scholarly journals O Conceito do Político e a possibilidade da filosofia política na modernidade: uma leitura crítica de Carl Schmitt por Leo Strauss

Author(s):  
Bruno Irion Coletto

RESUMO: O artigo busca explorar as críticas e os comentários lançados por Leo Strauss acerca de um dos principais livros de Carl Schmitt, intitulado O Conceito do Político. Sob o pressuposto da existência de um “diálogo escondido” entre os dois filósofos, e sob o pano de fundo da disputa entre a Teologia Política e a Filosofia Política, primeiramente explorar-se-ão os aspectos fundamentais da obra schmittiana, enquadrando-a como a afirmação do âmbito político perante o projeto de um liberalismo individualista despolitizador moderno. Compreendidos os aspectos fundamentais do pensamento de Schmitt, analisar-se-ão as concordâncias e as críticas de Strauss, especialmente acerca do critério de existência da política, ou seja, do critério que separa os homens entre amigos e inimigos, fundando a política. Strauss, fazendo uma releitura daquilo que Schmitt chamou de “pergunta de vida e morte”, demonstra como a pluralidade interna à comunidade, diferentemente daquilo que pensava Schmitt, é proveniente da natureza humana. Strauss, portanto, faz uma releitura da pergunta de vida e morte, estabelecendo a diferença fundamental entre aquilo que chama de Filosofia Política e a Teologia Política de Schmitt. Palavras-Chave: Filosofia política; Teologia Política; Leo Strauss; Carl Schmitt; O Conceito do Político. Abstract: The article explores the critics and comments of Leo Strauss on one of Carl Schmitt’s main books, titled The Concept of the Political. Under the assumption of a "hidden dialogue" between these two philosophers, and with the background of the dispute between Political Theology and Political Philosophy, fundamental aspects of Schmitt’s work are explored initially, framing it as an assertion of the political framework before the project of a modern depoliticizing individualistic liberalism. Once the fundamental aspects of Schmitt’s thoughts are understood, Strauss’ concordances and critiques are analyzed, especially regarding the politics existence criterion, i.e. the criterion that separates men between friends and foes, founding the politics. Strauss, reinterpreting what Schmitt called "question of life and death," demonstrates how community’s internal plurality, unlike what Schmitt thought, comes from human nature. Strauss therefore makes a rereading of the question of life and death, establishing the fundamental difference between what he calls Political Philosophy and Schmitt’s Political Theology Keywords: Political Philosophy; Political Theology; Leo Strauss; Carl Schmitt; The Concept of the Political.

Il Politico ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-116
Author(s):  
Marco Menon

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”.


Author(s):  
Alessandra Silveira ◽  
José Gomes André ◽  

This paper includes the exam of a Ph.D thesis about James Madison’s political philosophy, as well as the answers presented by the candidate to several criticai observations. Various themes are considered, though always surrounding Madison’s work: the peculiar characteristics of his federalism, the relationship between the idea of human nature and the elaboration of political models, the political and constitutional controversies that Madison entangled with several figures from its time (namely Alexander Hamilton), the problem of “judicial review” and the place of “constitutionality control” taken from a reflexive and institutional point of view, and other similar themes.


Living Law ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 191-236
Author(s):  
Miguel Vatter

This chapter is dedicated to Leo Strauss’s attempt to recover the medieval Islamic and Jewish conceptions of the prophet as a political founder of the perfect legal order. The chapter situates Strauss’s political theology within the Weimar debate between proponents of legality and defenders of an extra-legal conception of legitimacy. It argues that Strauss turns back to the ancient conception of law as nomos in order to give a philosophical foundation to legality beyond Christian conceptions of legitimacy. Christian political theology has always pivoted around the polemical claim that Mosaic law was “tyrannical” in some way. Strauss’s contribution to Jewish political theology consists in examining Jewish and Islamic prophetology by formulating it in terms of the so-called tyrannical teaching of Platonic political philosophy. The chapter shows that Strauss ultimately held to the view of a profound compatibility and mutual need between the traditions of Greek philosophy and biblical prophecy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius Timmann Mjaaland

The classical controversy between Carl Schmitt and Eric Peterson goes directly to the heart of the matter: What is ‘political theology’ about? Is it a descriptive or normative endeavour, oriented towards history or political influence on contemporary issues? This article explores these questions with reference to Protestant theology, in particular the writings of Martin Luther. Protestant theology has often emphasised the basic difference between the spiritual and political spheres, but I question the validity of this distinction with respect to Luther’s theology. When Luther enters the political scene, an apocalyptic understanding of friend and enemy tends to dominate his thinking. Furthermore, I discuss whether this is compatible with his metaphysical understanding of the ‘hidden God’ in his majesty, and hence, whether a metaphysical violence is deeply embedded in Luther’s theology, possibly even his understanding of ‘justification by faith’. Finally, I suggest a reconsideration of Luther’s political theology based on the questions raised by Schmitt and Peterson.


2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-297
Author(s):  
Daniel Tanguay

I read Beiner's book as the intellectual biography of someone who is both a witness and actor in the contemporary renewal of political philosophy. This is why, in the reflections that follow, I focus not on his perspicacious analyses of the various authors treated in the book, but rather on the manner in which he understands the nature of this renewal and the future of the discipline itself. My reflections are based in a fundamental agreement with the definition of philosophy defended in this work. Political philosophy is a discipline that reflects on the ends of human life in order to rank and to judge them. This is why, according to Beiner, political philosophy has the ambition to present totalizing views of human nature (14).


1991 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 219-223
Author(s):  
Susan Shell

Heinrich Meier 's careful and illuminating study of the relation between Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss should come as something of a revelation to many* Through a painstaking analysis of the three editions of Schmitt's influential Concept of the Political, Meier uncovers a heretofore largely overlooked “dialogue,” albeit one partly conducted “in absentia.”As Meier observes Schmitt is one of a relatively small number of contemporaries whose work Strauss publicly reviewed. The first edition of Schmitt's essay appeared in 1927; a second was published in 1932, and it is to this that Strauss's 1932 “Comments” is (openly) addressed. A second was published in 1932. A third edition, published in 1933, presents, on Meier's reading, Schmitt's implicit response. For a variety of reasons, not the least being Schmitt's increasing involvement with the National Socialists, Strauss's role as interlocutor went largely unacknowledged, it being “impossible,” as Strauss would later write, for Schmitt to admit his “dependence on a Jew” (p. 138).


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