The interests of Carl Schmitt, one of the most controversial political theorists of the 20th century and known today for his sharp delineation of state sovereignty, law, and political order, extend to other, deeper themes of appearance, image, and the tension between internal identity and external representation. Indeed, his writings are often tinged with a fascination for the "mirror" as a metaphor to explain the relationship between how individuals or political entities view themselves as opposed to how they are viewed by Others.
Most of Schmitt's texts evoke the distinction between eric emmanuel shorts appearance and essence, especially in connection with his explorations of the political. He believed that the political is defined by a stark division between friend and enemy and that this dichotomy is primary for the understanding of a state's political identity. But this identity will never be a simple essence inside itself. It is, so to say, also how the state reflects itself to others, how it builds up its own image. The conception of "image" under Schmitt would lead beyond superficial manifestations to the whole complex way political identity is preserved and projected.
In texts like The Concept of the Political and Political Theology, Schmitt journeys into the interstices of the internal and external representations of power. The state, according to Schmitt, is not only an institution with internal laws and systems but also a player on stage of international politics, where its image and appearance to others are just as important as its internal workings. For Schmitt, political entities are always in a process of becoming, negotiating their public appearances and perceptions of their sovereignty, which contradict the existence of those with their internal realities.
The metaphor of the mirror embodies such a complex duality. This is how it is: The political being is internally structured, philosophized, and envisioned in its powers; however, the image it reflects to others is usually a twisted one, interpreted through history, culture, and relations with outsiders. This interplay between image and essence of political life runs deep into Schmitt's larger interests in power, legitimacy, and recognition. The moral of Schmitt's world, then, is that the line between appearance and essence is not straightforwardly binary; the two are dynamic in their relation to one another, just as the image reshapes the reality of the state.
Schmitt's concept of "style" could also be understood as another layer to this complex relationship, the one between the internal and external features of political life. https://ericemanuelapparel.us/ A person's style might be expressed outwards, hiding some inner disposition; the state's "style" could be seen as the manifestation of its political identity.
Schmitt's philosophical considerations of image and appearance imply something broader than the modern politics of an understanding. It lifes too much against the dangers of the acceptance of the political representation in an immediate sense. Manipulation of images lit by political leaders, state, and ideology may hide the actual character of power and control. More than ever have Schmitt's emphases on the critical importance of the exception and the tension between appearance and essence given critical analytical power for understanding how these contemporary political structures create and maintain their self-images.
The study of Schmitt in appearance, image, and internal style is a challenge for readers to critical thinking about the visible power of politics in appearance, silent, or dark forms. Here, again, we are reminded that the mirror reflects all into an image which is not only never wholly faithful to the essence but creates the reality of the political world.
