I’m having a really tough time understanding the friend enemy distinction by Carl Schmitt. Could someone help explain what it is? Thank you!

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I’m having a really tough time understanding the friend enemy distinction by Carl Schmitt. Could someone help explain what it is? Thank you!

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Anonymous 0 Comments

I’m by very few means qualified to answer this question, but I’ll try to break it down as I understand it.

For Schmitt, the Political (the force that drives all politics) is characterized by a friend/enemy distinction. Every ideology (or worldview, narrative, etc. —essentially determines which facts/information/ideas are important politically) has a friend/enemy distinction.

This distinction consists of your “friends”, the people/groups on your side. This can be your political party, the people who support your cause, the enemy of your enemy, or a group your ideology likes.

“Enemy” is someone who stands in opposition to your politics—people/groups who your ideology doesn’t like. This doesn’t have to be a different political party/group, it can be people you don’t like (for white supremacists, this is obviously non-white people as well as opposing political parties/people). You don’t necessarily want to kill your “enemy,” but if it comes down to it, you just might be willing to.