1. Carl Schmitt's 1923 essay "Roman Catholicism and Political Form" is essential for understanding the political theological roots of his juridical thought, & how this has been misused in contemporary integralist thought. 
2. Schmitt argues that concept of the political is encoded in the power of personalist representation.
Both terms matter. "Representation" here refers to the function of representing a value or concept of importance, of staking a claim, of claiming something that is meaningful.
Both terms matter. "Representation" here refers to the function of representing a value or concept of importance, of staking a claim, of claiming something that is meaningful.
3. Representation must be "personal" or "personalist" for Schmitt because it demands a sort of moral stake on behalf of the human. This contrasts with the sort of apersonal, banal presentation of reality made to us in the economic/ technical thinking of modernity.
4. "Representation" is key to his definition of the political.
In fact the Church, in its representational function, is curator of the political: “the Church requires a political form. Without it there is nothing to correspond to its intrinsically representative conduct” (p.25).
In fact the Church, in its representational function, is curator of the political: “the Church requires a political form. Without it there is nothing to correspond to its intrinsically representative conduct” (p.25).
5. What so many readers of Schmitt miss is his concept of "representational dignity".
For Schmitt, "representation" confers a threefold dignity: 1. on the idea represented; 2. on the person representing; 3. on those associated with the person, by proxy.
For Schmitt, "representation" confers a threefold dignity: 1. on the idea represented; 2. on the person representing; 3. on those associated with the person, by proxy.
6. For Schmitt, Catholicism is the highest expression of "representational personalism". Why? Bc it confers *ontological dignity* upon those who are housed under its institutional form.
Thus, it is the most truly political thing in a world that has become fatally depoliticized.
Thus, it is the most truly political thing in a world that has become fatally depoliticized.
7. This is what makes Schmitt so endlessly fascinating to read; this thin line between abstract representationalism pace Hobbes, and a sort of personalist & even spiritualist tenderness towards the individual. He is truly a "pharmakon" influence, as @BrunoLatourAIME points out.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
