Schmitt: Friends and Foe

It is an interesting idea that Carl Schmitt presents in determining how political groups have both friends and enemies. The state, as a political entity, is separate from humanity. Schmitt argues that "humanity as such cannot wage war because it has no enemy, at least not on this planet" (54). Instead he argues that wars waged for the sake of humanity are not really for humanity but instead for political powers. Though he doesn't really touch too much more on this throughout the rest of his book, I find it interesting that no human can be the enemy of another human. I had always assumed that human beings were primarily enemies of other human beings, and animals or even alien species that we have not yet discovered could not really be our enemies. They would instead be a threat, or a dangerous animal that we need to take precautions against. Instead here Schmitt argues that an enemy must be made inhuman in order to fight against them. This idea makes sense for large scale battles and wars, but in the case of the individual, I'm not sure that humanity cannot wage war upon itself.

Looking back at Ender's game in the battle school, the children fought against each other knowing full well that they were all a part of humanity. Even Peter Wiggen was a member of the human race even though his ideas and actions were twisted. Ender found it perfectly possible to fight against members of the children's army, granted it was not a real war. His relationship with the other members of the battle school was constant strife. The fights that took place between any of the human characters in the book was a struggle of human against human. When he kills the buggers, Ender thinks he is playing a game to beat out his teachers and Graff. Even in Dune Paul fights against the emperor as his enemy who is also a human. I would say that it is definitely possible for humanity to wage a war against itself, and that self can be an enemy. You do not need a foreign species to make up an enemy.