Publication Details

Abstract

Carl Schmitt sees the year of 1848 as the critical point of the 19th century. With reference to the events of that year the Communist line of interpretation was constituted which explains the 19th century through the prism of the continuity of the revolution- ary movement’s development. The symbol of this continuity is The Communist Manifesto which connects the revolutionary events of 1848 and 1917. Against this tradition of interpretation Schmitt promotes a different line of interpretation based on an alternative continuity. Although the group of thinkers belonging to this line is relatively heterogeneous Schmitt identifies three diagnostic-prognostic moments that connect them. Included in this line are both Søren Kierkegaard and Juan Donoso Cortés, whose respective contributions he analyzes. His parallel reading of these authors includes a problematic exposition of some aspects of Kierkegaard’s philosophy.