Esoterismo e filosofia política na obra de L. Strauss.

This article aims to approach the issue of essentially conflictual relations between philosophy and society in the work of Leo Strauss, seeking to show how, according to this author, the mentioned conflict makes philosophical activity a politically problematic and dangerous one, which forces the philosopher in a persecution context to resort to a specific literary technique – the esoteric writing – in order to hide the political problematicity of philosophy, to present a morally sweetened version of its nature and so to settle its antagonism with the prevailing social order. From that, the article will also seek to explain how, in the Straussian view, the use of esoteric writing as a procedure to ease the conflict between philosophy and society is originally identified with the  political philosophy itself, which is understood as “political presentation of philosophy”.