“All political action aims at either preservation or change. When desiring to preserve we wish to prevent a change to the worse. When desiring to change we wish to bring about something better. All political action is then guided by some thought of better and worse. But thought of better or worse implies thought of the good. The awareness of the good which guides all our actions has a character of opinion. It is no longer questioned but on reflection it proves to be questionable. The very fact that we can question it directs us towards such a thought of the good as is no longer questionable towards a thought which is no longer opinion but knowledge. All political action has then in itself a directedness towards knowledge of the good of the good life or the good society. For the good society, it is a complete political good. If this directedness becomes explicit, if men make it their explicit goal to acquire knowledge of the good life and of the good society, political philosophy emerges.”–Strauss
Know Thyself 