There are plenty of stories that are still told from the perspective of the scapegoaters. Anselm’s traditional account (God’s honor was offended by the sins of mankind, His honor was reestablished with the death of His own son), or other traditional interpretations (mankind was kidnapped by the Devil, God offered Christ as a ransom; Jesus died so God could show humanity what He is capable of doing if we do not repent, and so forth) are deemed inadequate by Girard. But, inasmuch as he imitates his father, the child imitates the sexual desire for his mother.
All of its “theological” insights can be seen working themselves out on the anthropological level. For God himself incarnates in the person of Jesus, in order to become himself a victim. But, Girard considers that the Oedipus Complex is the result of a mechanism very different from the one outlined by Freud.According to Freud, the child has an innate sexual desire towards the mother, and eventually, discovers that the father is an obstacle to the satisfaction of that desire. Although his later work has had l… Girard understands this as a complementary approach to the defense of victims. Consider this example: a toddler imitates his father in his occupations, and he desires to pursue his father’s career when he grows up. In the Biblical story, Cain is never justified in killing Abel. This shift occurs when desires converge on an object that cannot be shared (such as a job, a first place prize, or a lover) or that the rivals are unwilling to share (such as fame or working with Dr. Smart). As rivals become more and more fascinated with each other, friends and colleagues may be mimetically drawn into the conflict as rival coalitions form. We rely on mediators or models to help us understand who and what to desire. Thus, Oedipus’ perspective as a victim is suppressed from the myth.Furthermore, Girard believes that, as myths evolve, later versions will tend to dissimulate the scapegoating violence (for example, instead of presenting a victim who dies by drowning, the myth will just claim that the victim went to live to the bottom of the sea), in order to avoid feeling compassion for the victim. Indeed, imitation is the basic mechanism of learning (we learn inasmuch as we imitate what our teachers do), and neuroscientists are increasingly reporting that our neural structure promotes imitation very proficiently (for example, ‘mirror neurons’).However, according to Girard, most thinking devoted to imitation pays little attention to the fact that we also imitate other people’s desires, and depending on how this happens, it may lead to conflicts and rivalries. Achieving social order in this way is only possible, however, if the excluding parties unanimously believe that the person or group expelled is Girard’s examination of different “myths of origin” revealed that scapegoats, regardless of their actual crime, have carried the weight of all of the community’s transgressions. This will hardly cause any rivalry (although it may account for Freud’s Oedipus Complex; see section 2.d). We all construct identities over against someone or something else.

This is part of the apocalyptic worldview prevalent in Jesus’ days. For, the mediator becomes the main obstacle in the satisfaction of the person’s metaphysical desire. Girard usually distinguishes ‘imitation’ from ‘mimesis’. Overview. To solve the crisis, Oedipus is selected as a scapegoat. But, Girard insists, all myths are founded upon violence, and if no violence is found in a myth, it must be because the community made it disappear.Myths are typical of archaic societies, but Girard thinks that modern societies have the equivalent of myths: persecution texts. There is little possibility to know what may have happened during Paleolithic times, apart from what paleontology and archaeology might tell us.In some instances, Girard claims that his theses have indeed been verified. All that’s required for the scapegoating solution to work is that his guilt is universally agreed upon and that when he is punished or expelled from the community, he will not be able to retaliate. But, echoing Simone Weil, he believes that the gospels, inasmuch as they reveal the nature of human beings, also indirectly reveal the nature of God. It will be helpful to revisit these movements in more detail, beginning with desire.Mimetic desire operates as a subconscious imitation of another’s desire. This mechanism functioned at the origins of the human species, when this peace appeared as if by magic and was attributed to a visitation from an ambiguous god who came first as the terrible cause of the conflict but then was revealed to be its cure. Indeed, Girard considers that the evolution of myths may even reach a point where no violence is present. Scapegoating is not an efficient means to bring about peace, as it always depends on the periodic repetition of the mechanism. This led to another important book, Girard’s fundamental concept is ‘mimetic desire’. In Girard’s view, this literary theme is in fact a portrait of human nature: very often, people will desire something as a result of imitating other people, but eventually, this imitation will lead to rivalries with the very person imitated in the first place.In Girard’s view, mimetic desire may grow to such a degree, that a person may eventually desire to Whereas external mediation does not lead to rivalries, internal mediation does lead to rivalries. Mimetic theory calls into question well-known principles such as realistic conflict theory, rational actor theory in economics, and many theories in psychology which presuppose that behavior depends on an autonomous, rational individual. So, even if Girard’s use of those terms is metaphoric, they are easily open to confusion, and perhaps should be abandoned. He seems to believe that human beings are born with sin, but they have the capacity to do something about it through repentance.Girard’s vision of Christianity also brings forth a new interpretation of the doctrine of atonement, that is, that Christ died for our sins. Thanks to Jesus’ salvific mission, human beings now have the capacity to understand what scapegoats really are, and have the golden opportunity to achieve enduring social peace.An important source of criticisms against Girard is his apologetic commitment to Christianity.

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