Publication Details

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present the principle of limited enmity as education to humaneness. In the first part I focus on Schmitt’s presentation of this principle as a corrective to the natural human inclination to discriminate and defame one’s enemy. He points out a line of thought in international law that humanized war by defining enemies as equals and rejecting the tendency to completely annihilate one’s enemy. He sees it as a counterbalance to the totalitarian ideologies of the 20 th century that promoted the absolutization of enmity. In the second part I examine Jünger’s autobiographical reflections on his military involvement in World War I. I demonstrate that both his personal maxims and his practical conduct conformed to the principle of limited enmity. In the third part I highlight four common features of Schmitt’s and Jünger’s reflections that I consider relevant for education to humaneness in the political conflicts of our age.