Technology, conscience, and the political. Harold Laski’s pluralism in Carl Schmitt’s intellectual development.
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2022-08-12
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en
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This article looks into the role played by Harold Laski’s pluralism in the development of Carl Schmitt’s thought, focusing on the way in which Laskian themes enter into and develop in Schmitt’s thought during his engagements with Laski’s pluralism. Schmitt’s discussions critique Laski’s pluralism on the basis of its overlooking “the political”, and develop two Laskian themes: federalism and consent. Schmitt uses the former to conceptualise what he perceives as the disintegration of the state; his use of the latter continues and combines concerns with instrumental rationalisation and the darker sides of human nature. This culminates in a rejection of conscience, revealing the significance of the concept of “conscience” to dis/order, and a possible motive for Schmitt’s eventual Nazi commitments.
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Faculteit der Filosofie, Theologie en Religiewetenschappen