René Girard
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| + | ''[[Deceit, Desire and the Novel]]'' (1961) | ||
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| + | '''René Noël Théophile Girard''' (25 December 1923 – 4 November 2015) was a [[French historian]], [[literary critic]], and [[Philosophy of social science|philosopher of social science]] whose work belongs to the tradition of [[anthropological philosophy]]. 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]], [[psychology]], [[mythology]], [[sociology]], [[economics]], [[cultural studies]], and [[philosophy]]. | ||
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| + | Girard's fundamental ideas, which he developed throughout his career and provided the foundation for his thinking, were that desire is [[Mimesis|mimetic]] (i.e., all of our desires are borrowed from other people); that all conflict originates in [[#Mimetic desire|mimetic desire]] (mimetic rivalry); that the [[scapegoat mechanism]] is the origin of sacrifice and the foundation of human [[culture]], and religion was necessary in human evolution to control the violence that can come from mimetic rivalry; and that the Bible reveals these ideas and denounces the scapegoat mechanism. | ||
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| + | Girard was professor at [[Johns Hopkins University]] from 1957 to 1981, and subsequently at [[Stanford University]]. He was also a member of the [[Académie française]] from 2005 until his death on 4 November 2015. | ||
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| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | * [[James George Frazer]] | ||
| + | * [[Memetics]] | ||
| + | * [[Simulacrum]] | ||
| - | '''Mimesis''' (from [[wiktionary:μιμοῦμαι|μιμεῖσθαι]]) is a [[Critical theory|critical]] and [[philosophical]] term that carries a wide range of meanings, which include: [[imitation]], [[Representation (arts)|representation]], [[mimicry]], ''imitatio'', nonsensuous [[similarity]], the act of [[Resemblance|resembling]], the act of expression, and the [[Impression management|presentation of the self]]. Mimesis has been theorised by [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], [[Philip Sidney]], [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], [[Sigmund Freud]], [[Walter Benjamin]], [[Theodor Adorno]], [[Erich Auerbach]], [[Luce Irigaray]], [[René Girard]], [[Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe]], [[Michael Taussig]], [[Merlin Donald]], [[Paul Ricoeur]], and [[Homi K. Bhabha|Homi Bhabha]]. | ||
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Deceit, Desire and the Novel (1961) |
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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 anthropological philosophy. 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, psychology, mythology, sociology, economics, cultural studies, and philosophy.
Girard's fundamental ideas, which he developed throughout his career and provided the foundation for his thinking, were that desire is mimetic (i.e., all of our desires are borrowed from other people); that all conflict originates in mimetic desire (mimetic rivalry); that the scapegoat mechanism is the origin of sacrifice and the foundation of human culture, and religion was necessary in human evolution to control the violence that can come from mimetic rivalry; and that the Bible reveals these ideas and denounces the scapegoat mechanism.
Girard was professor at Johns Hopkins University from 1957 to 1981, and subsequently at Stanford University. He was also a member of the Académie française from 2005 until his death on 4 November 2015.
See also
