Carl Schmitt (1888–1985), one of the leading conservative legal thinkers of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany, is best known today for his critique of liberalism. Between the late 1930s and mid-1950s, Schmitt wrote numerous articles and two books addressing the mythical and geopolitical significance of land and sea. In recent years, these texts have begun to attract attention from historians as well as theorists. This article reconstructs the origins of Schmitt's theories about land and sea, and shows how they (...) developed in the context of his efforts to delegitimize the British Empire and justify the persecution of Jews. It also explains how Schmitt selectively misread the history of maritime law in order to critique the ‘freedom of the seas.’ Finally, it reveals that the meaning Schmitt ascribed to ‘the opposition of the elements of land and sea’ changed dramatically to suit his political needs. For all their evocative qualities and insights, Schmitt's texts on land and sea do not constitute a coherent theory, but rather a shifting field of polemical positions in search of theoretical support. (shrink)

This article elucidates an important reason for Max Weber's popularity among German intellectuals during the Weimar Republic: for different interpreters, Weber's anti-utopianism came to signify radically different attitudes towards the modern world. My aim is to construct an original typology of these interpretations and, in the process, to explain why Weber was able to make such divergent impressions. His reception provides a case study for understanding how a philosopher's impact is determined not just by the interpretation of published texts, but (...) also by the tension that exists between these texts and the author's personality. (shrink)