Carl Schmitt: critic of Positivism
| Autor | Fernando José Armando Ribeiro |
| Ocupação do Autor | PhD; Professor of Law at PUC-Minas; Judge in the state of Minas Gerais (Brazil) |
| Páginas | 1287-1298 |
Special Workshop: Politics is conict - Carl Schmitt and our time • 1287
Carl Schmitt: critic of Positivism
Fernando José Armando Ribeiro29
Abstract: In contemporary history, in which a series of arguments and ideas
aimed at combating legal positivism are elaborated, it is appropriate to return
to who was, in his time, one of the most important critics of that school of legal
thoughtCarl SchmiAcriticofmodernitysownpoliticalprojectSchmi
outlines with clarity some of the crucial problems of positivist thinking, its in-
ternal contradictions and some of its equivocal assumptions. However, the so-
lutions proposed by the controversial German thinker point us to a path that
should not be followed because it also would lead to an undermining of the
quality of humanism that should nourish the law. Moreover, let us see that
Modernity, if not a complete project, should not be banished for its failure, but
rebuilt and improved in the dimension of historical time and as a human cul-
tural achievement.
Keywords: SchmiPositivismLegitimacy
1. Introduction
Schmi can be included in a tradition of critical thinking re-
garding the project of modernity, and this criticism is expressed most
strongly in the deconstruction of liberalism made by the German con-
stitutionalist, in both its political (the Parliamentarism) and juridical (le-
galpositivism branches SchmiasWebersees modernity asa time
of disenchantment caused by the absence of meaning generated by the
election of rationality as a paradigm of legitimacy. Modern rationality,
essentially instrumental, according to Weber, would be based on the
quantiable and manageable reducing knowledge to technique and
form, thus removing the manifestation of its real substance.
ItisnecessarytoreturntoWebertounderstandSchmiscritique
of liberal modernity. Weber’s line of thought is extremely pessimistic
about the achievements of modernity. According to him we would be
imprisoned in an iron cage of rationality, forged by the obliteration of
29
PhD; Professor of Law at PUC-Minas; Judge in the state of Minas Gerais (Brazil).
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