Criticizing the authority. About carl schmitt's foundation of the individual and individual consciousness

Abstract

This article aims to research on Carl Schmitt’s foundations of the individual and his reserve of consciousness. Nowadays, the main researchers of Schmitt’s works asseverates that the German jurist was an antiliberal and, therefore, an anti-individualist. However, we argue that is possible to find not only a critique to liberal conception of the individual, but a purposeful conception through his reflections on criticism against authority and public authority. In order to demonstrate it, we propose an hermeneutical approach to his work —mainly to The Leviathan in the State Theory of Thomas Hobbes and “The Visibility of the Church. A Scholastic Consideration”. Particularly, we attend the human action as the founder of the political order and the individual’s ability to criticize the authority.

This article claims that Schmitt formulates a notion of individuality of a different sign than the liberal one and that is closely linked to the idea of Law, the institutional-state framework and the community substrate.