Joseph Cropsey

Joseph Cropsey (1919 to 2012) was an American political philosopher and professor emeritus of political science at the University of Chicago, where he was also associate director of the John M. Olin Center for Inquiry into the Theory and Practice of Democracy. Born in New York City, he died in Washington, D.C. He was a student of Leo Strauss, who inspired him to move from his original field of economic thought to a much more theoretical approach to political thought, and he focused on Plato and on the esoteric philosophical aspects of thinkers such as Adam Smith and Karl Marx. With Strauss he co-edited History of Political Philosophy, first published in 1963.