Rene Girard French philosopher, cultural scientist, literary critic. Date of Birth: 25.12.1923 Country: France

1. Biography of René Girard
2. Education and Career Beginnings
3. Academic Career
4. Contributions and Achievements

Biography of René Girard

René Girard was a French philosopher, cultural theorist, and literary critic. He was born on December 25, 1925, in the city of Avignon, France. Girard developed the concept of "fundamental anthropology," which explores the issues of sacrifice and mimetic violence as foundational elements of culture and society.

Education and Career Beginnings

From 1943 to 1947, Girard studied medieval history at the National School of Chartes in Paris. After completing his studies, he defended his dissertation titled "Private Life in Avignon in the Second Half of the 15th Century" (La vie privée à Avignon dans la seconde moitié du XVe siècle). In 1947, he was awarded a year-long grant to continue his education at Indiana University in the United States, where he earned his Ph.D. in philosophy with a dissertation on "American Public Opinion and France (1940-1943)." During this time, Girard began teaching and gained recognition as a literary critic.

Academic Career

After defending his dissertation, Girard remained in the U.S. and taught comparative literature at various universities, including Johns Hopkins University, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and Stanford University, where he became a professor emeritus in 1995. He also received honorary doctorates from the Free University of Amsterdam (1985), the University of Padua (2001), and the University of St. Andrews (2008).

Contributions and Achievements

In his book "Deceit, Desire, and the Novel" (Mensonge romantique et vérité romanesque, 1961), Girard introduced his theory of "mimetic desire." According to this concept, our desires are copies of the desires of models or "mediators" whose objects of desire become our own. However, the model becomes our rival if we desire exactly what they desire. Phenomena such as jealousy or envy arise from this mimetic situation. Girard challenged the romantic notion of spontaneous desire as an expression of individual originality, revealing its illusory nature.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Girard shifted his research interests from literature to social-historical anthropology and history. He developed an original anthropological concept, applying his theory of mimetic desire to religion and social life. His anthropological theory is best reflected in his book "Violence and the Sacred" (La violence et le sacré, 1972), which became his most famous work. Girard discusses how primitive forms of religion all share a common ritual of sacrifice, which involves the sacralization of collective aggression towards an individual. The individual or animal is designated as the "scapegoat."

Girard also explores Greek tragedy, finding a weakened version of sacrifice within it. He developed Freudian concepts on the genesis of social relationships through the repetition and reproduction of the primal act of mass aggression against the father figure, leading to the collective experience of guilt and responsibility as mechanisms for reproducing social norms.

In recognition of his contributions, Girard was elected a member of the French Academy on March 17, 2005.