Benedetto Croce e Carl Schmitt: la «crisi della coscienza europea»

The present work aims at describe the comparison between Benedetto Croce and Carl Schmitt. Despite the moral and intellectual distance between them, they both are considered Eurocentric thinkers. Starting from the only one mention of Croce by Schmitt, the author shows their different opinions about the progress and the relationship between politics and morals. On the basis of these observations it is possible to understand their different thoughts about European dominance during the 20th century European crisis. As it comes to light in the last part of the present work, Croce considers Europe as a cultural and spiritual space, where the universal value of Freedom has been affirmed and can affirm itself notwithstanding periods of crisis. On the other side, Schmitt thinks that the centrality of Europe has been affirmed thanks to political decision of European States and the consistent appropriation of the New World’s space during the XVI century. He thinks of Europe using terms as ‘nomos’ and ‘jus publicum europaeum’, which represent a closed space, guaranteed by balance of land and sea. According to him, when processes of universalization and globalization grow up, the central role of Europe as a political force is compromised.