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Carl Schmitt

German jurist, political theorist and professor of law (1888-1985)

  • Fame61.2
  • Momentum7.3
  • Wikipedia42.1K
Source-basedRising
Lived 1888–1985, aged 97Germany
Germany flagGermanyAcademicsAcademic
  • Wikipedia
    50 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1888–1985
    Aged 97
  • Known for
    Sushi in Suhl
    2012
Summary
Updated 2026-08-16

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.

Biography

About

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 h…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Carl Schmitt

Carl Schmitt
said
The concept of the state presupposes the concept of the political.
— The Concept of the Political (1927)
Carl Schmitt
said
The equation state = politics becomes erroneous and deceptive at exactly the moment when state and society penetrate each other.
— The Concept of the Political (1927)
Carl Schmitt
said
A definition of the political can be obtained only by discovering and defining the specifically political categories.
— The Concept of the Political (1927)
Carl Schmitt
said
The specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between friend and enemy.
— The Concept of the Political (1927)
Carl Schmitt
said
Only the actual participants can correctly recognize, understand, and judge the concrete situation and settle the extreme case of conflict.
— The Concept of the Political (1927)
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Where to find them

Platforms

By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Rising
61.2
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum7.3
Historical24.5
Now attention40.8
Source confidence65.0
Completeness75.0
Global rank
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Country rank
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Category rank
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Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence