René Girard
René Noël Théophile Girard (; ; 25 December 1923 – 4 November 2015) was a French historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science whose work belongs to the tradition of philosophical anthropology. Girard was the author of nearly thirty books, with his writings spanning many academic domains. Although the reception of his work is different in each of these areas, there is a growing body of secondary literature on his work and his influence on disciplines such as literary criticism, critical theory, anthropology, theology, mythology, sociology, economics, cultural studies, and philosophy.Girard's main contribution to philosophy, and in turn to other disciplines, was in the psychology of desire. Girard claimed that human desire functions imitatively, or mimetically, rather than arising as the spontaneous byproduct of human individuality, as much of theoretical psychology had assumed. Girard proposed that human development proceeds triangularly from a model of desire who indicates some object of desire as desirable by desiring it themselves. We copy this desire for the object of the model and appropriate it as our own, most often without recognizing that the source of this desire comes from another apart from ourselves completing the triangle of mimetic desire. This process of appropriation of desire includes (but is not limited to) identity formation, the transmission of knowledge and social norms, and material aspirations which all have their origin in copying the desires of others who we take, consciously or unconsciously, as models for desire.
The second major proposition of the mimetic theory proceeds from considering the consequences of the mimetic nature of desire as it relates to human origins and anthropology. The mimetic nature of desire allows for the anthropological success of human beings through social learning, but is also laden with potential for violent escalation. If the subject desires an object simply because another subject desires it, then their desires are bound to converge on the same objects. If these objects cannot be easily shared (food, mates, territory, prestige and status, etc.), then the subjects are bound to come into mimetically intensifying conflict over these objects. The simplest solution to this problem of violence for early human communities was to polarize blame and hostility onto one member of the group who would be killed and interpreted as the source of conflict and hostility within the group. The transition from the violent conflict of all-against-all would be transformed into the unifying and pacifying violence of all-except-one whose death would reconcile the community together. The victim who was persecuted as the source of disorder would then become venerated as the source of order and meaning for the community and seen as a god. This process of engendering and making possible human community through arbitrary victimization is called, within mimetic theory, the scapegoat mechanism.
Eventually the scapegoat mechanism would be exposed within the Biblical texts who categorically reorient the position of the Divinity to be on the side of the victim as opposed to that of the persecuting community. All other myths, such as Romulus and Remus, for example, are written and constructed from the point of view of the community whose legitimacy depends on the guilt of the victim in order to be brought together as a unified community. By exposing the relative innocence of the victim within the scapegoat mechanism it is no longer able to function as a vehicle for generating unity and peace. Provided by Wikipedia
-
1
-
2
-
3by Girard, René, 1923-2015Other Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 1982
Biblioteca Universidad de Deusto (Other Sources: Universidad Loyola - Granada)Book -
4by Girard, René, 1923-2015Other Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 2012
Biblioteca de la Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso (Other Sources: Biblioteca Universidad de Navarra, Universidad Loyola - Granada)Book -
5by Girard, René, (1923-2015)Other Authors: “…Girard, René, (1923-2015)…”
Published 1972
Biblioteca Conventual de El Escorial (Other Sources: Biblioteca Universidad de Navarra)Book -
6by Girard, René, 1923-2015Other Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 1982
Biblioteca de la Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso (Other Sources: Biblioteca Instituto Superior de Teología de las Islas Canarias (ISTIC))Book -
7by Girard, René, 1923-2015Other Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 2009
Biblioteca Universitat Ramon Llull (Other Sources: Universidad Loyola - Granada)Book -
8by Girard, René (1923-2015)Other Authors: “…Girard, René, (1923-2015)…”
Published 2015
Biblioteca Instituto Superior de Teología de las Islas Canarias (ISTIC) (Other Sources: Universidad Loyola - Granada)Book -
9by Girard, René, 1923-2015Other Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 2004
Red de Bibliotecas de la Archidiócesis de Granada (Other Sources: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Biblioteca Universidad de Navarra, Universidad Loyola - Granada)Book -
10by Girard, René, 1923-2015 autOther Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 1996
Red de Bibliotecas de la Archidiócesis de Granada (Other Sources: Biblioteca Universidad de Deusto, Universidad Loyola - Granada)Book -
11by Girard, René, 1923-2015Other Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 2002
Biblioteca de la Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso (Other Sources: Red de Bibliotecas de la Archidiócesis de Granada, Biblioteca Universidad de Navarra, Biblioteca Universitat Ramon Llull, Universidad Loyola - Granada)Book -
12by Girard, René, 1923-2015Other Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 2007
Biblioteca Universitat Ramon Llull (Other Sources: Red de Bibliotecas de la Archidiócesis de Granada, Biblioteca Universidad de Navarra, Universidad Loyola - Granada)Book -
13by Girard, René, 1923-2015Other Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 1997
Biblioteca Universidad de Deusto (Other Sources: Red de Bibliotecas de la Archidiócesis de Granada, Biblioteca Universidad de Navarra, Universidad Loyola - Granada)Book -
14by Girard, René, 1923-2015Other Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 1994
Biblioteca Universidad de Deusto (Other Sources: Biblioteca Universitat Ramon Llull, Red de Bibliotecas de la Archidiócesis de Granada, Biblioteca de la Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso, Biblioteca Universidad de Navarra, Universidad Loyola - Granada)Book -
15by Girard, René, 1923-2015. autOther Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 1980
Red de Bibliotecas de la Archidiócesis de Granada (Other Sources: Biblioteca Universidad de Navarra)Book -
16by Girard, René, 1923-2015Other Authors: “…Girard, René, 1923-2015…”
Published 2002
Biblioteca de la Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso (Other Sources: Biblioteca Instituto Superior de Teología de las Islas Canarias (ISTIC))Book -
17by Girard, René 1923-2015Other Authors: “…Girard, René 1923-2015…”
Published 1985
Biblioteca de Pastoral Madrid (Other Sources: Biblioteca Instituto Superior de Teología de las Islas Canarias (ISTIC), Biblioteca de la Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso, Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, Universidad Loyola - Granada, Biblioteca Universidad de Navarra)Book -
18
-
19
-
20