre Dame

Dissertation: "The Stranger's Knowledge: Political Knowledge in Plato's Statesman"

Dissertation Chair: Catherine Zuckert, University of Notre Dame

Citation: The 2005-06 Leo Strauss Award Committee is pleased to nominate Xavier Marquez for receipt of the award for the best dissertation in political philosophy completed and accepted in the years 2004 and 2005. His dissertation is entitled, "The Stranger's Knowledge: Political Knowledge in Plato's Statesman."

This dissertation is an illuminating meditation on political knowledge; what it is, how it is distinguished from both philosophy and technical expertise, the limitations on the possibility of acquiring it, and the implications of these issues for understanding the relation between theory and practice. The author pursues these issues primarily through an analysis of Plato's Statesman that is notable for the clarity and forcefulness of its argumentation and the breadth and depth of its scholarship. The interpretation is original, arguing that the political knowledge of the statesman is superior to philosophy and that the ideal of statesmanship provides a critical standard for philosophical inquiry. The author's account of Plato's view of political science serves to enhance our own.