Pour une conception coopérative des méthodes de lecture de Leo Strauss et Quentin Skinner

This article tries to develop a methodology for reading the great philosophical texts of the past. Against the idea that the research work of the philosopher could be done without an appropriate method, we assume that we should adopt some basic hermeneutical principles in order to understand well the great philosophical texts. These principles may be inferred from a cooperative and complementary approach of the methods of Leo Strauss and Quentin Skinner who are often wrongly opposed. To illustrate the heuristic validity of thise method, we will apply it to the case study of the Lettre from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King.