Groundless Existence: The Political Ontology of Carl Schmitt

Groundless Existence discusses the implicit phenomenological and existential foundations of Schmitt's political philosophy. The book's unique contribution lies in its claim that Schmitt decisively breaks with the metaphysical tradition and predicates the political on the 'groundless' categories of existence, including risk, decision, and agonism. This argument is substantiated by both tacit and explicit existentialist and phenomenological underpinnings of Schmitt's work, discussed here for the first time in book form.The book provides an insight into the implications of Schmitt's thought reconceptualized in the light of contemporary political developments. An essential text for anyone interested in the political theory of Carl Schmitt, it offers a new reading of Schmitt's work against the double background of phenomenology and existentialism.

Table of Contents:
List of Abbreviations: The Works of Carl Schmitt Introduction: On the Possibility of a Non-Objectivist Political Ontology Part I - The Elements Chapter 1 - Geometry of the Exception: The Point and The Line To the Point Beyond the Line The Extremism of the Middle Point Chapter 2 - The Danger: Unavoidability of Risk A Taxonomy of Risk Whence Political Risk? The Anthropological Minus the Economic Risky Recognitions Risky Decisions Chapter 3 - The Non-Ground: From the Concept of the Political to the Event of Politics A Philosophical Primer: Snapshots of the Event in Heidegger and Derrida There is no Such a Thing as the "Political Sphere"! Schmitt's Anti-Economism Revisited: Nomos / Appropriation, Politics / Expropriation How to Remain Faithful to the Event of Politics? Chapter 4 - Politics in Question Prelude: Questioning the Question Posing the Question Interlude: Yes or No? In Place of a Response... Part II - The Critique Chapter 5 - Metonymic Abuses of Modernity In the Name of the Law... Constitutional Unity, Constitutional Details The Fragility of the Status and the Irreducibility of the Political Chapter 6 - Political Reduction to Constitutive Subjectivity Schmitt and Husserl: From the Crisis The Ontology of Political Will P.S.: On Political Consciousness Part III - On the Ground Chapter 7 - Living Forms: Culture, Multiculturalism and the Complexio Oppositorum Disentangling Complexio Oppositorum The Living Forms of Politics A Virtuous Circle: The Mutual Invigoration of Culture and Politics Multiculturalism: A New Complexio Oppositorum Chapter 8 - Political Hermeneutics: The Necessity of Interpretation Schmitt and Gadamer: Decision and Interpretation Politics as Interpretation Interpreting the Meaning of the Political Political Theology as a Hermeneutic Endeavor

About the Author :
Michael Marder is IKERBASQUE Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Global Reconstitution (IGRec), Berlin, Germany. His writings span the fields of ecological theory, phenomenology, and political thought. He is the author of numerous scientific articles and monographs, including Plant-Thinking (2013), The Philosopher's Plant (2014), Dust (2016), Energy Dreams (2017), Heidegger (2018), Political Categories (2019), Pyropolitics (2015, 2020), Dump Philosophy (2020); Hegel's Energy (2021), Green Mass (2021), Philosophy for Passengers (2022), The Phoenix Complex (2023), Time Is a Plant (2023), and, with Edward S. Casey, Plants in Place (2024). More information at michaelmarder.org.

Review :
"'Not only Schmitt scholars but also all those interested in the meaning of politics after deconstruction will find this book to be an indispensable text. A genuine "must read.' - Gianni Vattimo and Santiago Zabala, authors of Hermeneutic Communism 'Groundless Existence is the new gold standard in Schmitt scholarship and an indispensable point of reference in political philosophy.' - Russell Berman, Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature & Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University"