Lecture VII: The One Who Withholds | René Girard's Mimetic Theory

Johnathan Bi

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

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