The fall of the “walls of the world” (<i>Moenia mundi</i>): the critique of religion and the problem of truth in the straussian reading of Lucretius´ poem <i>De Rerum Natura</i>

Abstract

The scope of this article consists of analyzing Leo Strauss’s interpretation, as presented in his essay “Notes on Lucretius,” of Lucretius’s poem De Rerum Natura, in order to highlight how the German-American philosopher understands the critique of religion and the problem of truth in Epicureanism. Our starting point is the observation of the typically Straussian conception of Epicureanism as a universal motif of human nature, oriented toward the pursuit of happiness (εὐδαιμονία) in this world and requiring, for its realization, a systematic critique of religion, conceived as a source of fear and illusion. From this, we will seek to demonstrate how, according to Strauss, this critique is elaborated in Lucretius in a radical yet ambivalent manner, insofar as the Roman poet frames religion both as an obstacle to happiness and as a psychic protection against the cosmic terror of an infinite and indifferent universe. Advancing this approach, we will then examine how Strauss interprets Lucretius’s use of poetry as a literary stratagem which, while initially aiming to make philosophical truth – by nature repulsive and painful – more accessible to all, ultimately reveals the limits of the Epicurean project of universal emancipation. By way of conclusion, we will emphasize Strauss’s view that, in De Rerum Natura, the tension between philosophical truth and human moral and psychological needs remains unresolved, which, for Strauss, distinguishes Lucretian Epicureanism from the optimism of the modern Enlightenment.