Now for the most interesting part: the quest for a philosophical foundation for Jefferson's ideals. The students that Bloom and I criticized for their relativism are not really to blame. They are merely the latest manifestation of a tradition whose deep roots in America's intellectual thought go back over a hundred years. By 1900, American intellectuals knew that Jefferson's ideals could no longer be based on Locke and were seeking a foundation on the best that modern science and critical philosophy could offer. That attempt is not viable, but they were trying to do something necessary and deserve to be treated with respect. Their thinking is so deeply engrained in our minds that contemporary intellectuals of postmodern persuasion recreate their arguments. It is indeed true that those who despise history are doomed to repeat it.

This chapter will fall into three sections: showing why relativism is a false friend; a quick rejection of Rawls; and an analysis of the followers of Leo Strauss.

Ruth Benedict and cultural relativism

To put Benedict into context, we must recapitulate the battle of ideas in America fought by the generation in ascendancy after the Civil War. Everyone was now a Darwinian.