I always wondered what special genius people saw in Girard.
The observation that people want what each other want is not new and doesn't require philosophical genius to observe -- "keeping up with the Joneses" is what it's called by normal people.
What about "avoiding competition is good so chase blue oceans?" That's certainly a decent fund thesis, sure. Is it a genius one? Certainly seems like the returns come from the application of the maxim and not the maxim itself.
The real insight would've been to propose a fun way out of this "mimetic hell" for society. Girard's observation is that this usually takes violence against a scapegoat -- certainly not a fun way out.
The observation that people want what each other want is not new and doesn't require philosophical genius to observe -- "keeping up with the Joneses" is what it's called by normal people.
What about "avoiding competition is good so chase blue oceans?" That's certainly a decent fund thesis, sure. Is it a genius one? Certainly seems like the returns come from the application of the maxim and not the maxim itself.
The real insight would've been to propose a fun way out of this "mimetic hell" for society. Girard's observation is that this usually takes violence against a scapegoat -- certainly not a fun way out.