rene girard and mimetic theory

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10/2/2012 1 Masters of Suspicion Yes, Nietzsche is right in… critiquing instrumentalized religion exposing the idolatry of reason highlighting the need for authenticity arguing for the necessity of genealogical uncovering But Nietzsche is wrong (I believe)… about Christianity and ressentiment in positing an ontology of violence on the nature of compassion in how he portrays Jesus in the way he frames eschatology Response to Nietzsche in this class: The character of God in the light of the theology of the cross > cruciform beauty Metaphysics of peace > “breaking the cycle of violence” Embrace and ethics as first philosophy > that is what “affirmation of life is” The politics of Jesus and Christian apocalyptic René Girard

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A pdf file of PowerPoint slides about the French thinker Rene Girard who originated the mimetic theory. Rene Girard authored the groundbreaking book "Deceit, Desire, & the Novel."

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Page 1: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

10/2/2012

1

Masters of Suspicion

Yes, Nietzsche is right in…

� critiquing instrumentalized religion

� exposing the idolatry of reason

� highlighting the need for authenticity

� arguing for the necessity of

genealogical uncovering

But Nietzsche is wrong (I believe)…

� about Christianity and ressentiment

� in positing an ontology of violence

� on the nature of compassion

� in how he portrays Jesus

� in the way he frames eschatology

Response to Nietzsche in this class:

� The character of God in the light of the theology of the cross > cruciform beauty

� Metaphysics of peace > “breaking the cycle of violence”

� Embrace and ethics as first philosophy > that is what “affirmation of life is”

� The politics of Jesus and Christian apocalyptic

René Girard

Page 2: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

10/2/2012

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Step # 1

“The Romantic Lie”

� Girard concerned with the “collapse of

the autonomous self ”

� Later on he stated how he approached

this study in a “pure demystification”

mode > cynical, suspicious

“An experience of demystification, if radical

enough, is very close to an experience of

conversion.” [René Girard]

Page 3: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

10/2/2012

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� According to Girard’s mimetic reading of

the Dream, the classic notion of stable and

autonomous love is ruthlessly and

persistently help up to ridicule.

� Shakespeare presenting before our eyes

the volatility of mimetic desire.

� Repudiation of the “Romantic Lie” > the

notion of stable and autonomous love

The verdict: The self is an

“unstable, constantly changing, evanescent structure,” brought

into existence by desire.

Step # 2

Mimetic Desire

� The self is unstable, constantly changing

> brought into existence by desire

� We imitate the desire of others

� Most of in not all of our desires could be

traced back to this act of mimesis.

“Any kind of market is nothing other than

a mechanism for the harmonious

mediation of desire.”

Page 4: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

10/2/2012

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“Man is distinguished by other life-forms by

his capacity of imitation”Aristotle, Poetics

� The other person who brought the

desired object to recognition becomes a

rival and an obstacle

� Girard uses the world skandalon or

“stumbling block” to name the model

who has become a rival

� Desire posses a triangular structure.

How does all of that

matter?

While Hegel speaks of “desiring the

desire of another” (I desire that the other

recognizes me), Girard’s mimetic theory

hold that I “desire according to the other”

(my desire is directed according to what

the other desire).

Page 5: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

10/2/2012

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� Trousotsky > both his wife

and one of her lover dies

� He attaches himself in a

bizarre fashion to the other

lover, Veltschaninoff

� He wants to remarry, and

asks V. to come with him >

the predictable happens…

“The Eternal Husband is

incapable of loving

someone unless that choice

has been ratified and

approved by the model-

rival.”

[Kirwan]

What forms of

mimesis do we have?

� Acquisitive mimesis = when desire is

centered on a specific object

� Metaphysical mimesis = when no specific

object is aimed at but rather an

indeterminate yet insistent yearning for

the fullness of ‘being’

“It is not strictly true that the subject always

desires an object at all. What really drives

the individual may be something much

more elusive and imprecise: the search for a

a quasi-transcendental state of well-being,

or fulfillment, or self-actualization, which

goes beyond simple possession of any

object or set of objects.” [Kirwan]

Page 6: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

10/2/2012

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“The Fall narrative of Genesis tells of a

good creation which starts to go awry

because of an act of appropriation by

Adam and Eve. It is not simply that the

fruit itself is desirable as an object: what it

signifies, the knowledge of good and evil,

and therefore a share in the very Being of

God, makes this an example of

‘metaphysical’ and not just ‘acquisitive’

mimesis.”

� External mediation = safe form of

mimesis > when distinctions are too

significant

� Internal mediation = when people are

“too close to comfort”

In a world in which long-term

differentiations are eroded, mimesis

encounters fewer and fewer barriers.

Result?

A world characterized by intense

competition, rivalry, envy, and jealousy.

� When mimetic pressures become too

strong > ressentiment

� Salieri = “the patron saint of ressentiment”

Page 7: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

10/2/2012

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“Ressentiment is a self-poisoning of the mind

which has quite definite causes and consequences. It is a lasting mental attitude,

caused by the systematic repression of certain

emotions and affects which, as such are normal

components of human nature. Their repression leads to the constant tendency to indulge in

certain kinds of value delusions and

corresponding value judgments. The emotions

and affects primarily concerned are revenge, hatred, malice, envy, the impulse to detract, and

spite.” [Scheler]

Step # 3

Scapegoat Mechanism

� For the second phase of his mimetic

theory he turns from literature to cultural

anthropology

� As rivalry intensifies the object will

become less important

� Battle for prestige or recognition (Hegel)

� After a while people might ask,“What are

we fighting for?”

Page 8: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

10/2/2012

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� After a while people might ask, “What are

we fighting for?”

� In other words, how are we to stop the

mimetic contagion?

� Hobbes > human nature = permanent

state of warfare

� G. agrees, but disagrees with the solution

� The idea that people would sit town in the

midst of conflict to elect a sovereign is

ridiculed by Girard.

� Girard’s solution is different.

� A new mimesis comes about

� Just as acquisitive mimesis started the

conflict, so mimesis in the opposite

direction can end it.

� This new mimesis is possible because the

original object of envy has disappeared

� We now have metaphysical mimesis

� Because of that, a new basis for unity can

be found

� The new mimesis of “all against one”

unites rather than divides

� The victim is the embodiment of all evil

� “Scapegoat”

Page 9: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

10/2/2012

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� The new mimesis of “all against one”

unites rather than divides

� The victim is the embodiment of all evil

� “Scapegoating” = a spontaneous and

unconscious psychological mechanism, by

which someone is falsely accused and

victimized

� The community deals with violence by

channeling it.

� The enemy can be external or internal

� As a result of its aggression being

expended in this way, the group

experiences a transcendence and harmony

which seems to have come from ‘outside’.

� The new-found harmony comes to be

attributed in a mysterious way to the

expelled victim, who thus acquires a

‘sacred’ numinosity, even a divine status.

(39)

Page 10: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

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� Double transference = scapegoat both as

evil and cathartic

� “Religious phenomena such as

prohibitions (taboos), rituals (sacrifices)

and myths all have the function of

helping the community to ‘contain’ its

mimetic violence

� “Prohibitions cordon off or ‘quarantine’

the objects or behavior which are the

potential sources of conflict.

� Ritual (especially sacrifice) is a momentary

relaxation of taboos, whereby the

community allows itself an ‘acceptable’

dosage of violence and chaos, much as a

small dose of a virus may inoculate

against the disease in its more virulent

form.

� According to Girard, mimetic desire is not

recognized by individuals on an everyday

basis, and at the level of cultural

institutions the mythical mentality holds

sway, so that the horrible truth of the

victimage killing is concealed.

“It is better that one man should die than

the whole nation to be destroyed”

Page 11: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

10/2/2012

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The explanation of

religion which is being

offered here is

summarized by the

declaration that ‘violence

is the heart and secret

soul of the sacred’.

� Main point = at the

foundation of all

human relations and

endeavors is a volatile

proclivity to violence

� His vision reflects

Augustine’s idea in the

City of God

“Caiaphas was invoking a mechanism for preserving culture that is as old as culture itself. Whether it is

the Assyro-Babylonian myth declaring that Mardukcreated the world by killing the monster Tiamat;…or

Pope Urban II declaring that God willed the first Crusade; or Thomas Jefferson saying that the tree of

liberty must be periodically watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants; or Lenin saying you can’t

make an omelet without breaking eggs — cultures have forever commemorated some form of sacred

violence at their origins and considered it a sacred duty to reenact it in times of crisis.” [Bailie, 7]

Step # 4

Jesus Breaking the Cycle of

Violence

� Scapegoating process enables a

community in crisis to recover or preserve

its equilibrium.

� This is only effective if the community is

able to disguise from itself the true nature

of what it is doing.

� None of the religious practices – myths,

prohibitions and rituals – declare openly

what is happening.

Page 12: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

10/2/2012

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What sort of myths and

narratives are being perpetuated

today to hide our individual and

collective act of violence in the

past and in the present?

� In this sense ‘myth’ is derived from the

same root as ‘mute’: myths perpetuate a

silence about violent scapegoating.

� Several years after publishing Violence and

the Sacred 1972 he turns to the Bible

� His conviction > biblical revelation runs

in the opposite direction to myth as he

has defined it

� God is on the side of the innocent victim,

not of the persecutors; the Bible operates

as a critique and condemnation of

sacrificial scapegoating, not as an example

of it.

� The Gospel is the biblical spirit which

exposes the truth of violent origins, takes

the side of the victim, and works towards

the overcoming of scapegoating as a

viable means of social formation.

Page 13: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

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� There is a struggle between two

perspectives on human nature: one which

denies the complicity of desire, religion

and violence, the other which exposes it

“In the New Testament, the teachings of

Jesus, his prophetic critique of religion and

above all the events of the Passion and

Resurrection, all yield readings which are

supportive of a mimetic interpretation: that

Jesus’ ‘strategy’ as the ambassador from a

loving, non-violent Father is to expose and

render ineffective the scapegoat process, so

that the true God may be known.”

“Passion of Jesus lends itself to a ‘dramatic’

interpretation, as Jesus allows a scapegoat

crisis to be ‘acted out’, with himself at its

center. Like the Suffering Servant of Isaiah,

however, his innocence, his refusal to seek

for vengeance – and above all the

vindication of God (who asserts Jesus’

righteousness by raising him from the dead)

combine to expose the truth of the

persecution.”

“Biblical history is the history of one true,

loving God, urging us to cast aside false

idols and to live in the truth – and the most

important of the untruths which must be

rejected is the false transcendence which

issues from our conflictive desires and our

negotiation of them through sacred

violence….

… The entirety of the biblical revelation is

nothing less than God’s struggle to lead his

people towards this new awareness, one that

will indeed ‘set them apart’ from the other

nations. The face of the true God is

gradually but inexorably revealed as

infinitely loving, and completely beyond all

violence.”

Page 14: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

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� G.’s comparison of the Genesis narrative

and the Prologue of the Gospel of John

� In John > the Word is the expelled one

“If we turn to the Prologue of John what

we find is a re-writing of the Genesis

narrative – from God’s perspective, as it

were, therefore from a perspective which

has nothing in it of mimetic anxiety or

retributive vengeance.”

“The upshot of this is that God can never

be recognized as one of the persecutors.

God is emphatically denied all involvement

with violent actions. Even the resurrection

must be read as his declaration of his

absolute non-involvement with violent

death, much less with the retribution which

one would expect to follow the massacre of

his Son….

… Yet, only by ‘acting out’ the Passion, and

taking the part of the innocent victim, was

Jesus able to initiate the process of

traumatic conversion, one which enabled

those who ‘know not what they do’ to be

enlightened, and to have a change of heart”

[Kirwan]

Ecce Homo!

Page 15: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

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Girard’s Vision

� For Girard, the Bible is essentially the

gradual unfolding of a non-violent God.

� The Bible, by choosing the side of the victims, desacralizes violence.

� Violence is exposed as being

essentially a human phenomenon.

� Satan is identified with the “circular

mechanism” of violence.

� In other words, humans are inhabitants of the kingdom of Satan, captives of violence.

� Jesus came to invite everyone to

renounce violence, to give up the idea of retribution.

� Jesus showed humanity its true destiny: to rid itself from captivity to

violence

� Sadly, the Church has often forgotten

the message of Jesus

� Ergo, Constantinianism [to come!]

“The word ‘violence’ can be defined to

extend far beyond pain and shedding blood.

It carries the meaning of physical force,

violent language, fury and, more

importantly, forcible interference.”

Nayak, Abhijit (July–October 2008). "Crusade Violence: Understanding and

Overcoming the Impact of Mission Among Muslims". International Review of Mission (World Council of Churches) 97 (386-387): 273–291.

Page 16: Rene Girard and Mimetic Theory

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� We can see that Jesus attitude of non-

retaliation not a minor thing for Girard.

� Girard call his project anti-Nietzschean

“Violence may be defined as follows: any

action, verbal or nonverbal, oral or written,

physical or psychical, active or passive,

public or private, individual or

institutional/societal, human or divine, in

whatever degree of intensity, that abuses,

violates, injures, or kills. Some of the most

pervasive and most dangerous forms of

violence are those that are often hidden

from view (against women and children,

especially); …

… just beneath the surface in many of our

homes, churches, and communities is abuse

enough to freeze the blood. Moreover,

many forms of systemic violence often slip

past our attention because they are so much

a part of the infrastructure of life (e.g.,

racism, sexism, ageism).”

Freitheim, Terence (Winter 2004). “God and Violence in the Old Testament.”

Word & World 24 (1). Retrieved 2010-11-21.

The basic thesis of Violence is that there are

two forms of violence: subjective and

objective. Subjective violence is immediately

palpable. We see a perpetrator, an angry

mob, a violent criminal, a terrorist act.

Objective violence comes in two forms,

symbolic and systemic. Symbolic violence

comes in the language we use, in our terms

for such broad concepts as terrorism and

justice. Systemic violence is what is reflected

in structures, in ideologies.Evaluating Girard

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1. Is all desire indeed mimetic?

2. That is, cannot desire be evoked by

the intrinsic value and beauty of the object?

3. What is Girard’s positive vision? > contra Augustine, we are not

offered a theology of “two cities”