Carl Schmitt's Concept of the Political, Thomas Hobbes and the Political Theological Critique of Liberal Democracy

Carl Schmitt's Concept of the Political, Thomas Hobbes and the Political Theological Critique of Liberal Democracy
Author: Nathan Andrew McCune
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2001
Genre:
ISBN:

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This thesis examines Carl Schmitt's political theorizing. Carl Schmitt was one of modern Germany's most influential political theorists. He is most well-known for his work 'The Concept of the Political' which explicated his understanding of politics; the political is most clearly revealed in the distinction between friends and enemies. However, exactly how Schmitt conceived of the decision regarding friend and enemy as paradigmatic for an understanding of healthy politics is problematic. Schmitt presented the friend-enemy distinction in a rhetorically forceful but conceptually unclear manner. This thesis investigates whether one can coherently make sense of Schmitt's "concept of the political" and whether Schmitt's teaching regarding the political can be understood as forming a coherent whole; is there an identifiable basis or perspective which consistently informs Schmitt's thinking about what "the political" is. While there is much to be learned from previous efforts to comprehend Carl Schmitt, for the most part, these efforts have not taken into account his serious moral and theological concerns. Schmitt should be understood primarily as a political theologian; he conceived of history and politics as a field of providential struggle. Schmitt particularly viewed liberalism from such a perspective; he found in liberalism the most extensive rejection of the sovereign status of God in human affairs. In turn, the best way to investigate Schmitt's theorizing is to examine his understanding of Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes' political philosophy is central to Schmitt's theorizing. Schmitt sought to rehabilitate Hobbes as the philosopher who could be employed in comprehending the modern world. However, Schmitt, who originally thought of Hobbes as the philosopher best suited to his own project, was forced to return to Hobbes' positions which seem impious. Ultimately, Schmitt attempted to rescue Hobbes the 'vir probus' whose thinking was devout from the image of Hobbes as the creator of a new "mortal god." The consistency of Schmitt's own theorizing is reflected directly in his thinking about Hobbes. Hobbes' political philosophy is the key to understanding Schmitt's criticisms of modernity and his explication of the political and is the most important test case for investigating the political theological nature of his thought.

Political Theology

Political Theology
Author: Carl Schmitt
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 123
Release: 2010-05-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0226738906

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Written in the intense political and intellectual tumult of the early years of the Weimar Republic, Political Theology develops the distinctive theory of sovereignty that made Carl Schmitt one of the most significant and controversial political theorists of the twentieth century. Focusing on the relationships among political leadership, the norms of the legal order, and the state of political emergency, Schmitt argues in Political Theology that legal order ultimately rests upon the decisions of the sovereign. According to Schmitt, only the sovereign can meet the needs of an "exceptional" time and transcend legal order so that order can then be reestablished. Convinced that the state is governed by the ever-present possibility of conflict, Schmitt theorizes that the state exists only to maintain its integrity in order to ensure order and stability. Suggesting that all concepts of modern political thought are secularized theological concepts, Schmitt concludes Political Theology with a critique of liberalism and its attempt to depoliticize political thought by avoiding fundamental political decisions.

The Concept of the Political

The Concept of the Political
Author: Carl Schmitt
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 150
Release: 1996-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780226738864

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In this, his most influential work, legal theorist and political philosopher Carl Schmitt argues that liberalism's basis in individual rights cannot provide a reasonable justification for sacrificing oneself for the state. This edition of the 1932 work includes the translator's introduction (by George Schwab) which highlights Schmitt's intellectual journey through the turbulent period of German history leading to the Hitlerian one-party state. It also includes Leo Strauss's analysis of Schmitt's thesis and a foreword by Tracy B. Strong placing Schmitt's work into contemporary context.

The Politics of time. Introduction to Carl Schmitt’s Political Thought

The Politics of time. Introduction to Carl Schmitt’s Political Thought
Author: Miguel Saralegui
Publisher: Ed. Universidad de Cantabria
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2021-07-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 841788842X

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Carl Schmitt is the last thinker to provide a complete, original definition of politics. His work influences many debates in contemporary political theory through a collection of concepts he created: political theology, the katechon, friend and enemy. Despite how influential his ideas are, they tend to be employed metaphorically, and sometimes incorrectly. This miscalculation is due to Carl Schmitt himself, who never gave us a final, complete version of his political thought, or even of some of his most famous concepts. In this book, I aim to reconstruct his political thought using three key concepts: political theology, the concept of the political, and the theory of modernity. To do so, I have consulted all his published works, but also the archival documents, in particular those with ties to Spain, which had previously received little attention. This reconstruction offers readers a qualitative introduction to Schmitt’s political thought that aims to blend logical clarity with document-based evidence.

Thomas Hobbes and Carl Schmitt

Thomas Hobbes and Carl Schmitt
Author: Johan Tralau
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317991028

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Thomas Hobbes, the English 17th century philosopher, and Carl Schmitt, Hitler’s ‘crown jurist’, a political thinker and author of an enigmatic book on Hobbes, are increasingly relevant today for two reasons. First, they address the problem of political order, so important when we witness failed states, the privatisation of war, and the rise of political violence that does not derive from the state. Secondly, they are both crucial sources for the use of mythology in politics; moreover, they address the key issue of our time, namely, the relation between politics and religion. This collection of important new essays addresses Hobbes and Schmitt as political thinkers, their importance for present-day politics and society, their conceptions of myth and politics, and Schmitt’s use of Hobbes in (and some say against) the Third Reich. When myth, violence and revelation re-emerge as political forces, it is important to understand Hobbes’s and Schmitt’s answers to the problems of their time – and to those of ours. This book was based on a special issue of the Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.

The Lesson of Carl Schmitt

The Lesson of Carl Schmitt
Author: Heinrich Meier
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2011-08-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 022618935X

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Heinrich Meier’s work on Carl Schmitt has dramatically reoriented the international debate about Schmitt and his significance for twentieth-century political thought. In The Lesson of Carl Schmitt, Meier identifies the core of Schmitt’s thought as political theology—that is, political theorizing that claims to have its ultimate ground in the revelation of a mysterious or suprarational God. This radical, but half-hidden, theological foundation underlies the whole of Schmitt’s often difficult and complex oeuvre, rich in historical turns and political convolutions, intentional deceptions and unintentional obfuscations. In four chapters on morality, politics, revelation, and history, Meier clarifies the difference between political philosophy and Schmitt’s political theology and relates the religious dimension of his thought to his support for National Socialism and his continuing anti-Semitism. New to this edition are two essays that address the recently published correspondences of Schmitt—particularly with Hans Blumberg—and the light it sheds on his conception of political theology.

Law as Politics

Law as Politics
Author: David Dyzenhaus
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 340
Release: 1998
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780822322443

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Articles previously published in the Canadian journal of law and jurisprudence.

Carl Schmitt's Critique of Liberalism

Carl Schmitt's Critique of Liberalism
Author: John P. McCormick
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 1997
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521664578

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This is the first in-depth critical appraisal in English of the political, legal, and cultural writings of Carl Schmitt, perhaps this century's most brilliant critic of liberalism. It offers an assessment of this most sophisticated of fascist theorists without attempting either to apologise for or demonise him. Schmitt's Weimar writings confront the role of technology as it finds expression through the principles and practices of liberalism. Contemporary political conditions such as disaffection with liberalism and the rise of extremist political organizations have rendered Schmitt's work both relevant and insightful. John McCormick examines why technology becomes a rallying cry for both right- and left-wing intellectuals at times when liberalism appears anachronistic, and shows the continuities between Weimar's ideological debates and those of our own age.