Avsnitt
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Christianity exposed the injustice of scapegoating and, in doing so, robbed us of the cathartic tools which early human societies used to contain and resolve violence. Today, the Katechon which prevents violence from overflowing is three institutions that limit and channel violence: Law, Capitalism, and War. By tracing a genealogy for all three institutions, Girard comes to the terrifying conclusion that these final bulwarks against apocalypse are on the verge of collapse. More precisely, their collapse is already underway.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:13 Violence in Modernity
00:09:05 Mimetic Contagion in Modernity
00:11:21 Scapegoating in Modernity
00:14:20 Divinization and Institutionalization in Modernity
00:18:51 The Katechon of Law
00:21:42 The Monopoly Over Violence
00:28:08 The Price of Equality
00:34:54 Kinetic and Potential Violence
00:37:15 Prestige, Catharsis, and Violence
00:41:50 The Logic of Retribution and the Logic of Guilt
00:46:05 The Katechon of Capitalism
00:55:36 Capitalism and Violence
00:59:17 Incendiary Global Trade
01:02:32 The Katechon of War
01:06:58 The Gentleman's War
01:10:38 Napoleon and Total War
01:14:56 The Bomb
01:17:47 The Case Against Political Action
01:21:42 Conversion
01:27:21 Holderlin and the Case for Withdrawal
01:30:45 The End -
Rescued by Christianity, modernity is distinctly different than the violent, deceitful, and stagnant societies of yore. We are the most loving, truthful, and innovative culture ever to exist. Resting uneasily alongside this fundamental affirmation of modernity, however, is Girard’s puzzling insistence that things have barely changed at all: we now simply persecute victims under the banner of love, rigidly adhere to scientific dogmas under the guise of free inquiry, and package trivialities as radical innovations. Despite our high-minded ideals, stubborn human nature refuses to budge and, so, the perversions of modernity take on the shape of hypocrisy. Even humanity’s greatest triumph is terribly ambivalent and limited.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:11 Modernity as Rupture
00:08:09 Modernity as Continuity
00:11:18 Metaphor of the Rocket
00:13:40 The Force of Love
00:22:08 Theatre
00:24:49 Hypocrisy
00:34:13 The Force of Truth
00:38:11 The Epistemology of Love
00:47:50 The Church of Science
00:59:39 The Blindspots of Science
01:05:06 The Force of Innovation
01:15:49 Fashion
01:22:00 An Ephemeral Triumph -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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For Girard, Christianity is radically different from all other religions in one crucial aspect: it takes the side of the innocent victim and, in doing so, exposes the violence and deceit of worldly order. We will explore how this intuition of innocence begins to take root in the Hebrew bible and blossoms into a resounding declaration in the Crucifixion. Girard presents us with an anthropology of the Cross: a translation of Christian phenomena into this-worldly, humanistic language. Girard’s success in placing this world in the foreground, however, forces the other world and even God himself to retreat into the background. In Girard’s unorthodox Christianity, God’s absence is just as loud and jarring as humanity’s presence.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:36 The Myth Vaccine
00:08:56 Cain and Abel
00:14:19 Joseph and His Brothers
00:18:30 The Incompleteness of the Hebrew Bible
00:21:31 Completing the Message
00:26:51 The Crucifixion
00:30:18 Christ's Innocence
00:33:50 Christ's Truth
00:37:31 Christ's Love
00:41:28 An Anthropology of the Cross
00:42:31 Girard's Interpretation of Satan
00:44:57 Girard's Interpretation of the Christian Revelation
00:45:47 Girard's Interpretation of the Anti-Christ
00:49:05 Girard's Interpretation of the Kingdom of God
00:50:08 Girard's Interpretation of the Apocalypse
00:51:08 A Christian Dictionary
00:54:10 Girard's Unorthodoxy: The Sacrificial Reading
00:56:45 Girard's Unorthodoxy: God's Absence
01:03:17 Girard's Unorthodoxy: Historical Christianity
01:05:39 Girard's Unorthodoxy: Apocalyptic Ambivalence -
Starting from lecture IV, we will move away from psychology and into Girard’s history, beginning with the very first human societies. In times of internal turmoil, these early societies would converge on an innocent victim, attribute to him all the blame, murder this scapegoat in a brutal killing, and achieve peace through violent catharsis. These founding murders gave rise to institutions, cultures, and even gods themselves. Far are we from the comfort of social contracts. Girard’s unsettling conclusion is that peace is built on the corpses of innocent victims. Worldly order demands violence and deceit.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:16 The Trojan War and Reciprocal Violence
00:13:51 Oedipus and the Scapegoat Mechanism
00:15:23 Step One: Mimetic Contagion
00:25:06 Step Two: Founding Murder
00:29:22 Consensus, Deceit, and Catharsis
00:36:04 Three Marks of the Victim
00:41:18 Step Three: Divinization
00:46:30 A Revaluation of Values
00:51:26 Step Four: Institutionalization
01:03:33 The Violent Foundations of Society
01:06:39 The Hymn of Purusha
1:10:20 The Founding of Rome
1:13:10 Moral Paradigm Shifts -
In this lecture, we will finish painting the picture of Girardian psychology by understanding mimetic rivalry and negative mimesis. This picture will expose humans as fallen and certain psycho-social pathologies as inevitable: fetishization, alienation, bipolarity, masochism, oppression, and inequity. Girard’s psychology, then, is also a theodicy — an inquiry into the origins of evil. For Girard, evil is not contingent on poorly designed societies but an inevitable consequence of corrupt human nature. We will never escape these pathologies no matter how much social “progress” is made. Girard’s theodicy tampers our expectations of the world and inoculates us against a whole host of, what we can loosely call, critical theories. This is a critique of critique.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:26 Internal and External Mediation
00:10:50 Mimetic Rivalry
00:33:33 Doubles
00:35:24 False Differences
00:37:58 American Psycho
00:42:19 The Negative Phase of Mimesis
00:46:33 Conforming to Contrarianism
00:53:31 The Psycho-Social Pathologies of Man
00:55:51 Fetishization
00:56:39 Alienation
00:59:08 Bipolarity
01:01:01 Masochism
01:04:27 Oppression
01:07:56 Inequity
01:10:03 Hegel's Theodicy
01:13:22 Rousseau's Theodicy
01:15:40 Girard's Theodicy
01:20:14 A Critique of Critique -
Mimesis, mimetic desire, and metaphysical desire are the fundamental building blocks of Girard’s psychology. They will show us how even the most intimate aspects of our identity can be radically shaped by others and how to distinguish vanity from authenticity. These psychological fundaments are what make humans social animals, why prestige and recognition matter so much to us, and how we are able to form cultures and even language itself. They are responsible for humanity’s greatest achievements, but they also render us helplessly fallen. Under scrutiny, metaphysical desire will reveal itself to be none other than original sin.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:51 Mimesis
00:08:16 Mimesis and Normativity
00:17:34 Mimetic Desire
00:29:17 What is Meant by "Being"
00:31:53 The First End of Being: Reality
00:34:38 The Second End of Being: Persistence
00:35:31 The Third End of Being: Self-sufficiency
00:41:36 Metaphysical Desire
00:50:14 The Malleability of Metaphysical Desire
00:52:09 The Power of Metaphysical Desire
00:53:30 The Deceitfulness of Metaphysical Desire
00:58:18 The Ungovernability of Metaphysical Desire
01:00:31 Original Sin -
Lecture I gives a brief overview of Girard’s life and work. It summarizes the key conclusions of mimetic theory, distilling the most crucial ideas of this 10+ hour long lectures series into a digestible 2 hours. For those who are short on time, this synopsis is sufficient to give you a taste of Girard. For those embarking on the full journey, this lecture is a rough map that will orient you throughout the expansive, tumultuous, and dizzying terrain ahead.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:05:05 The Case for Engaging Girard
00:19:34 The Structure of This Lecture Series
00:23:52 Girard's Biography
00:29:06 What We Cover in Lecture I
00:30:45 Mimesis
00:33:43 Metaphysical Desire
00:42:04 The Negative Phase of Mimesis
00:51:20 The Scapegoat Mechanism
01:03:05 Christianity
01:10:55 Love and Hypocrisy
01:13:38 Truth and Dogma
01:18:04 Innovation and Imitation
01:26:02 Violence and Apocalypse
01:37:16 The Case Against Engaging Girard
