Schmitt Meets the Real Other

I would be lying if I said that some of our discussion on Schmitt didn't make my head spin a bit. Bringing Schmitt's logic into a dialogue about the possibility of alien contact provides some very fascinating, if dizzying, ideas. We went around in circles frequently in class in trying to decide if following Schmitt's logic should and would be the right course to take. Before this, however, we determined what exactly Schmitt's logic purports as the best route. Some felt that going with Schmitt would mean attacking the aliens immediately because of their "otherness." On the other hand, some of us felt that following Schmittian ideas simply means evaluating whether the aliens are friends or enemies, if they pose a threat. In the case of them posing a threat, to the whole population (the question of a united population also came up, but that's a discussion for another time) and not just to some individuals, war is completely justified. Schmitt makes it clear that war is only justifiable when fought against a "public" enemy, not a "private" one. And the very presence of a "real enemy" automatically justifies war (p49).

Getting back to our main focus, we argued in groups whether humanity should or shouldn't use Schmittian logic and whether it would or wouldn't, given the sudden appearance of aliens. It is my argument that we should because whether or not a group of individuals is a threat is key in our interactions with them. (Although if the first contact with aliens turns out as Hollywood usually sees it, we won't have a chance to really assess the aliens before they wipe us out with their advanced technology; sure we might have the opportunity to apply some weak resistance, but with their lasers and heat rays, we won't get much of a chance to think things out politically.) How we determine what constitutes a threat, however, remains to be seen. It could be, as Andrew writes in his blog, that we don't consider the aliens to be enemies due to any crimes that they have committed, "but by virtue of there existing an opposing fighting force which could jeopardize the existence of humanity." In this case, there is the possibilty of huge mistakes being made because, as we see in Ender's Game, an inability to communicate can mean assuming there's a threat when there isn't one at all.