Abstract

Between 1923 and 1946 emerged two of the most important philosophical interpretations of political myth, respectively provided by Carl Schmitt and Ernst Cassirer. The extreme polarization between myth and logos leaded Schmitt to assume political myth as an irrational mean to mobilize masses, while determined Cassirer's compleat negation of any rationality to myth. The essay suggests that political myth exists in the space where narrative and imaginative factors interlace with rational ones. This reading is supported by the persistence of political myth such as the State, party and movement beyond the radical crisis of 20th century.