Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20901/an.22.03
On Rationalities and Irrationality: A message to Liberalism in Schmitt’s early works
Katarina Jukić
orcid.org/0009-0007-8980-5110
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
This paper aimed to further illuminate Schmitt’s critique of Marxism and
liberalism by reconstructing his argument concerning the rational and the irrational
within the two doctrines. Schmitt points to a shared rational foundation in both
doctrines – namely, rationalist philosophy – which nonetheless manifests in different
forms: Marxism exhibits absolute rationalism, while liberalism displays a relative
form. Additionally, Schmitt analyzes the specific rationalism of the Catholic
Church, suggesting that such rationalism is complemented by the irrational and
mythical – elements that are crucial for the political, given that rationalism alone
cannot provide a sufficiently strong political authority. Schmitt concludes that liberalism
has yet to recognize this, and thus uses Marxist doctrine to, first, highlight
the importance of the irrational, and second, to demonstrate that the irrational
cannot be derived from the economic sphere. He argues that Marxism became a
powerful political force in Russia because the myth of the bourgeois as the fundamental
enemy acquired a national dimension by merging with Russian hatred of
Western European values. In other words, had the myth remained confined within
the economic limits set by Marx, Marxism would have failed to achieve political
mobilization anywhere.
Keywords
Carl Schmitt; Marxism; liberalism; rationality; irrationality
Hrčak ID:
336688
URI
Publication date:
23.10.2025.
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