The Leviathan in the State Theory of Thomas Hobbes: Meaning and Failure of a Political Symbol (Contributions in Political Science) [Hardcover]

George Schwab (Author), Erna Hilfstein (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313300577 | ISBN-13: 978-0313300578 | Publication Date: September 30, 1996

Carl Schmitt, the Thomas Hobbes of the 20th century, joined the Nazi party in 1933 and aspired to become the crown jurist and political philosopher of the Third Reich. But, because of his anti-Nazi past, friendships with Jews and Marxists, and contempt for biological racism, Schmitt was severely attacked by the SS in 1936 and warned to stop posing as a National Socialist thinker. Fearful of what this might imply in the rapidly evolving one-party SS state, Schmitt began to distance himself from his National Socialist adventure--even tempered his recently acquired anti-Semitism--and carefully started to reconnect himself in 1937 and 1938 to the pre-1933 Schmitt. Writing in 1938 under the pretext of studying the significance of the symbol of the leviathan in Hobbes's theory of state, Schmitt alluded to the demise of the Third Reich because of its rapid transformation into a totalitarian polity. As Schmitt recognized, in this state, the Hobbesian protection-obedience axiom was being heavily tilted in favor of obedience at the expense of protection. When this occurred, Schmitt observed, "the soul of a people...betakes itself on the 'secret road' that leads inward. Then grows the counterforce of silence and stillness", and "Public power and force may be ever so completely and emphatically recognized and ever so loyally respected, but only as a public and only an external power, it is hollow and already dead from within." Schmitt survived the fall of the Third Reich, and in the postwar years came to be recognized as one of the most significant political philosophers of the century. This is the first translation available of this important work which will be of great value to scholars and students of modern political philosophy, legal theory, and the history of Weimar and Nazi Germany.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Fortunately, the English translation of this work is truthful to the German original and permits the critical reader to understand Schmitt...the way he understood himself.”–The New York Review of Books

“Schwab's translation of Carl Schmitt's book on Hobbes has finally made available to the English-speaking world one of the most significant works of this controversial thinker. It is essential reading to anyone seeking an understanding of Schmitt's political and legal thought, his intellectual debt to Hobbes, and his relationship to the Nazi state.”–Joseph W. Bendersky, Professor of History Virginia Commonwealth University

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (September 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313300577
• ISBN-13: 978-0313300578
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,092,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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