Esposito’s Schmitt. Friend or Enemy of the Communitas?

Abstract

This article discusses how Roberto Esposito interpreted Carl Schmitt’s work namely in Categorie dell’impolitico; Communitas. Origine e destino della comunità and Immunitas. Protezione e negazione della vita, and Bíos. Biopolitica e filosofia. In particular, I will examine the notion of communitas. Under this aegis, I will consider the way in which several theoretical attempts in the German early 20^th century established that Gemeinschaft (community) was related to sacrifice and death in war. Thus, the concept of community remained problematic for political theory. Esposito’s interpretation of Schmitt’s work, in turn, will help us to determine whether the meditatio mortis that characterized approaches to community at the beginning of the 20^th century persists in contemporary biopolitical studies.