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The Concept of the Political QUOTES

The Concept of the Political QUOTES

1 " The concept of progress, i.e., an improvement or completion (in modern jargon, a rationalization) became dominant in the eighteenth century, in an age of humanitarian-moral belief. Accordingly, progress meant above all progress in culture, self-determination, and education: moral perfection. In an age of economic or technical thinking, it is self-evident that progress is economic or technical progress. To the extent that anyone is still interested in humanitarian-moral progress, it appears as a byproduct of economic progress. If a domain of thought becomes central, then the problems of other domains are solved in terms of the central domain - they are considered secondary problems, whose solution follows as a matter of course only if the problems of the central domain are solved. "

― Carl Schmitt , The Concept of the Political

2 " The political enemy need not be morally evil or aesthetically ugly; he need not appear as an economic competitor, and it may even be advantageous to engage with him in business transactions. But he is, nevertheless, the other, the stranger; and it is sufficient for his nature that he is, in a specially intense way, existentially something different and alien, so that in the extreme case conflicts with him are possible. These can neither be decided by a previously determined general norm nor by the judgment of a disinterested and therefore neutral third party. "

― Carl Schmitt , The Concept of the Political

3 " The friend, enemy, and combat concepts receive their real meaning precisely because they refer to the real possibility of physical killing. "

― Carl Schmitt , The Concept of the Political

4 " The political is the most intense and extreme antagonism, and every concrete antagonism becomes that much more political the closer it approaches the most extreme point, that of the friend-enemy grouping. "

― Carl Schmitt , The Concept of the Political

5 " Without wanting to decide the question of the nature of man one may say in general that as long as man is well off or willing to put up with things, he prefers the illusion of an undisturbed calm and does not endure pessimists. The political adversaries of a clear political theory will, therefore, easily refute political phenomena and truths in the name of some autonomous discipline as amoral, uneconomical, unscientific and above all else declare this- a devilry worthy of being combated. "

― Carl Schmitt , The Concept of the Political

6 " What did they live on,” said Alice, who always took a great interest in questions of eating and drinking. “They lived on treacle,” said the Dormouse, after thinking a moment or two. “They couldn't have done that, you know,” Alice gently remarked. “They'd have been ill.” “So they were,” said the Dormouse, “very ill.” Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland "

― Carl Schmitt , The Concept of the Political