Groundless Existence: The Political Ontology of Carl Schmitt

Description

An examination of the implicit phenomenological and existential foundations of Carl Schmitt's political philosophy. It claims that Schmitt decisively breaks with the metaphysical tradition and predicates the political on the 'groundless' categories of existence, including risk, decision, and agonism.

Michael Marder is Ikerbasque Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz. He is the Associate Editor of Telos: A Quarterly Journal of Critical Thought and the author of The Event of The Thing: Derrida's Post-Deconstructive Realism (2009), Groundless Existence: The Political Ontology of Carl Schmitt (2010), Plant-Thinking: A Philosophy of Vegetal Life (2013), The Philosopher's Plant: An Intellectual Herbarium (2014), Phenomena-Critique-Logos: The Project of Critical Phenomenology (2014), and Pyropolitics: When the World Is Ablaze (2015).

In this marvelous book, Marder set out to expose the hermeneutic nature of Schmitt's political ontology as no one has ever done before. Through a deconstructive reading, Schmitt's political philosophy is put in a dialogue with contemporary thought, giving politics new ontological vitality. Not only Schmitt scholars but also all those interested in the meaning of politics after deconstruction will find this book to be an indispensable text. A genuine "must read." --Gianni Vattimo and Santiago Zabala, authors of Hermeneutic Communism "Michael Marder's brilliant explication of the philosophical content of Carl Schmitt's political theory is, at the same time, a profound exploration of the very possibility of political philosophy in the wake of phenomenology, existentialism and deconstruction. No one has written more lucidly or insightfully on Schmitt's philosophical standing and on the fundamental problems of the political. Groundless Existence is the new gold standard in Schmitt scholarship and an indispensable point of reference in political philosophy."--Russell Berman, Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature & Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University Brilliantly revisiting Schmitt's concepts in the context of a political ontology understood within an existential-phenomenological framework, Michael Marder furnishes one of the most powerful, original and interesting reflections on Carl Schmitt's work from a philosophical point of view. --Alexandre Franco de Sa, Professor of Philosophy, University of Coimbra, Portugal Tracing Schmitt's ideas to their philosophical underpinnings and beyond to their very essence, the human experience, Michael Marder breaks new ground in Schmitt scholarship. -- George Schwab, Professor Emeritus, CUNY Marder's book is a significant contribution to understanding Schmitt's philosophical underpinnings and political ontology. It facilitates a fresh and innovative conversation about possible politico-philosophical links between Schmitt, phenomenology, existentialism, and deconstructivism. -- Notre Dame Philosophy Reviews