Legitimacy of the Modern Age?

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Schmitz
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
The Self ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
The Core ◽  
Hans Blumenberg ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
The One

The opposition between religiosity and secularism is the key to both a discourse-historical epochal threshold and the question of the self-understanding of Western modernity. The controversy between Carl Schmitt and Hans Blumenberg constitutes one episode in the long-term, many-faceted debate over secularization. At the core of the controversy is the question of how modern science on the one hand and rational law on the other hand can be differentiated as autonomous realms. At the same time, the anthropological framing conditions for a technologized life world are here at issue. Carl Schmitt began the controversy in the afterword of his last book, which criticized Blumenberg’s Legitimacy of the Modern Age in a basic way. Political Theology II thus also became Schmitt’s testament, in which he formulated instructions about how to read the continuity and identity of his life and work.

Stasiology (Rothaug, Peterson, Schmitt, Gregory of Nazianzus)

2021 ◽  
pp. 280-300
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Bennington
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
The Self ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity

Beginning with a curious invocation of our line from Homer by one of the defendants at the so-called “Justices Trial” at Nuremberg, the chapter analyses the famous exchange over “political theology” between Carl Schmitt and Erik Peterson. The inconsistencies of Peterson’s argument are brought out, and attention is drawn to the importance of the use he makes in establishing the supposed impossiblity of a Christian political theology of a quotation about the Trinity from Gregory of Nazianzus. Schmitt’s own claim as to a “stasiology” at the heart of the doctrine of the Trinity, that would support the thought of a political theology of Christianity, is shown to rely on an egregious misreading of Gregory’s text, but doubt is nonetheless cast on the ability of that doctrine successfully to solve the problems associated with the self-destructive properties of the One, as more clearly brought out by Derrida.

Postmodernism

2020 ◽  
pp. 790-808
Author(s):  
Eva Marie Noller ◽  
W. H. Shearin
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
De Rerum Natura ◽  
The Core ◽  
Michel Serres ◽  
Hans Blumenberg ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Postmodern Thought ◽  
Postmodern Thinking ◽  
Point Of Reference

This chapter considers the fate of Epicureanism in the postmodern age by looking at three diverse figures, Hans Blumenberg, Jacques Derrida, and Michel Serres. It addresses the puzzling question of how Epicureanism was adopted into postmodern thought, even as the ancient school seems so resistant to the scepticism that forms the core of much postmodern thinking. For Blumenberg, the chapter ponders three of his main references to Epicurus and Epicureanism—in his Shipwreck with Spectator, The Legitimacy of the Modern Age, and Cave Exits—showing that Epicureanism does not serve so much as a body of thought he embraces as a whole, but rather as a point of reference he uses to outline the epistemological foundations of antiquity and modernity. For Derrida, the chapter explores how he sees Lucretius (and the atomist tradition more generally) as a forerunner of his idea of the trace. Serres, finally, draws upon Lucretius’s De rerum natura to describe the development of modern science, especially physics, from a different angle, aiming to re-establish a forgotten paradigm of physics which relies on fluidity.

scholarly journals HEINRICH MEIER E LA SFIDA DELLA TEOLOGIA POLITICA

Il Politico ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-116
Author(s):  
Marco Menon
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
The Political ◽  
Leo Strauss ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
The Core ◽  
Political Problem

This paper offers a short overview of Heinrich Meier’s books on Carl Schmitt’s political theology, namely Carl Schmitt und Leo Strauss, and Die Lehre Carl Schmitts. These writings, published respectively in 1988 and 1994, and recently translated into Italian by Cantagalli (Siena), have raised both enthusiastical appraisal and fierce criticism. The gist of Meier’s interpretation is the following: the core of Schmitt’s thought is his Christian faith. Schmitt’s political doctrine must be unterstood as political theology, that is, as a political doctrine which claims to be grounded on divine revelation. The fundamental attitude of the political theologian, therefore, is pious obedience to God’s unfathomable will. The hypothesis of the paper is that Meier’s reading, which from a historical point of view might appear as highly controversial, is essentially the attempt to articulate the fundamental alternative between political theology and political philosophy. Meier’s alleged stylization of Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss is a form of “platonism”, i.e., a theoretical purification aimed at a clear formulation of what he means by “the theologico-political problem”.

scholarly journals Political Theology Revisited: Carl Schmitt's Postwar Reassessment

Konturen ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter U. Hohendahl
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Hans Blumenberg ◽  
Theological Turn ◽  
The Relationship

The essay examines the pronounced theological turn of the late Carl Schmitt, especially in his Politische Theologie II (1970). He aim is to understand what Schmitt meant by a “Catholic intensification” in the relationship between theology and political theory. The essay gives equal attention to Schmitt’s polemic against the theologian Peterson, who denied the possibility of political theology, and the dialogue with the philosopher Hans Blumenberg, who had severely criticized Schmitt’s conception of secularization. The essay shows that in both instances the opposition merely encouraged Schmitt to sharpen and clarify his own theological position, which includes heretical Gnostic elements.

Trump and Political Theology: Unmaking Truth and Democracy

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-300
Author(s):  
Jack David Eller
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Political Subject ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

For millennia, a fundamental question of culture and law has been the relationship between religion and ruler, or more recently between church and state. Although the term “political theology” was not always known, the question remained and was answered in various ways: theocracy, the divine right of kings, the mandate of heaven, the rule of jurists, and so forth. Almost a century ago, Carl Schmitt revived political theology and reshaped it into a less theological and more political subject with his famous notions of sovereignty and the exception. Schmitt highlighted the eternal struggle between power or authority on the one hand and positive law and political institutions on the other, arguing that law can never entirely legitimize or constrain power or authority and that the real site and source of law is the moment of exception and of “the decision.” Trump and Political Theology applies this Schmittian lens to Donald Trump, an exceptional president who seems to use his executive and decision-making power to flaunt law and truth, to cripple and discredit institutions, and to bend reality to his will. The book considers first whether Trump is an aspiring Schmittian sovereign and therefore a threat to democracy. But it goes beyond Trump and Trumpism to critique and rethink political theology in the light of contemporary, especially populist and authoritarian, politics. Finally, it compels us to critique and rethink theology itself as a tool for understanding and organizing politics and society, restoring the relevance of myth and ritual and of pre-Christian and non-Christian characters like the shaman and the trickster for modern politics and social theory.

Integrating Web 2.0 Technologies within the Enterprise

2010 ◽  
pp. 560-577
Author(s):  
R. Todd Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Core ◽  
Collaborative Applications ◽  
Current Product ◽  
The One

This chapter examines the elements of the new Web 2.0 technology base and reviews the lessons learned when implementing these technologies. Collaborative applications have made enormous inroads into the enterprise and bring unprecedented speed and transparency to communications. Researchers and practitioners alike are focusing on how collaborative applications can replace the one-way communications inherent to Intranet sites. This chapter is intended for individuals who are looking toward the possibility of integrating these new technologies into the core communication medium. Unfortunately, there are still large barriers such as politics, turf battles, integration, and poor usability with the current product set. A company’s ability to manage information effectively over its life cycle, including sensing, collecting, organizing, processing, and maintaining information, is crucial to the long term success in a global economy. The success or failure of this integration may very well create or lose a competitive advantage for the enterprise. What is missing is a framework or roadmap in which organizations can plan out their execution of We 2.0 deployment.

Political Theology and the Metamorphoses of The King’s Two BodiesThe King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology, by Ernst H. Kantorowicz

2020 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-145
Author(s):  
Brett Edward Whalen
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Medieval Studies ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
The Public ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Two Bodies

Abstract As is well known, Ernst H. Kantorowicz’s groundbreaking 1957 study The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology explored the “dual nature” of the king’s body in medieval and early modern religious and political thought, tracing the evolution of an idea that would ultimately underwrite the “myth of the State,” namely, that the king possessed a mortal, transitory body, but also a supranatural one that never died. Readers greeted The King’s Two Bodies as an exceptional contribution to medieval studies immediately upon its publication. As Whalen relates, however, a growing awareness of where the book fits into the trajectory of Kantorowicz’s life and early career in 1920s and 1930s Germany has reshaped scholarly analyses of his famous work. Increasing numbers of scholars now interpret Kantorowicz’s study of medieval political theology as a response and oblique challenge to contemporary theories about the theological origins of modern sovereignty, including the work of Carl Schmitt. As Whalen also suggests, in recent years, the so-called return of religion to the public sphere and ongoing debates about the validity of the “secularization” narrative, positing the transference of religious concepts to secular politics in the modern age, has inspired further rounds of critical interest in The King’s Two Bodies. Now over sixty years old, Kantorowicz’s book seems as important and vital as ever, experiencing transformations in its reception that few could have imagined when it first appeared in print.

scholarly journals Public Service Television and Civic Engagement

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Jackson
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Main Channel ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Media ◽  
The One ◽  
Democratic Life ◽  
Elected Representatives

The news media figures prominently in most appraisals of democracy today. This is because it is the main channel of communication between elected representatives and citizens; and the (self-appointed) watchdog of the powerful. While news organisations are sometimes reluctant to accept the responsibility that comes with such power, it is implicit in the core principles of journalistic philosophy, whereby attempts to constrain or censor the news media are seen as threats to democracy itself. However, these normative roles also are surrounded by many tensions that surround the ability of our news media to perform their democratic functions. This chapter discusses four of these tensions: (i) diversity versus commonality; (ii) the information necessary for citizens to participate effectively in democratic life, versus the entertainment-driven focus of an increasingly commercial-oriented media; (iii) the need of the media to treat people as citizens on the one hand and as consumer publics on the other; and (iv) broadcasters' relationship with the press.

Western Religion and the Self-Canceling of Modernity

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Benavides
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Extreme Character ◽  
Western Religion ◽  
The One

AbstractThe extreme character of western modernity is the result of the interaction of two contradictory processes. On the one hand, the cultivation of interiority, reflexivity, and thus of subjective freedom, which antedates Christianity, and which is also found in other cultures, but which Christianity intensified by equating religion with 'faith.' On the other, the need to assert one's freedom against the attempts on the part of a church, which, while promoting the exploration of the sinful subjectivity of all Christians—understood primarily as believers—sought to control all of reality, external and internal. While the emergence of a reflexive, tolerant self has led many in the West to the abandonment of its traditional institutional religion, that same tolerant reflexivity renders difficult dealing with the demands of groups—Christian and non-Christian—that seek to abolish modernity.

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