Joseph Cropsey

Joseph Cropsey (New York City, August 27, 1919 – Washington, D.C., July 1, 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.

Cropsey was a student of Leo Strauss, who inspired him to move from his original academic field—economic thought—to a much more theoretical approach to political thought. Since then, Cropsey had focused on Plato and the "esoteric", interstitial philosophical aspects of the theories developed by such thinkers as Adam Smith and Karl Marx.

He received the Quantrell Award.

His son, Seth Cropsey (a graduate of St. John's College), is an American neoconservative analyst for the Hudson Institute, where he is the Director for the Center for American Seapower.