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Carl Schmitt

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Carl Schmitt

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

OverviewAI-generated

Carl Schmitt (1888–1985) was a German jurist, politician, university teacher, and philosopher. Born in Plettenberg, he was a member of the Nazi Party and practiced Catholicism. He held academic positions at the Technical University of Munich, University of Bonn, University of Cologne, and University of Greifswald. Schmitt earned a Juris Doctor and habilitation, having been educated at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

His notable works include *The Concept of the Political*, *Politische Theologie*, *Verfassungslehre*, *La unidad del mundo*, *Du libéralisme autoritaire*, and *Die Rheinlande als Objekt internationaler Politik*. He is associated with the quote, "Sovereign is he who decides on the exception." Schmitt worked in Berlin and Plettenberg, where he also died.

Synthesized by Vinony from 38 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
11 Jul 1888
Died
7 Apr 1985
Works
255

Top works

  • Politische Theologie
  • La unidad del mundo
  • Verfassungslehre
  • Du libéralisme autoritaire
  • Die Rheinlande als Objekt internationaler Politik

via Open Library + Wikidata

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
5
Total plays
72

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Carl+Schmitt">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Carl Schmitt

Quotes

  • Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.
  • All law is "situational law." The sovereign produces and guarantees the situation in its totality. He has the monopoly over this last decision.
  • All significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts not only because of their historical development—in which they were transferred from theology to the theory of the state, whereby, for example, the omnipotent God became the omnipotent lawgiver—but also because of their systematic structure, the recognition of which is necessary for a sociological consideration of these concepts. The exception in jurisprudence is analogous to the miracle in theology.
  • The metaphysical image that a definite epoch forges of the world has the same structure as what the world immediately understands to be appropriate as a form of its political organization.
  • Liberalism, with its contradictions and compromises, existed for Donoso Cortés only in that short interim period in which it was possible to answer the question “Christ or Barabbas?” with a proposal to adjourn or appoint a commission of investigation.
  • The essence of liberalism is negotiation, a cautious half measure, in the hope that the definitive dispute, the decisive bloody battle, can be transformed into a parliamentary debate and permit the decision to be suspended forever in an everlasting discussion.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Carl Schmitt (11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist and political theorist. An authoritarian conservative theorist, he was noted as a critic of parliamentary democracy, liberalism, and cosmopolitanism.

In 1933, Schmitt joined the Nazi Party and used his legal and political theories to provide ideological justification for the regime. He held various positions on Nazi councils, including the Prussian State Council and the Academy for German Law, and served as president of the National Socialist Association of Legal Professionals. By 1936, he had lost favour among senior Nazi officials and was removed from most of his official positions within the party. Schmitt and his work remain controversial for their association with Nazism.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Carl Schmitt” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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