Abstract:
This article analyzes Roberto Esposito's idea of the impolitico, with the aim of showing the relation between the impolitical and Carl Schmitt's das Politische. Schmitt is examined in terms of the impolitical tradition reconstructed by Esposito, and the impolitical characteristics of das Politische are discussed. We then argue that Esposito gives a refined interpretation of Schmitt, solving some problems regarding transitions in Schmitt's work the 1920s, but that Esposito ends up obliterating Schmitt's influence. We propose a reading, which separates Schmitt from political theology by linking him to the impolitical tradition and which drafts the relation between the impolitico and das Politische.
Keywords:
Impolitical; Neutralization; Political; Antagonism