Philosophical-Political Aspects of Hans Kelsen’s and Carl Schmitt’s Debate on the State, Constitution, and Its Protection

The paper aims to present several fundamental issues in the debate between two prominent representatives of the 20th-century theory of the state and law: Hans Kelsen (1881–1973) and Carl Schmitt (1888–1985), particularly including the dispute over the understanding of the constitution, protection of the constitutional order, and democracy. The article presents the theological and political background of the debate and the historical background defining the political context important for its understanding. The course of the dispute over the guardian of the constitution, which flared up in the interwar period in Weimar Germany, is also discussed in detail, with particular emphasis on the period between 1928 and 1932.