What room is there for moral choice and humane restraint where nations are struggling one against another for power, territory, and survival?  Thucydides' Peloponnesian Wars is often viewed as a class of "realism," the view that such considerations don't matter in the power competition between rival nations. But the philosopher Leo Strauss and his students see Thucydides as a thinker deeply concerned with preserving our humanity even under the most extreme conditions of conflict. This view has important implications for how we understand right and force in international relations today, and how international law can help to resolve armed conflicts.

On Thursday, November 9, join Robert Howse (NYU) for a dinner seminar.