Behind the Glim — Overture
At this stage, we need, perhaps, to insist that not all conceptualisations of historical phases lead to grave reductions. Without them, no historical discourse would be possible…
Tag: Buddhism
After Anatta : Towards a Girardian Ethics – Introduction
Buddhism and Mimetic Theory ‒ the two far-reaching outlooks on humans and the world have gained an increasing interest in both western academia and popular culture. Buddhism was initially cherished by Romantic Europe for its fantasised nihilistic tendencies, and today, more accurately, for its concern for compassion and detachment, and its philosophical uniqueness: emptiness…
After Anatta : Towards a Girardian Ethics – Part 1
As I have argued in a previous essay-series, one common struggle comes out through both René Girard’s mimetic theory, and Buddhist metaphysics: a resistance to the often unquestioned solipsistic reflexes of contemporary western mainstream culture. It is on the basis of this shared concern that an initial dialogue between the two ought to be set. Correlated to this resistance are both Girard’s and the Buddhists’ skepticisms as to the actual power, and more dangerous risks, of the self-proclaimed ‘primary’ faculty of the enlightened human: Reason…
After Anatta : Towards a Girardian Ethics – Part 2
The attempted correspondence between Girard’s mimesis and the Buddhist interdependence now calls for the unveiling of certain implications. Before dwelling into the realm of ethics, we shall see how, on matters of rationality and reason too, and first, Girard’s theory and Buddhist philosophy seem to be profoundly in agreement…
After Anatta : Towards a Girardian Ethics – Part 3
For Girard, imitation is primal and unavoidable: “There is no solution to mimetism aside from a good model.” For Buddhism, it is interdependence that is universal. As I have argued, imitation and interdependence are but the same thing: imitation is subsumed within interdependence, and perhaps the most common evidence of interdependence is mimesis. So much so that certain arguments can hardly be categorised in one concept or the other…
After Anatta : Towards a Girardian Ethics – Part 3.1
As we just saw, both in Buddhism and in Girard’s work, ethics comes first in an embodied form. And in both traditions, it is through ethics that the profound positive effects of mimesis can be felt. Girard confirms that there is such a mimetic wisdom: “There is a mimetic wisdom, which I do not claim to embody, and it is in Christianity that we have to look for it” (Girard, Battling to the End). But what would be the content of this wisdom, of this sense of Ethics? …
After Anatta : Towards a Girardian Ethics – Part 3.2
Girard’s explicit views on ethics are quite sparse, if not absent, but one particular principle seems to be coming back regularly in his writings: non-violence. Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World contains a few unambiguous statements such as: “The definitive renunciation of violence, without any second thoughts, will become for us the condition … for the survival of humanity itself and for each one of us.”…
After Anatta : Towards a Girardian Ethics – Part 3.3
Is the ethical life thus in fact essentially the deep awareness of the universalism of interdependence and mimesis? Caution: such realisations, while potentially liberating, could also backfire. One could believe so much in one’s profound connection with a mimetic model, or in her profound interdependence with another human being, to the point of fully ‘surrendering’ to this other…
After Anatta : Towards a Girardian Ethics – Conclusion
When I presented some of these reflections at a COV&R conference in 2012, I felt a certain movement of excitement and interest, from a community of scholars very familiar with Girard’s thought. It is central, today, to address the question of Girard and ethics, and, while it has been done in other realms (political philosophy, theology), it is also necessary to try to translate the ethical stance stemming from mimetic theory into the language of philosophy, and in particular, within the traditions of ethics…