Abstract
This essay examines Leo Strauss's pedagogical method in his teaching on rights. The goal in this essay is not to present Strauss's argument for or against any particular conception of rights. In fact, it is to dissuade readers of Strauss from seeking such conclusions within Strauss's texts, and to argue that readers' attention turn toward the method of inquiry exemplified by Strauss's presentation. Strauss's choice of the topic in 1949 was based upon the contradictory status of the conception of rights within the existing modern ‘regime of truth’. Strauss focused attention on the inherent contradictions between the political and scientific as well as the cultural and natural lines of inquiry. The case is made that Strauss intended to advance a particular method of inquiry suited to cultural‐political topics through a critique of the modern made possible by a return to the ancients.