The Sacred and the Political: Explorations on Mimesis, Violence and Religion

Description

What is the relationship between the sacred and the political, immanence and transcendence, religion and violence? And how has this relationship affected the history of the West and its political reason? In this volume an international group of scholars explore these questions in light of mimetic theory as formulated by René Girard (1923-), one of the most important thinkers of our time. From Aristotle and his idea of tragedy, to Machiavelli and political modernity, to contemporary biopolitics, this work provides an indispensable guide to those who want to assess the thorny connections between sacrality and politics in Western political thought and find an unexplored yet critical path from ancient Greece to our post-secular condition. While looking at the past, this book seeks to illuminate the future relevance of the sacred/secular divide in the so-called ‘age of globalization’. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents List of Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction The Power of Sacrifice: René Girard and the Political Notes 1 Aristotle on Mimesis and Violence: Things Hidden since the Foundation of Literary Theory Introduction: Girard on Plato and Aristotle Aristotle’s verdict on the use of violence in tragedy The metabasis paradox (1): Castelvetro and Corneille The metabasis paradox (2): from Dacier to Girard Conclusion: Aristotle’s terror of mimetic violence Notes 2 René Girard and Thomas Aquinas on Prophecy and the Purging of the Notion of Justice Introduction Prophecy and its relationship to knowledge in Girard and Aquinas Prophecy and justice The “purgation” of natural justice with the help of prophecy and reason Conclusion Notes 3 Unlikely Twins? Machiavelli and Girard on Violence, Crisis and the Origins of the State Introduction: Machiavelli and Girard, a controversial pair Violence, foundation and order Good arms, good laws and human beings Sacrifice and the sacred Decline and crisis Conclusions Notes 4 René Girard, Human Nature and Political Conflict The denial of human nature in recent political thought Human nature: mimetic anthropology in an evolutionary context Frans de Waal: from subpersonal empathy to imitation and emulation Merlin Donald: human biocultural evolution and the formation of social order Biocultural evolution and inter- individual human nature as tools for understanding political conflict The sacred and the katéchon Reciprocity: from the intra-regime sacred to global convergence Conclusion: mimetic anthropology and realism Notes 5 Spinoza, Girard and the Possibility of a Purely Immanent Democracy Transcendence, self-transcendence and violence Spinoza and democracy as omnino absolutum imperium A plea for an immanent democracy Conclusion Notes 6 René Girard’s Mimetic Theory: An “Anti-political Theology”? Introduction Girard and Hegel Girard and Augustine Girard and Paul: the “apocalyptic turn” Conclusion Notes 7 A “Theoretical Double”: Violence, Religion and Social Order in Schmitt and Girard* Introduction The problem: unrestrained war and mimetic violence The solution: decision and sacrifice The danger: secularization and katéchon The resolution: respatialization and desacralizations Conclusion: the quest for a new nomos between undifferentiation and exclusion Notes 8 Mimesis and Sartre’s Critique of Dialectical Reason The project Human relations and series Fused groups Terror and the pledged group Notes 9 The Sacred and the Secular: René Girard and Gianni Vattimo on Modernity and Violence God is dead, long live God! Secularization and resacralization The end of violence? Apocalypse and the katéchon Nonviolence or good violence? Globalization and eschatology Notes 10 The Myth of Origin: Archaeology and History in the Work of Agamben and Girard Introduction: an ambiguous polarity The quest for origin, or toward an archaeology of the sacred Marks of the sacred: history, politics and ontology Notes 11 The Age of Panic: On Mimetic Post-modernity Introduction A brief survey on the experiences of post-modernity The loss of referentiality: Vattimo and Girard Technology and mimesis: Stiegler and Girard Differentiation and individuation Undifferentiation and panic: Dupuy and Girard Conclusions Notes Index