Saturday, January 06, 2007

Carl Schmitt and Traditionalism


The following was peviously posted on the old Traditionalists.org addenda page.

Another approving reader of Guénon was the German jurist and political philosopher Carl Schmitt (1888-1985).

Arthur Versluis points out that Schmitt referred to Guénon's Crise du Monde Moderne (1927) in his Der Leviathan in der Staatslehre des Thomas Hobbes (1938; The Leviathan in the State Theory of Thomas Hobbes). Schmitt remains a controversial figure, condemned by many for his activities in the Nazi Party (especially in 1933-37), but respected by others for his political thought. Among those who took Schmitt seriously was Leo Strauss, an important influence on many contemporary American Neo-Conservatives, including Paul Wolfowitz.

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