Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the Earth: Violence and Economy of Sacrifice According to Rene Girard
Abstract
Public lecture as part of Philosophy Day on the occasion of World Philosophy Day; the 2022 edition dedicated to the theme of First Philosophy and Culture. Abstract of the lecture: René Girard, historian, literary critic and philosopher of social sciences, builds his theory of culture - the scapegoat mechanism - on analyses of anthropological myths, Greek tragedies, the rituals of natural peoples and even the Bible. The lecture/workshop was intended to unravel the connection between metaphysics and culture against the background of analyses of violence and religion, and to show what role sacrifice plays in the (re)definition of a particular society.
True to the spirit of philosophical anthropology, we will analyse violence as a key aspect of the production of figures of humanity. Among the motifs to be explored are reciprocity, symmetry, intersubjectivity, sacrifice and gift.