Violence as an expression of social evil in René Girard
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Abstract
The conception of man as a mimetic being driven, by this universal and constitutive category of the human being that is imitation, to violence, gives us reason why we can speak of mimesis as a permanent source of social evil. Evil would have begun a moment before all symbolization, because mimesis is also found in animals as a source of violence and conflict. In human beings, a plus is added to the instinct, which is the infinite desire according to the other’s desire. Evil is present ab initio, in a bivalent relationship, as a cause and as a consequence. The myths describe it in detail due to its connotations: stain, servitude, slavery, spontaneous envy, “bad mix”, indifference, accusation. Of these terms, accusation is the most biblical, the most profusely analyzed by Girard and the one that has the most force in the process of defining evil. Sometimes it gives him ontological force, since Satan - his personified form - means the accuser par excellence. Beneath the sacralization, there is always a sacrificial preparation where the accusation appears against the victim, and which makes her responsible for the disasters and catastrophes that afflict the community, that is, responsible for the crisis. The victim brought evil - undifferentiated chaos - with his death he gave us the desired social order. Girardian theory allows us to understand this founding process of social orders.
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