Janus`s Gaze: Essays on Carl Schmitt, Carlo Galli

First published in Italian in 2008 and appearing here in English for the first time, Januss Gaze is the culmination of Carlo Gallis ongoing critique of the work of Carl Schmitt. Galli argues that Schmitts main accomplishment, as well as the thread that unifies his oeuvre, is his construction of a genealogy of the modern that explains how modernitys compulsory drive to achieve order is both necessary and impossible. Galli addresses five key problems in Schmitts thought: his relation to the state, the significance of his concept of political theology, his readings of Machiavelli and Spinoza, his relation to Leo Strauss, and his relevance for contemporary political theory. Galli emphasizes the importance of passing through Schmitt’s thought—and, more important, beyond Schmitt’s thought—if we are to achieve insight into the problems of the global age. Adam Sitze provides an illuminating introduction to Schmitt and Gallis reading of him.