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Janus′s Gaze

Essays on Carl Schmitt

Janus′s Gaze

Book Pages: 232 Illustrations: Published: November 2015

Author: Carlo Galli

Editor: Adam Sitze

Translator: Amanda Minervini

Subjects
Law > Legal Theory, Politics > Political Theory, Theory and Philosophy > Critical Theory

First published in Italian in 2008 and appearing here in English for the first time, Janus's Gaze is the culmination of Carlo Galli's ongoing critique of the work of Carl Schmitt. Galli argues that Schmitt's main accomplishment, as well as the thread that unifies his oeuvre, is his construction of a genealogy of the modern that explains how modernity's compulsory drive to achieve order is both necessary and impossible. Galli addresses five key problems in Schmitt's thought: his relation to the state, the significance of his concept of political theology, his readings of Machiavelli and Spinoza, his relation to Leo Strauss, and his relevance for contemporary political theory. Galli emphasizes the importance of passing through Schmitt’s thought—and, more important, beyond Schmitt’s thought—if we are to achieve insight into the problems of the global age. Adam Sitze provides an illuminating introduction to Schmitt and Galli's reading of him.
 

Praise

"For many Schmitt scholars unable to read in Italian, the translation of Carlo Galli’s Janus’s Gaze is a very welcome—and relatively long-awaited—development. . . . A must for anyone with an interest in
Schmittian thought and, more broadly, perhaps for anyone wishing to understand debates in contemporary political theory better." — Ignas Kalpokas, Political Studies Review

"Carlo Galli is the greatest interpreter of Carl Schmitt today. In his book, Galli reconstructs with incredible expertise the categories of 'decision,' 'sovereignty,' 'conflict,' and 'political theology' as they relate to major modern political thinkers. What ensues is a penetrating look, not solely into Schmitt's own conceptualizations, but into our contemporary moment."  — Roberto Esposito, author of Categories of the Impolitical

"Carlo Galli is certainly the most important scholar of Carl Schmitt in Italy and, to my knowledge, in the world. Among Galli's virtues is how well he situates Schmitt's concepts both in the context of Schmitt's entire opus and in the context of twentieth-century German politics and political theory. Galli's essays provide brilliant explications and explorations of Schmitt's central concepts, and Adam Sitze's introduction and Amanda Minervini's translation are exemplary."  — Michael Hardt, coauthor of Empire

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Author/Editor Bios Back to Top

Carlo Galli is Professor of History of Political Theory at the University of Bologna and the author of many books, including Political Spaces and Global War.

Adam Sitze is Associate Professor of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought at Amherst College and the coeditor of Biopolitics: A Reader, also published by Duke University Press.

Amanda Minervini is Visiting Assistant Professor of Italian at Colorado College and translator of Nymphs by Giorgio Agamben.
 

Table of Contents Back to Top
Acknowledgments  ix

Editor's Introduction. Carl Schmitt: An Improper Name / Adam Sitze  xi

Preface  xliii

1. Schmitt and the State  1

2. Schmitt's Political Theologies  33

3. Schmitt and Machiavelli  58

4. Schmitt, Strauss, and Spinoza  78

5. Schmitt and the Global Era  97

Notes  135

Index  175
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Additional InformationBack to Top
Paper ISBN: 978-0-8223-6032-2 / Cloth ISBN: 978-0-8223-6018-6
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