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Carl Schmitt’s Followers (503)

Carl Schmitt

Born

in Plettenberg, Germany

July 11, 1888

Died

April 07, 1985

Website

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schmitt/

Genre

Political Theory, Jurisprudence, Philosophy

Influences

Thomas Hobbes, Juan Donoso Cortés ...more

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Carl Schmitt's early career as an academic lawyer falls into the last years of the Wilhelmine Empire. (See for Schmitt's life and career: Bendersky 1983; Balakrishnan 2000; Mehring 2009.) But Schmitt wrote his most influential works, as a young professor of constitutional law in Bonn and later in Berlin, during the Weimar-period: Political Theology, presenting Schmitt's theory of sovereignty, appeared in 1922, to be followed in 1923 by The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, which attacked the legitimacy of parliamentary government. In 1927, Schmitt published the first version of his most famous work, The Concept of the Political, defending the view that all true politics is based on the distinction between friend and enemy. The culmination Carl Schmitt's early career as an academic lawyer falls into the last years of the Wilhelmine Empire. (See for Schmitt's life and career: Bendersky 1983; Balakrishnan 2000; Mehring 2009.) But Schmitt wrote his most influential works, as a young professor of constitutional law in Bonn and later in Berlin, during the Weimar-period: Political Theology, presenting Schmitt's theory of sovereignty, appeared in 1922, to be followed in 1923 by The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, which attacked the legitimacy of parliamentary government. In 1927, Schmitt published the first version of his most famous work, The Concept of the Political, defending the view that all true politics is based on the distinction between friend and enemy. The culmination of Schmitt's work in the Weimar period, and arguably his greatest achievement, is the 1928 Constitutional Theory which systematically applied Schmitt's political theory to the interpretation of the Weimar constitution. During the political and constitutional crisis of the later Weimar Republic Schmitt published Legality and Legitimacy, a clear-sighted analysis of the breakdown of parliamentary government Germany, as well as The Guardian of the Constitution, which argued that the president as the head of the executive, and not a constitutional court, ought to be recognized as the guardian of the constitution. In these works from the later Weimar period, Schmitt's declared aim to defend the Weimar constitution is at times barely distinguishable from a call for constitutional revision towards a more authoritarian political framework (Dyzenhaus 1997, 70–85; Kennedy 2004, 154–78).

Though Schmitt had not been a supporter of National Socialism before Hitler came to power, he sided with the Nazis after 1933. Schmitt quickly obtained an influential position in the legal profession and came to be perceived as the ‘Crown Jurist’ of National Socialism. (Rüthers 1990; Mehring 2009, 304–436) He devoted himself, with undue enthusiasm, to such tasks as the defence of Hitler's extra-judicial killings of political opponents (PB 227–32) and the purging of German jurisprudence of Jewish influence (Gross 2007; Mehring 2009, 358–80). But Schmitt was ousted from his position of power within legal academia in 1936, after infighting with academic competitors who viewed Schmitt as a turncoat who had converted to Nazism only to advance his career. There is considerable debate about the causes of Schmitt's willingness to associate himself with the Nazis. Some authors point to Schmitt's strong ambition and his opportunistic character but deny ideological affinity (Bendersky 1983, 195–242; Schwab 1989). But a strong case has been made that Schmitt's anti-liberal jurisprudence, as well as his fervent anti-semitism, disposed him to support the Nazi regime (Dyzenhaus 1997, 85–101; Scheuerman 1999). Throughout the later Nazi period, Schmitt's work focused on questions of international law. The immediate motivation for this turn seems to have been the aim to justify Nazi-expansionism. But Schmitt was interested in the wider question of the foundations of international law, and he was convinced that the turn towards liberal cosmopolitanism in 20th century international law would undermine the conditions of stable and legitimate international legal order. Schmitt's theoretical work on the foundations of international law culminated in The Nomos of the Earth, written in the early 1940's, but not published before 1950. Due to his support for and involvement with the Nazi dictatorship, the obstinately unrepentant Schmitt was not allowed to return to an academic job after 1945 (Mehring 2009, 438–63). But he nevertheless remained an important figure in West Germany's conservative intellectual scene to his death in 1985 (van Laak 2002) and enjoyed a considerable degree of clandestine influence elsewhere (Scheuerman 1999, 183–251; Müller 2003).

Unsurprisingly, the significance and value of Schmitt's works ...more

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Carl Schmitt’s books

Average rating: 3.92 · 9,196 ratings · 920 reviews · 156 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Concept of the Political by Carl Schmitt, George Schwab (Translator) 3.95 avg rating — 3,891 ratings — published 1927 — 57 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty by Carl Schmitt, George Schwab (Translator), Tracy B. Strong (Foreword) 3.92 avg rating — 2,095 ratings — published 1922 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Terra e mare. Una riflessione sulla storia del mondo by Carl Schmitt, Giovanni Gurisatti (Translator) 3.90 avg rating — 505 ratings — published 1942 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy by Carl Schmitt, Ellen Kennedy (Translator) 3.89 avg rating — 458 ratings — published 1923 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Theory of the Partisan: Intermediate Commentary on the Concept of the Political by Carl Schmitt, G.L. Ulmen (Translator) 3.87 avg rating — 449 ratings — published 1962 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Nomos of the Earth: In the International Law of the Jus Publicum Europaeum 4.06 avg rating — 288 ratings — published 1950 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Leviathan in the State Theory of Thomas Hobbes: Meaning and Failure of a Political Symbol by Carl Schmitt, Tracy B. Strong (Foreword), George Schwab (Introduction) 3.80 avg rating — 218 ratings — published 1938 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Legality and Legitimacy by Carl Schmitt, Jeffrey Seitzer (Translator) 3.86 avg rating — 139 ratings — published 1933 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dictatorship 3.98 avg rating — 132 ratings — published 2000 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Political Romanticism by Carl Schmitt, Guy Oakes 4.03 avg rating — 128 ratings — published 1919 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Carl Schmitt…

Series by Carl Schmitt

Der Begriff des Politischen (2 books)
by

Carl Schmitt,

G.L. Ulmen (Translator)

3.94 avg rating — 4,368 ratings

Politische Theologie (2 books)
by

Carl Schmitt

3.91 avg rating — 2,172 ratings

Quotes by Carl Schmitt (?)

“The exception is more interesting than the rule. The rule proves nothing; the exception proves everything. In the exception the power of real life breaks through the crust of a mechanism that has become torpid by repetition.”
― Carl Schmitt, Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty

92 likes

“Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.”
― Carl Schmitt

tags: political-philosophy, political-theory, politics

77 likes

“The concept of humanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion, and in its ethical-humanitarian form it is a specific vehicle of economic imperialism. Here one is reminded of a somewhat modified expression of Proudhon’s: whoever invokes humanity wants to cheat. To confiscate the word humanity, to invoke and monopolize such a term probably has certain incalculable effects, such as denying the enemy the quality of being human and declaring him to be an outlaw of humanity; and a war can thereby be driven to the most extreme inhumanity.”
― Carl Schmitt

60 likes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Goodreads Librari...: [done] please add this edition of "Gespräch über die Macht und den Zugang zum Machthaber"	2	6	Jun 26, 2025 03:28AM
Goodreads Librari...: [OPEN since May 29, 2026] Combining editions (Land and Sea: A World-Historical Meditation + Суша и море. Всемирно-историческое размышление)	1	2	May 29, 2026 08:09AM

Carl Schmitt’s Followers (503)

Carl Schmitt

Combine EditionsCarl Schmitt’s books

Series by Carl Schmitt

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Carl Schmitt’s books