Thomas Hobbes and Carl Schmitt

<p>Thomas Hobbes the English 17th century philosopher and Carl Schmitt Hitler’s ‘crown jurist’ a political thinker and author of an enigmatic book on Hobbes are increasingly relevant today for two reasons. First they address the problem of political order so important when we witness failed states the privatisation of war and the rise of political violence that does not derive from the state. Secondly they are both crucial sources for the use of mythology in politics; moreover they address the key issue of our time namely the relation between politics and religion. This collection of important new essays addresses Hobbes and Schmitt as political thinkers their importance for present-day politics and society their conceptions of myth and politics and Schmitt’s use of Hobbes in (and some say against) the Third Reich. When myth violence and revelation re-emerge as political forces it is important to understand Hobbes’s and Schmitt’s answers to the problems of their time – and to those of ours.</p><p>This book was based on a special issue of the <em>Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy</em>.</p>