Hobbesian Anthropology, the Interminable Enemy, and State Theory: Intellectual Convergences in Carl Schmitt and Sigmunt Freud

 The author argues that Carl Schmitt’s distinction between Freund und Feind and the depiction of the political in stark and aggressive language of friend-enemy relationships appeared to confirm the supposed inherent defects in Schmitt’s thinking that underlie his anti-liberal politics. Such critiques overlook, however, that other thinkers, even those deeply entrenched personally and politically in the liberal-democratic tradition, have found value in Schmitt’s work or have themselves harbored similar ideas. Among the prominent figures that might be cited in this latter regard, Sigmund Freud is a particularly illuminating case in point. This is especially so because, at first glance, any comparison between Schmitt and Freud might appear highly dubious. Not only were their disciplines jurisprudence and psychoanalysis so different, but these two leading thinkers appeared to be mirror opposites of each other in political stances, personal experience, and the judgment of history. The author argues that Carl Schmitt’s distinction between Freund und Feind and the depiction of the political in stark and aggressive language of friend-enemy relationships appeared to confirm the supposed inherent defects in Schmitt’s thinking that underlie his anti-liberal politics. Such critiques overlook, however, that other thinkers, even those deeply entrenched personally and politically in the liberal-democratic tradition, have found value in Schmitt’s work or have themselves harbored similar ideas. Among the prominent figures that might be cited in this latter regard, Sigmund Freud is a particularly illuminating case in point. This is especially so because, at first glance, any comparison between Schmitt and Freud might appear highly dubious. Not only were their disciplines jurisprudence and psychoanalysis so different, but these two leading thinkers appeared to be mirror opposites of each other in political stances, personal experience, and the judgment of history