Abstract
The article is focused on the refinement of Carl Schmitt's concept of the political, which is based on the functional-systemic framework articulated in German sociology and social philosophy. Schmitt's "model of intensity" - constituted by the concepts of differentiation and politicization - has been worked out through Niklas Luhmann's systems theory and Jürgen Habermas' systemizing reconstruction of Weber's conception of value spheres.
Whereas Luhmann's systems theory is significant for the final definition of the political as a system, Habermas' Kantian differentiation of culture anchors the semantics of politicization. For this semantics, the reflections on redistribution and recognition have been utilized, with the reference to Nancy Fraser's "perspective dualism".
The above mentioned refinement is directed to the development of the political as an autonomous concept, which stands as an alternative to approaches to the political that localize it in the active and mobilized civil society.