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Carl Schmitt

German jurist, political theorist and professor of law (1888-1985) · Germany · Academics · Died at 96

Carl Schmitt is read about 1,725 times a day, in 50 languages.

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A jurist who diagnosed liberalism's fragility, then prescribed dictatorship. His theories on sovereignty and the state of exception still echo through law schools worldwide, though the cure he championed - joining the Nazi Party in 1933 and giving it intellectual cover - casts a long shadow over every page.

AcademicsLawyerLawPoliticsPhilosophyGermanyEurope20th Century

A life in dates

1985Died7 April 19851927“The concept of the state presupposes the concept of the political.”In their wordsThe Concept of the Political (1927)

“The equation state = politics becomes erroneous and deceptive at exactly the moment when state and society penetrate each other.”In their wordsThe Concept of the Political (1927)

“A definition of the political can be obtained only by discovering and defining the specifically political categories.”In their wordsThe Concept of the Political (1927)

“Only the actual participants can correctly recognize, understand, and judge the concrete situation and settle the extreme case of conflict.”In their wordsThe Concept of the Political (1927)

“The enemy is not merely any competitor or just any partner of a conflict in general. He is also not the private adversary whom one hates.”In their wordsThe Concept of the Political (1927)

“The friend, enemy, and combat concepts receive their real meaning precisely because they refer to the real possibility of physical killing. War follows from enmity.”In their wordsThe Concept of the Political (1927)

1888Born11 July 1888

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

1929 report on Carl Schmitt1929 report on Carl SchmittBeglaubigte Kopie der Geburtsurkunde aus dem Jahr 1913-1914Beglaubigte Kopie der Geburtsurkunde aus dem Jahr 1913-1914Carl Schmitt - Der Leviathan in der Staatslehre des Thomas Hobbes, 1938Carl Schmitt - Der Leviathan in der Staatslehre des Thomas Hobbes, 1938Carl Schmitt - Hamlet oder Hekuba Der Einbruch der Zeit in das Spiel, 1956Carl Schmitt - Hamlet oder Hekuba Der Einbruch der Zeit in das Spiel, 1956Carl Schmitt - Nationalsozialismus und Völkerrecht, 1934Carl Schmitt - Nationalsozialismus und Völkerrecht, 1934Carl Schmitt - Staatsgefüge und Zusammenbruch des zweiten Reiches, 1934Carl Schmitt - Staatsgefüge und Zusammenbruch des zweiten Reiches, 1934Carl Schmitt 1904 SchulklasseCarl Schmitt 1904 SchulklasseDeed of 14 July 1888Deed of 14 July 1888

In their own words 10

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Carl Schmitt
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10 statements, newest first

  1. The concept of the state presupposes the concept of the political.

    1927, The Concept of the Political (1927), Own words

  2. The equation state = politics becomes erroneous and deceptive at exactly the moment when state and society penetrate each other.

    1927, The Concept of the Political (1927), Own words

  3. A definition of the political can be obtained only by discovering and defining the specifically political categories.

    1927, The Concept of the Political (1927), Own words

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About this person

Carl Schmitt was born 11 July 1888 in Germany and built a career dismantling the philosophical foundations of parliamentary democracy, liberalism, and cosmopolitanism. In 1933 he joined the Nazi Party and deployed his legal theories to justify the regime, holding posts including the Prussian State Council, the Academy for German Law, and president of the National Socialist Association of Legal Professionals. By 1936 he had fallen from favour with senior Nazi officials and was stripped of most party positions. He died 7 April 1985, his work inseparable from that collaboration. Since the 1990s his ideas have found new life in China - scholars there coined "Schmitt Fever" to describe the intensity of academic interest - and in Russia and the United States since the 2000s, where his diagnosis of liberal weakness is studied even as the cure remains indefensible.

Country
Germany
Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1888 to 1985 · aged 96

Academics from Germany 6

Jörg Meuthen59.5Max Scheler59.0Hermann Weyl60.0Hermann Simon58.7Veronika Grimm60.0Klaus Schwab58.5

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