Carl Schmitt, 1888–1985

64 minutes/6,319 words

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Segment One

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William Blake, “Behemoth and Leviathan”

1,525 words

Part 1 of 2

Translated by Greg Johnson

“Nur Meer und Erde haben hier Gewicht.”
(Only sea and land matter here.)
—Goethe

This article is less concerned with geopolitics than with thalassopolitics, (more…)

651 words

Carl Schmitt was born on July 11, 1888 in Plettenberg, Westphalia, Germany–where he died on April 7, 1985, at the age of 96. The son of a Roman Catholic small businessman, Carl Schmitt studied law in Berlin, Munich, and Strasbourg, graduating and taking his state exams in Strasbourg in 1915. (more…)

3,608 words

Translated by Greg Johnson

We met Carl Schmitt in the Westphalian village of Plettenberg, the place of his birth and retirement. For four remarkable hours we conversed with the man who remains unquestionably the greatest political and legal thinker of our time. (more…)

Carl Schmitt, 1888–1985

2,166 words

Translations: Estonian, French, Polish

“Why can’t we all get along?”–Rodney King

Carl Schmitt’s short book The Concept of the Political (1932) is one of the most important works of 20th century political philosophy.

The aim of The Concept of the Political is the defense of politics from utopian aspirations to abolish politics. (more…)

Carl Schmitt

2,001 words

Note: The following short synthesis of Schmitt’s classic essay The Concept of the Political stems, in part, from a recent discussion with the Bay Area Nationalist Book Club.

However it is posed, the question of the political is always about the most important issue facing every people.

The political, though, is not to be confused with “politics” or “party-politics,” which speaks to individual or special interest in parliamentary gas houses.

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