I love this line: "Girard devoted his life to exposing the lies behind fashions and trends. And now, after his death, he is fashionable and trendy. It’s almost like some kind of punishment."
Our legacies are so often ironic. Reminds me of Carl Jung who reportedly said: The best thing about being Carl Jung is that I'll never get to call myself a "Jungian".
Great article. But I feel it does no good to 'secularize' Girard and gloss over the roots of his theory - which is Christian. The Devil is the root of mimetic desire, and it was Christ's sacrifice that demonstrated how it is overcome. It's because the scapegoat mechanism is so pervasive that the Christian story was so compelling throughout history.
Because exceptions prove the rule, I immediately tried to think of exceptions. The legend of Cain and Abel comes to mind...yes they were brothers. But Cain was a farmer and Abel a herder:agriculturism vs nomadic hunter/gatherer, so at first glance it seems an exception. Then we realize they were competing for the same prize: God's favor.
God's preference of Abel's animal sacrifice over a vegetable sacrifice led Cain to slay his brother --which in itself can be considered an 'animal' sacrifice.
Girard's insight that the scapegoat symbolizes this union of opposites points to a metaphysical truth. In our dualistic universe, opposing forces are by turn exposed then unified, in a continuos dance of Kali and Shiva, yin and yang, creation and destruction .
So I guess that's why 'exceptions prove the rule'-- because they're only exceptions on the surface. When we dig deeper we see the seeming opposites are enfolded in a series of layers inside the whole.
Thank you Ted. I will qualifying my comment by saying I am not a Girardian scholar, but I have been aware of his work for since David Caley's series on CBC Ideas ( https://www.davidcayley.com/podcasts/category/Ren%C3%A9+Girard ) and have followed him through secondary sources.
This is the most succint AND applicable summary of his work I have encountered. Thank you for making him accessible.
Nice summary but I must dispute that Girard " never discussed popular culture." See the following excerpt from "Evolution and Conversion" in which he discusses and praises Seinfeld.
edit: I don't hold it against you though. "Evolution and Conversion" is for whatever reason not as widely discussed but I think might actually be the clearest and fullest explication of his ideas.
These behaviors, as Jane Goodall explains, are all related to our evolutionary background of being a primate species, i.e., a tribal species. Our closest primate species, the chimpanzees, are about 98% genetically identical to us and display many of the same behavioral traits. We different is some areas, three of which are that humans are more altruistic than chimpanzees, we have a much greater ability to communicate with one another, and we are have many more ways to kill one another. But another trait that is good is that we can educate ourselves to understand why some traits that we acquired as a species are no longer beneficial in today’s environment compared to a hundred thousand years ago and we can learn how to mitigate many of there tribal predispositions. On educated person at a time.
A timely reminder of the timeless ideas of René Girard. During this season of Pesach and Easter, profoundly interlinked as they have been for almost two thousand years, it is also fitting to observe Girard’s great insight that Christianity arose because for the first time the scapegoat story was told from the perspective of the victim.
Even for those who reject the transcendental and refuse to believe Jesus was resurrected and is now alive, this shift in perspective opened the world-changing floodgates of empathy, compassion and all-healing love.
YES. Ted you keep nailing it (so to speak) Some of the best theologians out there are Girardians! (See: James Alison) https://jamesalison.com/en/about/
The problem with Girard is that he's one of those thinkers who explains everything and thus explains nothing. Like Freud and Marx, his faintly ridiculous catch-all theories can't be fully disproved because they have no empirical traction whatsoever - they are theories-as-stories: they have an internal structure that's neat and compelling. "Mimetic desire" is just a description of the causal transmission of ideas and doesn't really account for our choices, but only interprets them.
This reminds of a Tolstoy quote about a character being annoyed by another person because he has those same qualities in himself that he despises. At least, the Tolstoy character (I believe in War and Peace) has self-awareness that most people lack.
#8 + #9: The most violent wars (at least in modern times) have been brother against brother: The Troubles in Ireland, Arab v. Jew in the Middle East. I didn’t have a word for this until tonight. Mimetic.
To your second point that "Imitation is the economic engine of most businesses—just look at the big social media companies or fashion brands—but it’s always disguised."
I don't think it's disguised at all. No one is pretending anymore.
Thread is a carbon copy of Twitter.
Instagram Reels is a carbon copy of TikTok.
Marketing, as well, is very much on the nose with its taglines, clearly hinting at status anxiety and group-think, especially when targeted to Gen Z.
Take care with Girard. He describes Western civilization and not something we are biologically fated to. Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow and Charles C. Mann's books about pre and post Columbian America clearly show how what Girard deals with is a European tradition, not human nature.
I love this line: "Girard devoted his life to exposing the lies behind fashions and trends. And now, after his death, he is fashionable and trendy. It’s almost like some kind of punishment."
Our legacies are so often ironic. Reminds me of Carl Jung who reportedly said: The best thing about being Carl Jung is that I'll never get to call myself a "Jungian".
Great article. But I feel it does no good to 'secularize' Girard and gloss over the roots of his theory - which is Christian. The Devil is the root of mimetic desire, and it was Christ's sacrifice that demonstrated how it is overcome. It's because the scapegoat mechanism is so pervasive that the Christian story was so compelling throughout history.
Brilliant article. Well thought out, and carefully delivered. Thanks for this great read.
What I love most about your writing is how you manage to put complex things into simple words – and strip academic ideas of their academic language.
Because exceptions prove the rule, I immediately tried to think of exceptions. The legend of Cain and Abel comes to mind...yes they were brothers. But Cain was a farmer and Abel a herder:agriculturism vs nomadic hunter/gatherer, so at first glance it seems an exception. Then we realize they were competing for the same prize: God's favor.
God's preference of Abel's animal sacrifice over a vegetable sacrifice led Cain to slay his brother --which in itself can be considered an 'animal' sacrifice.
Girard's insight that the scapegoat symbolizes this union of opposites points to a metaphysical truth. In our dualistic universe, opposing forces are by turn exposed then unified, in a continuos dance of Kali and Shiva, yin and yang, creation and destruction .
So I guess that's why 'exceptions prove the rule'-- because they're only exceptions on the surface. When we dig deeper we see the seeming opposites are enfolded in a series of layers inside the whole.
Brilliant article Ted!
Thank you Ted. I will qualifying my comment by saying I am not a Girardian scholar, but I have been aware of his work for since David Caley's series on CBC Ideas ( https://www.davidcayley.com/podcasts/category/Ren%C3%A9+Girard ) and have followed him through secondary sources.
This is the most succint AND applicable summary of his work I have encountered. Thank you for making him accessible.
Choose your enemies carefully, ’cause they will define you/
Make them interesting, because in some ways they will mind you/
They’re not there in the beginning, but when your story ends/
Gonna last longer with you than your friends.
— U2, Cedars of Lebanon
The old adage "Choose your enemies carefully, for you will become like them" might be backwards: it is our likeness that makes them our enemies.
Thanks Ted for once again for discussing important ideas in an accessible but not reductionist manner.
Nice summary but I must dispute that Girard " never discussed popular culture." See the following excerpt from "Evolution and Conversion" in which he discusses and praises Seinfeld.
https://scapegoatshadows.com/seinfeld-the-big-salad/
edit: I don't hold it against you though. "Evolution and Conversion" is for whatever reason not as widely discussed but I think might actually be the clearest and fullest explication of his ideas.
These behaviors, as Jane Goodall explains, are all related to our evolutionary background of being a primate species, i.e., a tribal species. Our closest primate species, the chimpanzees, are about 98% genetically identical to us and display many of the same behavioral traits. We different is some areas, three of which are that humans are more altruistic than chimpanzees, we have a much greater ability to communicate with one another, and we are have many more ways to kill one another. But another trait that is good is that we can educate ourselves to understand why some traits that we acquired as a species are no longer beneficial in today’s environment compared to a hundred thousand years ago and we can learn how to mitigate many of there tribal predispositions. On educated person at a time.
A timely reminder of the timeless ideas of René Girard. During this season of Pesach and Easter, profoundly interlinked as they have been for almost two thousand years, it is also fitting to observe Girard’s great insight that Christianity arose because for the first time the scapegoat story was told from the perspective of the victim.
Even for those who reject the transcendental and refuse to believe Jesus was resurrected and is now alive, this shift in perspective opened the world-changing floodgates of empathy, compassion and all-healing love.
YES. Ted you keep nailing it (so to speak) Some of the best theologians out there are Girardians! (See: James Alison) https://jamesalison.com/en/about/
The problem with Girard is that he's one of those thinkers who explains everything and thus explains nothing. Like Freud and Marx, his faintly ridiculous catch-all theories can't be fully disproved because they have no empirical traction whatsoever - they are theories-as-stories: they have an internal structure that's neat and compelling. "Mimetic desire" is just a description of the causal transmission of ideas and doesn't really account for our choices, but only interprets them.
This reminds of a Tolstoy quote about a character being annoyed by another person because he has those same qualities in himself that he despises. At least, the Tolstoy character (I believe in War and Peace) has self-awareness that most people lack.
#8 + #9: The most violent wars (at least in modern times) have been brother against brother: The Troubles in Ireland, Arab v. Jew in the Middle East. I didn’t have a word for this until tonight. Mimetic.
To your second point that "Imitation is the economic engine of most businesses—just look at the big social media companies or fashion brands—but it’s always disguised."
I don't think it's disguised at all. No one is pretending anymore.
Thread is a carbon copy of Twitter.
Instagram Reels is a carbon copy of TikTok.
Marketing, as well, is very much on the nose with its taglines, clearly hinting at status anxiety and group-think, especially when targeted to Gen Z.
Take care with Girard. He describes Western civilization and not something we are biologically fated to. Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow and Charles C. Mann's books about pre and post Columbian America clearly show how what Girard deals with is a European tradition, not human nature.